Page 24 of Slammed Into Inferno

Her voice breaks, “Oh sweetie, he knows you cared for him deeply.” She breathes heavily before she asks me, “The funeral services will be next week, and I wanted to know if you will say a few words at the service. I know Luca would have loved that.”

I take a deep breath, “Of course, I will Mrs. Rossi. Please text me the details.”

“Of course, sweetheart.” The line goes dead. I am left staring at my phone seriously in disbelief of the fact Luca is now gone. Who will walk up to the nurse’s station to bug me? Who will scare me while I am doing rounds? Who is going to tell me useless facts about baseball? I am going to miss this kid so much.

When I finally look up from my phone, I notice most of the nursing staff from our floor are eyeballing me to see what they said. The look on my face and they already know. I finish my shift in a daze.

* * *

Luca’s services are today, and I am not sure I can do this. Taking one last look in the mirror before heading out the door to meet Luca’s Oncology doctor, Taylor McCrory. All the nurses have serious lady boners for Taylor, not me.

Doctor Taylor, Grace, Sophia, and I are all walking into the church for Luca’s services. My body shivers, and I look over my right shoulder and lock eyes with Declan. His stare is soft, and then it turns too hard when he sees how close Taylor is to me. If it was him with another female next to him, yes, I would give the same stare. However, I am the idiot who walked away from that beautiful man. He is no longer mine and I am no longer his. So, another man can be near me.

How in the world did Declan know about Luca’s services? I do not think he kept in touch with the family. Or did he? I think back to my conversation with Luca on how he would visit him when he had a day off. Feels like we are the only ones in the room until Sophia breaks our connection. “I told him.” She whispers in my ear. Shocked is putting it lightly, surprised is more like it. I don’t even speak and move to take my seat near the front, as I am walking down to my seat, Mrs. Rossi meets me.

“I am so glad you made it, sweetheart.” I am trying to hold on to the hug she gives me. She pulls back and puts her hands on my cheeks, “He will always be with you.” She kisses my cheeks and I simply nod my head.

During the service, I am so nervous to speak because I am not great at public speaking and because Declan is here with this entire station. I need to do this for Luca and his family. What pulls me from my downward spiral is Sophia nudging me as the priest called my name.

Taking a deep breath at the head of the church, I look at Mrs. Rossi, Mr. Rossi and Luca’s brothers and smile with a light nod.

“Hi, my name is Evie and Luca was one of my patients at Tuffs Children’s Hospital. Luca’s smile was contagious, even with his constant flirting, he would joke about how one day when he isolderthat he would take me on a date.” I smile and think of Luca telling me this.

“When I moved here from Maine and started working at Tuffs, Luca was one of my first patients and he thought it would be a great time to play a prank on the new nurse.” I chuckle and shake my head. “He thought it would be funny to hide in the closet in his room. Now, it was not the hiding in the closet that was scary for me, it was the fact he had a clown mask on. A little back story, if you can guess I am terrified of clowns. I was searching around the room and even called the nurses’ station to see if maybe he was walking around. Now, Luca was the biggest prankster on our floor, and I thought for sure thought that he wouldn’t prank me. I found out later he pranks everyone.… When I go back into this room, he jumps out of the closet with the clown mask on. I scream and fall to the floor. He was laughing so hard, and I thought I was having a heart attack,” I smile at the memory.

The whole parish is laughing, and I am smiling. I am peeking down at my speech. When I go to look up, I lock eyes again with Declan. I continue, “That boy knew how to light up my day, as well as everyone one on the floor. His goal was to make me smile daily as well as all the nurses, doctors, other patients and volunteers, and friends. Everyone who met Luca fell in love with him. I know I did. He would make your darkest days seem brighter even when he was in his darkest of days.”

I feel the tears fall down my face. “I going to miss his smile, laughter, his countless random baseball facts, countless TikTok dances he would make me do with him and the flirting and his fearlessness. No matter how sick he was, you certainly did not know. He did not want cancer to define him, he would tell me -Evie, cancer can kiss my butt and I hope it smells too-. And I would have to say I agree. Also, he would want us to not be crying. He would want us to celebrate the life he lived and what he brought to each of our lives. He would not want us to cry if the Red Sox did not make it to the playoffs.” I turn to look at his picture by the coffin and say, “I will miss you, buddy.” I go to step down and Mrs. Rossi grabs my hand, and she squeezes it.

The services have ended, and we are walking out of the church. I feel his presence before I see him. Sophia asks me, “Are you going to take the travel job? I know you have been thinking about it.”

Of all days and times, she picks now the time to ask me this. I know why she is doing it because Declan is in earshot.

I look over her shoulder where Declan is and say, “Um, yeah, I think so. I am meeting with the contracting service tomorrow.” As I tell Grace and Sophia, I turn to see Declan's lips go into a thin line. I mean, what else does he expect me to do? I am being a coward.

She smiles, “I do not want you to leave, and I am sure Grace does not either. And I am also sure there is someone else who won’t want you to go, either.”

Still, mine and Declan’s eyes lock on each other. I say, “Me too.”

Sophia looks over her shoulder and back at me. “You sure this is the right move? You two are the most stubborn people I know. Have you tried telling him again? Him showing up today should mean something, girl.”

Biting my lip and shaking my head, I say, “I do not even know what the right thing is to do anymore. I moved here to start over, and no; I have not tried talking to him again. He is showing his respects to Luca’s family. Luca meant a lot to him, too. He is not here for me; I am happy he is here to support Luca and his family.”

“Are you sure about that, girl? He has not stopped staring at you since you got here. And I’m also pretty sure he wanted to deck Doctor-Tight-Ass Taylor for even near you.” Wiggling her eyebrows.

“Did you drink before coming here? You are reading into things Soph?” I ask her with concern in my voice. I mean, you never know with her.

“No, I have not. But I should have. Your speech made me cry like a baby. And I only speak the truth.” She crosses her heart. What are we five?

I go to open my mouth and Taylor walks up and I look up to where Declan is. Maybe Sophia is right and maybe she is not. “Ready to go Evie and Sophia? I have to get back to start the shift.”

“Right behind you, Doctor-Tight-Ass.” Sophia winks at him as we walk to his SUV. As I am walking, I can feel Declan’s eyes on me, and I am not sure I can handle the look on his face if I turn around.

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