Page 85 of Play of Love
Chapter 18
Amy
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My ears rang, and I couldn’t hear properly. My poor heart thudded loudly within the cavity of my chest.
What was Dr. Carson saying? What was he saying?
I felt like I’d gone crazy and my life had turned into an abstract where nothing made sense.
“Listen,” Dr. Carson continued. He sounded hesitant. “I know your situation, but I have to make you aware that we won’t be able to do the planned surgery. Your mother’s heart is too far gone and she will need a transplant. Because of the severity and the urgency, she’s listed as a priority. We have a heart that we can use but the funds need to be secured first, and it will be at least twice the cost of what was quoted.”
Tears gripped me, holding me within the grasp of despair, ripping my insides apart. My strength completely left me and I dropped the phone as my knees buckled, falling to the floor in a crumpled pile of grief.
I’d failed. I couldn’t save my mother.
After all I’d done, in the end I wouldn’t be able to do anything. I was powerless.
I didn’t have that kind of money. I didn’t have anything.
Josh rushed up to me and gathered me in his arms.
“Amy, what happened?”
I could barely hear him too. “My mom,” I cried. “My mom.”
Panic filled his eyes. “What happened to her?”
I was crying so much I couldn’t talk and had to gasp to catch my breath.
“Baby, please tell me what happened.”
“She’s in the hospital,” I managed, and then told him the rest in stutters. Before I could even finish he picked my phone up from the ground and called Dr. Carson.
“What are you doing?”
He ignored me .
“Josh.” When I reached out to him, he held my face.
“Hi, this is Josh Mancini, I’m speaking on behalf of Amy Rose,” he said into the phone. I just stared at him, wondering what he was really doing.
He waited a little, listening to Dr. Carson. I could hear him telling Josh about the heart transplant and the procedure. “That’s fine. Do what you need to do. Send us the details and I’ll transfer the funds straightaway. We’ll see you in a few hours.”
My blood drained as I listened and I felt fainter than when I got the news. As he hung up I shook my head.
“No,” I said as more tears spilled down my cheeks. “You can’t.”
It was that thing again where my focus was thrown and I didn’t want him to think he had to do this, or that my being with him was about money.
“Stop it. Yes I can and I am. Damn it, Amy, this is your mother.” His hand shook and pain filled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter where help comes from, you take it if it can save her life.”
“I didn’t want you to think that—”
He didn’t allow me to finish. “Amy, I don’t think anything. I just do, and I’m trying to do what’s right. This isn’t about anything besides that. I would do anything to see my mom again. Anything. Allow me to save yours.”
I gazed up at him through my tears and covered my mouth to keep from crying out. I couldn’t believe he would do this for me.
