Page 128 of Falling Into Forever
Does she know that she’s crying too?
She kisses my cheek. She’s so freaking warm. Maybe she’s getting sick. She spends so much time at the hospital, it wouldn’t surprise me. Hospitals are germ factories.
Dante is in the hospital.
We’re heading to the hospital.
We’re in Blake’s family’s private plane.
We might not make it in time.
For years, all I had was time. Now I’m acutely aware that it’s slipping through my fingers, and there’s not a single thing I can do about it.
Grady squats in front of me. Jesus. When did he start moving like a panther? He’s still cradling Poppy with one arm like she weighs nothing. Why the hell doesn’t he lay her down? Isn’t she getting heavy?
“Sassy?”
I blink, but I don’t even know if my expression changes. Everything is blissfully numb.
“Sass,” he says again. “Ainsley grabbed all the pills from your bathroom. She said one of them is a sleeping pill. Will you take it for us? You need sleep so you can be there for Dante when we land. Okay?”
I blink twice, and he sighs, but Ainsley reappears a second later and sticks a pill in my mouth. I tip my head back when she holds water to my lips. Then I stare at my sister and best friend and wait for the darkness to consume me.
CHAPTER35
SAYLOR
Blake slips a ring on my finger as soon as we get in the car. How sad will it be if the only time I wear a wedding band is when my dead sister’s fiancé puts one on me?
“Sassy, when we get to the hospital, tell them you’re Dante’s wife, okay?”
I nod. Will that ever be true?
There are a lot of unspoken conversations happening in the silence around me, but I’m thankful that all I hear are the tires hitting the pavement below us. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
“If Dante makes it through surgery, he’s going to teach me to swim,” I say like a decree.
Everyone in the car swallows in unison. It’s a strange symphony of sounds.
Ainsley is holding my hand and squeezes it tightly. “That’s a great idea, sweetie.”
I nod. “It is. It’s a great idea.”
Blake’s phone rings, and he speaks in hushed tones when he answers it. He’s sitting up front with our driver, and Ainsley is next to me, while Grady, Poppy, and Lena take up the third row.
“How did you fit back there?” I ask without turning around.
Grady’s heavy hand lands on my shoulder. The weight of it is comforting. “I’m sitting sideways, Sass.”
“Huh.”
“They eloped,” Blake says. “I don’t give a flying fuck what the rules say. If you want to receive another cent in donations from my family, you will do everything I asked before we arrive in”—he lifts his arm, and his watch glints in the early morning sunlight—“ten minutes.” It’s not an expensive watch, and it certainly doesn’t fit with whatever custom suit he’s wearing, but he still wears it.
Shannon gave it to him for their last Christmas together. She was embarrassed because we found it at a secondhand shop, but the face was beautiful—an antique. We all thought it was perfect.
“You still wear her watch.”
He turns slowly and nods. “It’s how I keep them with me until it’s our time to meet again.”
