Page 153 of That Last Secret

“I was.”

They smile again. “Logan hears you, Emiline. His heart started beating a little quicker from whatever you were talking about.”

My lips part in shock, and I wipe a tear from my cheek.

I asked for a sign and he just gave me a bit of hope in the darkness surrounding me.

For the first time in days, I smile.

A real smile filled with hope.

I hear you,Emiline.

Wait for me, please. I’m begging you.

I’m trying to come back to you, I promise.

The light is so bright, and I hear everything you’re saying, but I can’t move. I can’t open my eyes.

I need you. Please, don’t fucking leave me.

Today’sthe first day I’ve left his room since the board exam because the girls are forcing me to get out and eat a real meal. Truthfully, I haven’t had the appetite for anything more than crackers.

I’m carrying around this new guilt of telling everyone one secret just to keep another. But this one is mine and Logan’s secret to tell. The last thing I want is for him to wake up and learn he’s the last to know.

The girls brought me to a little spot on the same block as City General. They know I want to stay close in the event something were to change.

“Any updates?” Peyton asks.

I shake my head.

“It has to be any day now. Thomas said the doctors mentioned how everything is looking good.”

“It is. They took him off the ventilator, and now it’s just a waiting game.”

A waiting game I’m not handling very well, with nothing else to keep my brain occupied.

“I’m going to be the one to come out and ask,” Avery says next to me. “You haven’t said anything, and I can speak for all of us when I ask… are you a registered nurse now?”

I smile as I look around the table. Peyton, Avery, Macey, and Kali look at me as they wait for my answer.

“I was hoping you would ask.” My smile grows wider. “I wanted to wait until we were all together to tell you. But I passed. I’m officially a nurse.”

It pained me to smile and celebrate as big as I did when I got the results because that day was the most draining for me. Still, I have never felt so proud of myself seeing the one-word ‘pass’ on the website.

That morning, I was puking nonstop, Logan had to go for multiple tests, and I hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before because I couldn’t get comfortable in the makeshift bed set up for me.

It was hard to smile and be happy.

But I logged in from his room, and even though I was alone, I didn’t feel like I was.

Logan was there, and I knew deep down he had heard me.

The girls erupt in a fit of cheers and congratulations.

“We are so proud of you, Emiline,” Macey says first. “You’re going to be such an amazing nurse.”

“I agree,” Kali adds. “You freakin’ did it!”