by C. A. Harms
School was almost over for the summer, only one more week to go. Kori was looking forward to the time off with Rhett.
Maria was still keeping a safe distance, and that ate at Kori so heavily. She came around, but she was very limited on what she would talk about. I wished I could fix it for them, but I chose to stand back. It really wasn’t my business, unless somehow in the process Kori was hurt. Then it became my business, no matter who the hell liked it or not.
Gavin ended up moving into the house that was once Kori’s. He had more room, and I assumed it was for the privacy too. Sharing a drive with Kori’s parents made it difficult to keep his business his own. This in turn only made it difficult for Kori to keep a watchful eye on Maria’s involvement with him.
I had just taken on a job in Savannah. Ben’s uncle got in an accident at work and was now bound to a wheelchair. His house was anything but prepared for his return home. So we packed up our tools and got to work on making his home one he could function in.
Of course this meant it was almost a two hour round trip between Kori and me. Ben and I decided to bust ass to get this done as quickly as we could, and the best way to do that was grab a hotel during the week. We would go back home on the weekends.
His uncle was in a rehabilitation center for now. They hoped he would be coming home in a few weeks. We had to widen the door frames, build ramps, and a company would be coming in to put in a lift for the stairs. Ben’s aunt was lost right now, and having him close was really helping her cope. They had no children, so Ben was the closest thing they had to a child.
***
We had just finished up our third day there, and we were both exhausted. It was a little after eight at night, and I could barely get my body moving. I could hear Ben talking to Leann on the patio just outside of our hotel room.
I jumped in the shower before making my call to the people I was missing terribly.
When Kori’s voice came through the phone, followed by Rhett’s giggles, I chuckled in return. “How are things going?” she asked.
“I’m missing you two like something fierce. We’ve got a long way to go, baby. This week is dragging ass. I just wanna come home and hold you both.” I ran my hands through my hair and let my head fall back against the headboard.
“We miss you too. Only two more days, then you’ll be home. We’ll make a weekend of just us.” She sighed. “You know, now that school is over for the summer, Rhett and I could come over for a visit during the week.”
“Yeah, maybe Leann and Chloe could join you. I’m sure Ben would like that. We need to plan ahead, though. I’m not sharing a room on those nights.” I chuckled.
We talked for about an hour. She told me about Rhett helping his pappy in the barn. He even got to ride the tractor I knew he loved. That boy loved his tractors.
Apparently he had picked up a new word from Kori’s dad that she wasn’t too fond of. I guess a nineteen month old running around saying shit was frowned upon. I tried to cover up my laughter when she told me, but it was pointless.
Over the next couple days we did all we could to get ahead. That meant we worked through lunch and well into the evenings. When Friday late afternoon rolled in, both of us were in my truck and driving to our families.
It had been one of the longest weeks of our lives.
***
I dropped off Ben first and then drove by Kori’s parents’ making sure she wasn’t there. When I didn’t see her Escape, I kept driving past.
A few minutes later I pulled into my driveway and found myself laughing at the sight before me. Just to the side of the house was a big air filled slide with some kind of slip and slide attached.
Maria, Kori, and Rhett were running around sliding and laughing. I took in the beauty of my girl in her tiny pink bikini and found myself adjusting my pants. It had been a week without touching her, and her lack of clothing wasn’t helping my raging hormones one bit.
When I stepped out of my truck and shut my door, I turned toward them. Within seconds I was tackled and a set of arms wrapped around my neck. Kori’s lips crashed to mine, and I gripped her waist, lifting her from the ground. Turning her around, I pressed her against the side of my truck. Her legs immediately encircled my waist.
“Did you miss me?” She nodded and sucked my lower lip into her mouth. “You know, if you keep it up, things are gonna be getting real dirty, real fast.”
She bit her lip, smiling seductively. “I like dirty.”
I shook my head and grinned. “Oh, you’re gonna get dirty, baby. Just not in the middle of the driveway with an audience.” I cupped her ass, and my fingertips grazed over her center. She gasped, followed by a moan.
Leaning close to her ear, I whispered, “I’m sleeping inside you tonight. We have a lot of catching up to do.” I felt her body shiver against mine as I slowly lowered her back to the ground. Rhett was coming toward me, and I needed to hug my little man.
The summer weather was hitting hard. It was warm and sticky, and Rhett loved the water. He was like a damn fish. It was harder than hell to get him out of the tub without a fit on his part.
I set Rhett down at my feet and knelt in front of him. “You want me to slide with you?” He nodded enthusiastically as he turned around and ran toward the water. Kori took my hand in hers, and we walked to the side of the house. I slipped my shirt up over my head and my shoes from my feet. Taking off full speed ahead, I spread out over the plastic and slid forward. Rhett’s laughter followed, and he trailed right behind, crashing against me in the pool at the end. I spent over an hour sliding around with him and Kori. I felt like a kid again. These two brought out the best in me. It was perfect
Maria ducked out shortly after I got home. She said we needed some family time. Family…I loved the sound of that. They were my family, and I was damn lucky to have ‘em.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Our weekend went by too quickly. I felt like I barely got to touch Kori or snuggle Rhett, before I had to head out again.
Being away from them was draining me. Ben knew how I was feeling. Being away from Leann and his baby girl was hard on him too. It was taking a toll on both of us. We were like two cranky women in need of a case of Pamprin.
We were in the middle of hanging a front door when I got the call that brought me to my knees.
“She wasn’t moving, Reed. She was so pale when they took her.” Maria cried hard on the other end of the line. I was having a hard time understanding her words. They were coming out so jumbled together. I fell to the floor and dropped my phone to the ground.
I barely registered Ben picking up my phone and getting the details of Kori’s condition. I felt his hands lift upward under my arms, bringing me to my feet. Our eyes locked, and it hit me. It hit me hard. A grown man sobbing uncontrollably, barely able to catch my breath. I was weak from the news that had shattered my soul.
“Come on man, I need to get you home.” Ben spoke as he walked me toward my truck.
Kori was crossing the street from the meat market, and some jackass kid hit her. He didn’t even stop to see if she was okay. He kept driving, but someone from the market had seen the whole thing. They called the cops and gave the plate number of the car he was driving.
Kori had been rushed by ambulance, and any further information was still being determined. I sat in silence as Ben rushed toward East Georgia Medical Center in Statesboro.
I felt numb; it was a god damn nightmare. “I can’t lose her, Ben. I won’t make it through something like that. She’s gotta be okay, I need her. I won’t make it.” I never turned to face him as I spoke the words. I watched as everything passed by in a blur.
“She’s gonna be all right,” he assured me, but I knew it was just an attempt to calm me. No one could answer that question right now.
Ben’s phone rang just as we crossed into Statesboro. “Hello.” He paused. “We’re about two minutes away, baby.” He mumbled a few more words, but I was too far gone to understand them.
; He hung up just as we pulled into the hospital lot. We rushed in through the emergency entrance, and Rhett’s cries rang out through the silence. They sounded torturous, and it broke me once again. He was in Gemma’s, Kori’s mom’s, arms thrashing from side to side.
The moment he saw me, he cried out, “Daddy.” The words once again brought my towering frame to my knees.
Rhett had only called me daddy once before, and it was as clear as it was right then. The sobs broke from me once more the moment he slipped from her lap and leaped into my arms.
“He wants Kori,” her mom cried. “He watched it all, Reed, from Maria’s arms. Just three seconds later, they would have all been hit.” I squeezed him against my chest tightly, crying into the crease of his neck.
“It’s okay, buddy, Momma’s gonna be okay.” I kissed his forehead and rocked him gently. I only hoped that the words I spoke were true. I needed them to be true, for all of us.
The waiting room was full of worried people, their faces stained from tears. Maria was a mess, leaning over on Gavin’s shoulder as he rubbed her soothingly. Leann holding Chloe, curled into Ben’s side. My dad sat in the corner, his eyes red rimmed and swollen. My dad never cried, but I guessed today was an exception.
An hour passed before a nurse told us Kori was still in surgery. Her leg was broken in two places, and her pelvis was fractured. She had to have pins put in her leg. Her shoulder had been dislocated, and she needed stitches along her forehead. I heard words like contusions and lacerations, but it all started to blur together.
I sat in silence, holding Rhett’s sleeping body against my chest. He had finally given up, crying himself to sleep, waiting for his momma.
The doctor took us all into a private room, explaining her injuries. He stated that she was highly medicated due to the surgery. They would keep her that way through the night. He explained that the blunt force hit mainly in her left leg, bouncing her across the front of the car.
The witnesses stated she flipped up onto the hood and spun off the side. She hit the pavement and rolled, which is where she received the lacerations and road burn.
My stomach rolled and the bile rose in my throat thinking about what she went through, and the thoughts that must have been running through her mind. I took several deep breaths, doing everything I could to stay calm. It was a constant inner battle, when all I wanted to do was break.
Rhett was the strength I needed to push on. He needed me to stay strong.
“She’s gonna be resting all night. Maybe you should go home and get some sleep yourself.” I looked up into the tired eyes of Kori’s mom.
“I’m good, why don’t you and Bud head home? Can you take Rhett with you, though? I’m gonna stay here, just in case she wakes up. I don’t want her to be alone if she does.” She nodded and took Rhett from me, careful not to wake him.
“I’ll stay with you,” Maria whispered as she sat down in the seat next to me. “I can’t leave her either.”
I took her hand into mine, squeezing it gently.
Gavin leaned down and whispered something in Maria’s ear, and she smiled up at him softly when he pulled back. “Thanks, I will.”
After everyone left, I questioned her. “What was that all about?”
She shrugged. “He just told me that if I needed anything at all, I should call him.”
We sat in silence for a while, and I had a million thoughts running through my head. I needed a distraction, so I pushed harder at Maria. “What’s going on with you two? I mean, I know that you two hooked up.” She looked at me, wrinkling up her eyebrows. She acted like she was going to deny it, so I stopped her. “I’m a guy, and I know what a hook up looks like. The signs are all there. Don’t deny it, Maria. What I do want to know is why do you think that’s all you’re worth?”
She stared off toward the entry doors of the hospital. We were waiting for Kori to be moved to a room, and then they would take us up to the waiting area on that floor. The emergency room was quiet, and the silence was deafening.
Maria shrugged and took a deep breath. “Gavin isn’t a bad guy. He’s just going through things. He’s had a pretty messy divorce, and his ex-wife is playing with his head. He just doesn’t want to commit, so I take whatever he gives. I’m not saying that’s right, but it’s that or not have him at all. I like him too much to lose him completely.”
“He’s sleeping with Josie too. You do know that, right?” Her eyes filled up with tears.
She nodded. “He did, twice, he told me. He said he was trying to erase me from his mind.” She wrinkled up her nose and rubbed her hand over her face. “I’ve only been with him once. It was before he slept with her. You can believe me or not, but I don’t share. I do actually think I’m worth that much. I understand if he can’t commit. I refuse to be the other girl, though.”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and squeezed her against my side, kissing the top of her head. “Good, don’t let him make you feel you aren’t worth more. You’re a catch, and he would be damn lucky to have you love him. He needs to get his own shit straight, then maybe he’ll be able to see the light.”
“Thank you. You know she’s real lucky to have you. You saved her.” I looked down at her.
“I’m the lucky one, Mar. I broke her heart when I messed around with Kim. She still found it in herself to forgive me.” I looked toward the entrance as an older man walked in pushing his wife in a wheelchair. “I know I may not have been her first choice, but I’m gonna do everything I can to take care of her for the rest of our lives.”
“Reed, it’s not about choices. She loves you. I don’t think she ever stopped. She packed it away nice and tight, but it never disappeared.” Maria leaned back to get a better look at me. “Do you know when we were in high school she talked about marrying you? She said that when she envisioned her life, you were the man she wanted to share it with.”
My chest constricted with intense emotion. “One day I’m gonna ask her, one day soon.”
“And she’ll say yes, because you two are meant to be together.” She paused and looked down at her hands. “I actually believe that our lives are already laid out before us. There’s a path each one of us is meant to follow. We come in and out of one another’s lives for very specific reasons. One little action, or a major catastrophe, ripples along, changing everyone in its path for a reason. At the time we may think that it’s unfair, torture even. Later on we’re able to see the effect it caused and what good came from it.”
Her eyes met mine once more. “Blake entered Kori’s world to show her how to love, unconditionally. He shared the greatest gift with her, Rhett. He left her in a tragic way which led her back to you. She’ll forever be a different person because of him, a better person. That man made it possible for her to love you stronger in the end, because Kori knows how to love fully, unconditionally.”
I nodded. The conversation Maria just shared was both enlightening and shocking. Maria was an amazing woman. She deserved happiness, and she deserved her great love.
After another thirty minutes, they moved us upstairs to another waiting area, one with more comfortable chairs and even a few couches.
We got settled the best we could and got some much needed rest. Or at least I attempted it. What truly happened was I dreamt repeatedly of Kori, hurt and crying. A few times I shot awake looking around for her, wanting to get to her, only to find myself in the dark waiting room surrounding by others who were just as lost as me.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I woke up with the biggest cramp in my neck. Those recliners looked much more comfortable than they actually were. I cracked my neck and stretched my arms above my head.
I tapped Maria on the shoulder. She lifted her head, holding on to the back of her neck, mimicking my previous actions. All I could do was chuckle. “Tell me about it, they’re a bitch on your neck.” She laughed in return and slowly stretched and sat up. “Wanna get a coffee?”
“Mm, yes,” she sighed.
By the time we made it back upstairs, the waiting area was once again full with families coming to visit their loved ones.
A doctor stood at the front desk looking over a chart. The attendant saw us enter and pointed our way. When the doctor turned around, my stomach lurched. He was about to tell us something about Kori. I let out a calming breath as he approached.
“Reed Jackson?” he questioned.
“Yes,” I replied. He reached out his hand and shook mine firmly.
“I’m Dr. Morgan, Kori’s physician. I was just in her room looking over her injuries. She’s going to be going through a lot over the next few months. She’ll recover, but that leg of hers was a mess.” He sighed. “She is one tough cookie, though.”
“How did you know who I was? You called me by my full name. I was just wondering why you didn’t ask for her parents.” Not that I was complaining, I just figured they would be the first to be spoken with.
He grinned at me. “Because you’re the one she’s asking for, and Maria.” He looked over at Maria and chuckled. “She said to tell you that, and I quote, ‘Now she has one of her own thrusting thighs.’” The doctor shrugged, and Maria broke out in laughter, covering her mouth as her tears fell from her eyes.
The doctor and I didn’t have a clue what that meant, but it appeared Maria knew. Then it hit me what the doctor said. “Wait, she asked for me? She’s awake?”
“Yeah, and if you follow me I’ll take you both back.” We followed closely as he stopped in front of room twelve. He slid the door open and ushered us both inside, before closing the door once more.
Kori opened her eyes and looked at us both, standing there in the doorway. I was afraid to move or even speak. Her forehead was bandaged, along with her arm. Her leg was covered with a cast from her thigh to her foot. The pelvic fracture was pretty minor and did not need surgery to correct it. There was no need for pins or screws other than in her thigh and knee.