Blown Away Read Free Page A

the gut.
    “Thanks,” I said, clearing my throat.
    We made our way past the front desk and up to the intensive care unit. When we rounded a corner on the way to the nurses’ station, I saw her and stopped moving.
    Her elbows rested on her knees and her face was in her hands, the long blond waves of her hair keeping me from seeing even a hint of her expression.
    Drew. Beautiful, strong, amazing Drew. I wanted to walk over and put my arms around her. She needed a strong shoulder to cry on. But that just wasn’t me. Colby, the love of her life, was her comfort. I couldn’t do anything but look at her and feel helpless.
    “I’ll go,” Millie said, touching my shoulder lightly.
    Good. Women needed other women at times like this. Millie wasn’t all that nurturing, but she’d do a hell of a lot better than I would have.
    I went to the front desk and asked a nurse to tell Carla we were here. Less than a minute later, Carla came out of Colby’s room, her eyes red and swollen.
    Her hair was the same dark shade as his, but hers was streaked with gray. Colby’s dad had left the family when Colby was a kid, and Carla had been a single mom. Her son was her world, which made it that much harder when she sagged against me and cried.
    “Why?” she said through her tears. “Why would this happen to Colby? He was a good man.”
    I nodded, wishing I knew how to comfort her.
    “I’m so sorry” was all I could come up with. But what else was there to say? I knew how it felt to lose everything, and no one could take away that pain with words. Time eased the ache, but it never went away.
    “Come on in and see him,” she said, turning to Murph and Tex, who stood off to the side. “All of you. I know how much you guys mean to him.”
    We followed her into the room, where Colby lay motionless in bed. His head was covered in bandages and a ventilator forced air into his lungs. I closed my eyes for a couple seconds to gather myself.
    “Aiden,” a soft female voice said behind me. I turned and saw Drew, who’d walked into the room with Millie. She approached and raised her arms to hug me. I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her in close.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice raspy with emotion. “I’m so damn sorry, Drew.”
    “He loved you. Thanks for being here.”
    She pulled away and I wiped the corner of my eye. Few people had ever loved me, and now I’d lost almost all of them.
    An awkward silence fell over the room. The rest of the crew went out to the waiting room, but I felt like I needed to stay.
    “Is there anything you guys need?” I asked, looking at Drew and then Carla. “Coffee or food?”
    “I’d take some coffee,” Drew said. “There’s a station right around the corner.”
    “I’m fine,” Carla said, her lips set in a tight line.
    I went to the coffee station and poured a cup for myself and a cup for Drew, putting lids on both and grabbing a handful of cream and sugar in case she wanted it. I headed back to the room but stopped outside the doorway when I heard Carla’s raised voice.
    “You don’t know that,” she said. “The doctors don’t know it, either. No one knows.”
    “I don’t think they’d say there’s no chance if there was a chance,” Drew said gently.
    “When he wakes up, how do you think he’ll feel knowing you gave up on him after just a few hours?”
    Carla’s bitter tone made me tighten my grip on the cups in my hands.
    “It’s not like that,” Drew said, sounding on the verge of tears. “I talked to the doctor some more in the waiting room. He said Colby was without oxygen for a very long time. Too long. That even if his body could recover—”
    “I’m not listening to this,” Carla said, cutting her off. “I’m not pulling the plug on my son. This conversation is over.”
    “He wouldn’t want this. He wouldn’t want his body wasting away in a nursing home if there’s no chance of his brain working again.”
    “You’ve known him for
two years
.