Page 113 of Light My Fire Three Times
I throw myself into the truck as fast as if I’m in a damn race.
Ivy’s words keep bouncing around in my head:hospital, passed out, stress.Livvy doesn’t collapse. She’s not the type.
I’ve seen her go through hell at work, seen her put everything she has into running that damn coffee truck. Stress doesn’t make her crumple. But something’s happened. I don’t know what, but I’ll figure it out.
The engine roars to life, and I peel out of the driveway, barely registering how fast I’m driving.
The streets blur under the headlights, snow flurries swirling like little ghosts in the cold night air. My hands grip the wheel tight, knuckles white. I’m holding it together, or at least I’m trying to.
When I pull up to Ivy’s house, I don’t even give the truck time to stop before I jump out fully. Ivy’s standing by the front door, already in a hoodie, eyes wide and filled with too much fear.
I barely give her time to open her mouth before I ask, “How is she? Do you know?”
“She’s stable,” Ivy says quickly, but there’s no calm in her voice. “But… she’s been running on fumes for weeks, Jesse. I knew she was stressed, but I didn’t know it was this bad.”
I see the way her hands are trembling, even as she tries to mask it with a deep breath. I feel the same way. I can’t say it out loud, but I should’ve noticed that she was falling apart, too.
“Alright, let’s get to the hospital,” I say, flatly, trying to hold it together for her, even though I’m about to lose it.
Ivy nods, a shaky exhale escaping her lips as she follows me to the truck.
The drive to the hospital is dragging on forever. The streets are quieter than they should be, the headlights of other cars casting long shadows on the snow-covered roads.
I can’t stop thinking about Olivia. I imagine her face in that hospital bed, pale and weak, and the fact that she’s been carryingall of this on her own. She’s always so damn strong. I never imagined it would break her.
“I feel bad,” Ivy murmurs beside me as we go. “I’ve been too distracted to be a good friend to Olivia.”
I shake my head hard. “No way. You have four kids to look after. You can’t do everything.”
The hospital lights burn bright against the night sky. The parking lot’s half empty, just a few cars scattered here and there. As I park, I glance over at Ivy, and her face is a mix of worry and exhaustion.
“Let’s go.”
We move fast through the halls. Ivy keeps her head down, and I keep mine up, eyes scanning the sterile walls, waiting for them to give me answers. The place is so damn quiet it feels wrong. It’s not where I belong. It’s not where Olivia belongs.
Ivy stops in front of a room. The door’s cracked just enough to make my stomach flip.
“She’s in there,” Ivy says.
I nod and walk past her, but my legs might as well be made of stone. I’ve been in a lot of shitty situations in my life, but nothing prepares you for seeing Olivia in a hospital bed.
The world’s stopped, I’ve stepped into another dimension. She’s pale, too still, and there’s an IV hooked up to her arm. It hits me harder than I ever thought it would. She looks fragile. The person who can take on the world is finally showing the cracks I’ve been too dumb to notice.
I swallow hard and step inside, trying to keep it together.
Olivia stirs a little as she hears us. Her eyelids flutter open, and for a second, she’s confused, disoriented. But then her gaze finds mine, and there’s a flicker of recognition, followed by a weak smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Hey,” she says, barely above a whisper.
I sit down beside her bed, trying not to let her see the way my hands are trembling.
“Hey,” I reply, rougher than I intend. “What the hell happened, Liv?”
She gives a tiny shrug, but she’s too exhausted to try for much else. “Just… too much, I guess.”
Karl steps into the room, his usual easy-going nature is gone as he clutches a cup of ice chips, presumably for Olivia. He looks serious and tense, and his eyes are darting between Olivia and the two of us.
“I’ll give you the rundown,” Karl says, directed mainly at Ivy. “She passed out, and I wasn’t sure what was wrong, so I brought her right here. After running tests, the doctors said her body’s been in overdrive for too long.”
