Page 7 of For All It's Worth
“What!”Oh my god! Three days alone!
“We only found out yesterday morning. Charlie had lost his I.D. and someone handed it in and then we were contacted. I would have come to get you yesterday, but we had Joe and only family were allowed to visit.”
“I get that, but Jesus. No one knew anything about it for days! That’s insane.”
Will shuddered as some unknown emotion crossed him. His face filled with guilt. I couldn’t even put myself in his place. He and Charlie had such a tense relationship. What would he have done if Charlie had died and things hadn’t been resolved between them?
“Come on, we better get going. I heard him in the background asking for you.”
A sob threatened to break loose again. Even after everything, he still thought of me. Though probably not in the way I wanted him to.
I felt like the worst friend in the history of friendship. I’d known he was struggling but hadn’t had anyone to help me deal with it. Not to mention I’d been putting things off at work to deal with him and my business had suffered for it. I’d chosen my stuff over him and then he’d gone and gotten hurt. If he’d died…I couldn’t go down that road. Just couldn’t think about what would have happened. The guilt alone would have buried me.
After I’d calmed down and dressed, Will drove us to the hospital. Nerves flooded me at the thought of seeing Charlie. At the same time, I felt like I would come out of my skin with my need to see he was okay with my own eyes.
The door to the private room was open, and I could see Alex looking out at the city from where he stood at the window.
As we rounded the corner, the bed came into view. Charlie was propped sitting up with a mound of pillows, a meal on a tray over his lap.
His eyes lit up when they landed on me and all the breath in my body whooshed out with sheer relief at the hopeful gleam in those navy depths.
I studied him, taking in his pallor, all the more stark when I considered his half-Greek heritage from his father’s side of the family. Usually, his olive-toned skin glowed, but now it was dull and pale. His beautiful eyes were sunken and shadowed. Cuts and bruises littered his face; his lip was split. He was shirtless, pebbled with goosebumps in the over-warm room. How had I not noticed how much weight he’d lost? Charlie was lean, but now he was bordering on emaciated. I took in the bandages that covered him and thanked whatever deities there might be for Charlie’s continued existence.
I wanted to make some sort of witty remark to try and lighten the tension in the room. More than that, I wanted Alex and Will to leave us alone because Charlie was always defensive when they were around.
The words died on my lips and I rushed to his side, grabbing his hand and just holding it gently, like spun glass that might shatter at the slightest bump.
Sniffing to hold back yet more tears, I tried to think of something to say when Charlie broke the silence.
“I’m glad you’re here. I was worried that you might not want to come.”
Throwing a glance at Will and Alex, Charlie seemed to read my thoughts and his tiny smile showed that he too wished that they weren’t here to witness this uncomfortable conversation.
Will must have picked up on our brief, silent conversation, “Alex, you want to come to get something to eat? Maybe some better coffee than that vending machine swill?” He gave me a sympathetic smile.
Alex grunted in acknowledgment, and the pair left the room. Will briefly returned to ask if we wanted anything, glancing at us in turn. My stomach was too tied in knots for eating so I shook my head. Charlie gestured to the tray at the bottom of the bed. Will left again with assurances that they’d be gone a little while so we could talk.
I let go of Charlie’s hand briefly, my knees no longer willing to keep me standing. I went over and pulled the closest chair up to the bed, sinking into it carefully, my muscles tight with tension. We just stared at each other for a minute.
It was soothing to settle into the regular pattern of us. We’ve always been like this, never needing words to understand what was going on with each other. Even our argument couldn’t stop that.
There was warmth in his expression, the easy affection that we always shared but he never gave to anyone else, and not a single trace of anger. That lack of anger had me relaxing, letting out a sigh, and gaining me a smile from Charlie. I reached over the bed and squeezed his hand gently and he grasped at my fingers before I could pull my hand away and twined them together.
While Alex and Will were away, instead of talking about all the issues that we really should be talking about, we sat in silence.
I was overjoyed to be able to have this. Just to be able to soak in his presence and feeling so glad he was okay and happy to see me. Talking about heavy stuff would have to wait, he wasn’t up to it, and I felt too fragile to discuss how much he hurt me.
“You look good,” I teased.
Charlie groaned. “I feel amazing, too. Nothing like roadkill.” He rolled those gorgeous eyes, but there was a twinkle within them.
Chuckling, I looked over the contents of the tray to avoid looking into his eyes. “Anything good?”
“You know what they say about hospital food…” he trailed off.
“And what do they say? You’ve got a private room, this is a great hospital, surely the food is decent?”
“I miss your cooking,” he muttered under his breath, but I caught the words.
Giving him a soft smile, I steered us into other, safer, topics.
When it came time to leave I didn’t want to go, knowing that I would have to stay firm and tell him to give me space. Now that I knew that he would be fine, he had a lot of things to do before we could try to be friends again.
I think he saw that all in my face as he said, “It’s cool, Max. I know we aren’t there yet, but I want to work at it. Is that okay?” When I nodded he asked hesitantly, “Can I call you now and then, Christmas and stuff?”
I was hesitant to allow that, but the hopeful look he sent my way had me relenting slightly. “Once a week on a Sunday night, but Christmas and New Year don’t count. You get those free and you better call me to wish me Happy New Year, or there’ll be trouble!”
“I promise.”
