Page 92 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
But she couldn’t let Samuel drown in it.
After one minute more, just one, Josie pulled back and ran her fingers through Samuel’s hair. “Do you want to call your dad, or do you want me to?”
He lifted his head, red eyes staring at her. “I’ll do it.”
Swallowing hard, he released Miranda and came to where Josie sat next to the nightstand that held the house phone.
“Should I call his office or his cell?”
Normally, Josie would’ve said his cell. But not today. Today, she wanted the call to route through Hillary first. She would soften the blow before it hit Ben.
“The office.”
Samuel dialed and put the call on speaker. Hillary answered on the first ring.
“Mr. Fairweather’s office.”
“Can I talk to my dad?”
Samuel sounded so small. Too small. Josie had to turn away so he wouldn’t see her tears return.
Hillary didn’t ask who was calling or what was wrong. She didn’t need to. Everyone knew they’d been playing the waiting game. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m so sorry. Let me get him.”
It took less than a minute. Ben had fought hard against leaving North Carolina earlier in the week. He hadn’t wanted Josie and Samuel to go through this alone. But even from afar, he was there when they needed him.
“Samuel?”
Samuel didn’t speak. He just simply broke all over again when he heard his father’s voice.
“Samuel, listen to me,” Ben said, clearly trying to keep it together but failing. “I want you to take care of Josie. I’ll be there in less than two hours.”
Samuel nodded as if Ben could see and hung up. Josie pulled him immediately into her arms, swaying back and forth with her boy until he calmed again.
“What do we do now?” Samuel asked.
“We call the hospice nurse.”
Picking up the phone, Josie dialed the number. Nurse Kelly had been so helpful in answering all her questions and taking wonderful care of them. “I’m close,” Kelly said after giving her condolences. “I can be there in a few minutes. We’ll take care of everything when I arrive.”
Josie hung up, reality setting in. It was time to begin the business of death. There would be paperwork to fill out and procedures to follow. All of it designed to box up a life into files and forms. It was beginning already.
The process of packing Miranda away.
“Samuel, can you go downstairs and let Nurse Kelly in? She said she’s close.”
“Okay.”
His footsteps, once loud and unsteady, were quiet now as he left.
Josie took a moment to look down at Miranda’s beautiful face, half expecting her to stir and say her name again.
But she didn’t.
It was over.
Their story had well and truly ended.
Some part of Josie had believed it wouldn’t happen. That Miranda would somehow keep going just to spite the odds. But the silence in the room said otherwise.
