Nash Read Free Page A

on my
    unfortunately frequent trips to this ER, where she seemed to be a permanent fixture as one of the attending
    nurses.
    We had gone to high school together years ago, and while I was all for striking up a reunion of sorts,
    she was having none of it. She made a big production of avoiding me, or giving me nervous, sideways
    looks like she didn’t trust me or was forced to endure my company. Only right now, in this moment, she
    was looking at me with equal parts compassion and seriousness in her soft, dove-gray eyes. It left no doubt
    whatsoever that things with Phil were really, really bad.
    She put a hand on my shoulder and I felt like I was going to shatter under the gentle touch.
    “Nash …” Her voice was light and I could hear the bad news in it. “Come over here and talk to me for
    just a minute.”
    I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to hear whatever horrible words she was going to have to say to me, but
    because she was so pretty, because she had the loveliest eyes I had ever seen, I just numbly did what she
    asked. There were worse people to take bad news from.
    We took a few steps away from the nurses’ desk, and I gazed down at her with trepidation. She was
    fairly tall for a girl, so we were eye to eye when she leveled it at me in a feather-soft voice speaking rock-
    hard words.
    “Did you know Phil was so sick?”
    I felt like she was asking me as a friend, or someone who actually cared about what was happening, and
    not as a medical professional. I knew logically she was just doing her job, but it made me feel better to
    pretend otherwise.
    I didn’t have any words that sounded or felt right to answer her, so I shook my head.
    “I recognized the name on the intake paperwork and the two of you look an awful lot alike. I figured I
    might find you out here.”
    I gulped down my thundering heartbeat and nodded my head stiffly. “He’s my only family.” That wasn’t
    entirely true, but he was the only family I had that really mattered to me.
    She sighed and I tried not to flinch when she put a hand on my cheek. I knew she didn’t like me, and
    for some reason that made the fact that she was being so considerate, so caring, hit home that whatever she
    was getting ready to lay out for me was way worse than I had imagined.
    “He has lung cancer … the doctors are thinking stage four. He has an extensive medical chart. He’s been
    receiving treatment for a while. We got him settled, gave him fluids, he might have pneumonia, so that’s
    why he’s struggling to breathe, and his oxygen levels are dangerously low. We aren’t a hundred percent sure
    why he was unresponsive just yet, but we’re trying to get him awake. The attending doctor called the
    oncologist that was listed in Phil’s chart. It’s a serious situation, Nash. I can’t believe he didn’t let you know
    how ill he was.”
    I let my head drop on my neck like it was suddenly just too heavy to hold up and her gentle fingers
    stroked along my cheek. It was startlingly soothing.
    “He’s been avoiding me.” It sounded pathetic to my own ears.
    She was going to say something else when a tiny, pregnant pixie and a hulking giant came thundering
    into the room where we were standing. I didn’t recognize the older guy that entered with them, but he had
    an intent look on his face that was almost scary. He took one look around the empty waiting room and
    turned on his heel in a way that made it seem like he was on a hunt for information or someone that had
    answers. The cavalry had arrived. Saint went to pull away and I instinctively grabbed her wrist. I needed
    my friends, loved my crew of misfits and rebels, but right now I needed her more. I couldn’t explain it. She
    gave me a wan grin and tugged her arm free.
    “I’m gonna go check on him and see if we managed to get him awake so that you can see him. Nash …
    you should consider quitting smoking.”
    The last of her words trailed away as I was steamrolled by a punk-rock pixie and