Fairy Tale Flirts 2! 5 Romantic Short Stories

by Scott, Lisa

  Jordan stopped to suck in a breath. The memory felt so fresh. He cleared his throat and continued, squeezing her hand. “A.J. and J.D. made a pact. They were going to grow up to be boyfriend and girlfriend. They were going to fall in love.”

  ***

  Daisy heads tickled Aurora’s legs as she ran through the field, chasing after Rexy.

  “He beats you every time, A.J.!” Jordan caught up to her as Rexy bounded into the creek splashing and snapping at little fish.

  “You can’t beat him either, J.D.” She tumbled to the ground and Jordan sat next to her. He started popping the heads off daisies.

  “That’s just mean,” she said, twirling a flower by its stem.

  “There’s thousands of them here.” He stretched his arms wide. “Should I play she loves me, she loves me not with them instead?”

  Aurora’s heart raced. “Well, that depends. Who’s the she?” Aurora had a monster-sized crush on Jordan, but she’d never tell.

  He shrugged. “Nobody. I’m only ten. My dad always says girls tangle up your life, and that I should be in no hurry to get me one.”

  Aurora closed her eyes to hide her disappointment. She flexed her hand and wiggled her fingers, dropping the flower. Why did it feel like someone was holding her hand? She opened her eyes to check, but Jordan had both his hands behind him. “Yeah, ten’s too young,” she said.

  “But when we’re older, maybe you and me could be boyfriend-girlfriend,” he suggested.

  Her throat tightened. “Really?”

  “Yeah. It’ll be easier than looking for one. Let’s line it up now. Besides, then we could share Rexy. Like maybe one night he could sleep at my house, one night at yours.”

  “So, you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend some day?” she asked, in a breathy whisper.

  He shrugged. “I can’t imagine liking any girl more than I like you. Most girls don’t like getting dirty like you do. Come here.” He stood and offered his hand.

  She took it and followed him to the edge of the forest. “Pick out a tree you like. One near the stream so we can find it.”

  While she examined the trees, he was searched the ground. Finally, he stood, holding up a sharp rock.

  Aurora patted a big maple tree that had a low arm big enough for the two of them to sit on. “This is a great tree.”

  “It is a nice tree.” Jordan stabbed the rock into the bark.

  “Hey! That’s even meaner than flicking daisy heads.”

  He ignored her and started carving.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m making a promise.” He carved a heart. Then he put their initials inside: JD plus AJ.

  Her heart felt like a rocket ready to shoot right out of her. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means someday we’ll get married.”

  “We will?”

  He nodded. “After we’re boyfriend-girlfriend for a while. Who else would I marry but you? Other girls are…” He made a face that looked a lot like the time he ate a sour crabapple on a dare.

  She blinked at him.

  “Come on. I’ll race you to the creek.” He took off running.

  She followed, her heart thumping like crazy, slowing her down..

  Someone called her name from across the field. She stopped. It was so bright over there, she almost couldn’t see who’d spoken, but she recognized the voice. “Aurora, come see your granddad. We’ve been waiting for you.” Grandpa Jackson waved his arms over his head, Rexy at his feet. Wasn’t Rexy still in the creek?

  She ran toward them, but then Jordan said, “Stay with me.”

  She looked back at him, then at Grandpa. The field by Grandpa was so sunny and beautiful. It gave her such a peaceful feeling. But Jordan’s big blue eyes were nice, too. Besides, he’d carved her name in a tree. She was supposed to be with him. She turned back to Jordan and smiled.

  ***

  The alarm on Aurora’s heart monitor woke Jordan. Her heart rate had spiked, but it was settling back to normal. “Stay with me,” he said.

  She didn’t stir.

  A nurse rushed into the room, but he assured her Aurora was fine, so she left.

  He was holding her hand and rubbing his thumb over her skin. “I lost you once and damn it, I won’t let that happen again.”

  He brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. “Are you in there?”

  It was three a.m. and the full moon shone through her room. The summer before she’d moved, he and Aurora would sneak out on full-moon nights and dare each other to run the furthest into the forest. Then one day, that little girl down the street and her mom packed up and left town in the middle of the night. Kids at school whispered that The Woodsman had chased them away. Then Aurora was too scared to sneak out at night anymore. Truth was, he’d been scared, too.

  And he was scared again when she moved away. He shouldn’t have let their relationship fall apart after she left. He let her push him away after Rexy died. He thought it’d be easier to move on if they stopped talking. They lived hours apart, and she never returned to Goose Valley. Why keep longing after someone who was gone? It hurt too much.

  But staring at her pale and motionless in bed had him more scared than he’d ever been in his life.

  ***

  Mr. and Mrs. Jackson showed up at nine the next morning. “Any changes?”

  “No,” Jordan said, stretching in his chair. “I’ve talked with her physicians and it’s just wait and see at this point. They’re doing everything they can for her.”

  The three of them turned their gazes to Aurora and the tubes that snaked across her body.

  Jordan had to turn away. “My shift starts in half an hour. I’m going to go shower and get something to eat, but I’ll check back throughout the day.”

  “Be honest. What are her chances?” Mr. Jackson asked.

  Most men Jordan’s age dreaded the question, “Where do you see this relationship going?” He dreaded, “Is my loved one going to die?”

  Jordan rubbed the back of his head. “It’s really too early to be able to give an accurate prognostic outlook.”

  “It’s bad that she hasn’t woken up, isn’t it?” Mrs. Jackson asked.

  He cringed. “It would be much better if she were conscious, yes. There are two critical periods to consider when evaluating severe brain trauma. The first is during the day or two after the injury. The injuries could be so severe that the patient dies no matter how sophisticated our treatment. It’s been almost twenty-four hours. Let’s hope she makes it another day. Once we get past this first hurdle, we’ll be able to assess the damage over the next two critical weeks.”

  Neither of them said anything. Jordan bowed his head. No matter how much training he had, no matter how expensive and sophisticated their equipment, it all came down to the simple words he delivered. A pill, a cast, an operation—those were things people could rally around. His words, however, were never enough.

  He cleared his throat. “It’s like this, and I’m going to be completely honest. Basically, the longer a person remains in a coma, the less likely they are to have a complete recovery.”

  Mrs. Jackson forced a shaky smile. “I understand.” She swallowed audibly. “You’re so kind. I know this isn’t even your department.” She sat next to Aurora and took a brush out of her purse. “I haven’t even had a moment to ask how things are with you, Jordan. Are you married?”

  Jordan laughed softly. “No. I’ve been quite busy with medical school, and now the residency.” Truth was, he’d never had a girlfriend he’d been serious enough with to think about marrying. His relationship with Mary Lamb wasn’t worth mentioning. He’d be ending that soon. Had Aurora made better choices than he had? He couldn’t imagine what Aurora had been doing with that jerk who’d been here the day before.

  ***

  Jordan said goodbye to the Jacksons and paused by Aurora’s bed. He gave her hand one last squeeze. He waited to feel something back, but there was nothing. He trudged to the doctor’s
lounge to prepare for the day. Hopefully, things would be quiet.

  Mary walked into the room and sat next to him on the couch. “How’s your friend?”

  He leaned forward, dropping his head into his hands. “Not any better.”

  She squeezed his shoulder. “I’m here for you if you need to talk. Anything you need.”

  Mary was probably expecting him to take her in her arms to thank her for being so thoughtful. But all he could do was nod. “Thanks.”

  ***

  After setting a broken bone from a less serious car accident, Jordan was able to sneak off to check on Aurora. The nurse on duty told him there was no change in her condition. Mrs. Jackson looked as if she’d aged five years in twenty-four hours. She wrung her hands. “Shouldn’t she be waking up? Why isn’t she waking up?”

  Jordan guided her to a chair and sat beside her. “I think in cases like this, the body knows it has to shut everything down for a while so all its energy can go into healing.” He shrugged. “Just my opinion. I’ve seen people come out of comas after a few days. Be patient and keep the faith.”

  “It’s just that Morty’s aunt said…she said Aurora would die in a crash.”

  “I know, and Aurora never believed it. But she loved you enough to stay out of cars.”

  “And look what good that did.” Mrs. Jackson started crying again, and Jordan handed her a tissue. “She’s going to die. I just know she’s going to die.”

  Jordan’s heart crumpled at that thought. Now that Aurora was back in his life, if he lost her again he didn’t know what he’d do. What a fool he’d been for not finding her sooner.

  He made plans to sit with Aurora while on break so her parents could get something to eat. He held her hand as she lay there, and it reminded him of the times he snuck into her room and slept on the floor because she was scared The Woodsman would get her.

  “Remember how terrified you were? I never told you this, but I was, too. Although I’m not sure if I was more scared of The Woodsman, or of your father finding out I was in your room.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “But you were safe then and you’re safe now.”

  ***

  Aurora felt frozen in her bed. She was literally so scared she couldn’t move. She kept her eyes shut. Her mom would kill her if she knew Jordan was in her room while she was slept—their parents decided co-ed sleepovers were no longer appropriate in third grade. But Aurora was too terrified to sleep alone in her room after hearing rumors at school about The Woodsman.

  She whimpered, imagining the man in a cape who lurked in the woods holding an axe.

  “Shh,” Jordan whispered. “I’ll keep you safe.”

  “But what if he has an axe? You can’t fight that.”

  “I’ll bite his leg.”

  She giggled despite her fear. “Rexy could do that.” She heard a noise outside. “What was that? I heard something on the roof.” The roof to their front porch was right outside her bedroom window. “It’s him.”

  “No it isn’t. We don’t even know that he’s real, Aurora.”

  “Still, I’m scared.”

  She heard Jordan stand. She kept her eyes pressed shut. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m climbing onto the roof to look. ‘Yo, Woodsman, get the hell out of here!’”

  “JD, you swore!”

  “Need him to know I’m serious. Now get to sleep, will you?”

  “Thanks, JD.” Something tickled her forehead. She opened her eyes. “What was that?”

  He sat up. “What?”

  “I felt something. On my head.” She sat up, confused. Her bed was in the middle of the daisy field. “I don’t understand.”

  But now, Jordan was snoring on the ground.

  Aurora looked around. Grandpa Jackson stood by that bright light on the other side of the field again. He motioned for her to come to him.

  She swung her legs out of bed intending to run to him, but Jordan was still holding her hand. She tried to pull it away, but he squeezed harder.

  She looked at Grandpa. “I can’t come. Not now.”

  Grandpa stood, arms crossed and smiling.

  Jordan’s hand was still linked in hers, so she returned to bed, closed her eyes and drifted off, never letting go.

  ***

  Jordan held Aurora’s hands in his. “Wake up.”

  Nothing.

  Jordan sighed. He thought he heard something different in her breathing—a sigh almost, but she hadn’t stirred. Once you looked past the tubes and monitors surrounding her, she appeared so peaceful it was hard to imagine anything was wrong with her.

  He went back to work. Fortunately, the ER was quieter than usual. No life threatening situations, just broken bones and infections that would heal quickly.

  He slept in the doctor’s lounge—again. This routine went on for a week: working his shift in the ER, saying no to Mary’s invitations for company or dinner, checking on Aurora when he could, and reassuring her parents they didn’t know what would happen. But he was growing less hopeful every day.

  Too bad Rexy isn’t still alive, he thought. You’d respond to him for sure.

  That’s why on Aurora’s ninth day in the hospital, he left her to head out on a mission.

  When he walked into the animal shelter, he headed straight for the dogs. “Any chance you have any yellow lab puppies?”

  The woman laughed. “We don’t get purebred puppies very often and when we do, they’re snatched up fast. But we do have a few lab mixes.”

  He walked over to the rows of dogs sitting in small, caged-off rooms. It would break Aurora’s heart to see this. He knew she’d love any one of these dogs, but he found himself squatting in front of a little golden retriever-German shepherd mix. The goofy little girl propped her white paws up on the bars of the cage and tried sticking her dark muzzle through to lick Jordan. Then her snout got stuck. “I think I need to adopt you just to save you from yourself.”

  After freeing the little pup’s nose, he filled out the paperwork, bought a red collar and leash, and took the dog home. He set her down in the living room, and they stared at each other. “Now I’ve got to figure out how to sneak you into the hospital without getting fired.”

  ***

  Jordan bought an extra-big duffle bag, wrapped the dog up in a blanket and went to the hospital before his shift started. He rode the elevator to the eighth floor, wedging himself in a corner so no one would notice his bag move. He faked a coughing fit to cover the dog’s whimpers.

  When he got off on her floor, he quickly walked past the nurse’s station to Aurora’s room and closed the door behind him.

  Mr. And Mrs. Jackson were slumped in their seats, pretending to watch TV. “What’s going on?” Mrs. Jackson asked.

  “Very unconventional therapy,” Jordan said, unzipping his bag and lifting out the puppy.

  Mrs. Jackson gasped.

  “If humans can’t get a response, maybe this little pooch can.” Jordan cuddled the puppy in his arms and walked over to Aurora.

  Mr. and Mrs. Jackson stood behind him. “She’d love that dog,” Mrs. Jackson said. “Broke her heart to leave Rexy behind.”

  He set the dog on the bed and stroked Aurora’s hair. “Hey, I’ve got a surprise for you. It’s not Rexy, but I think you’ll like her a lot.” The puppy sniffed Aurora’s arm and then batted at the tubing.

  “Hey!” Jordan scolded. He picked the puppy up and set it on her chest. “I need your help naming him, A.J. Wake up so we can name her.”

  “A.J.?” Mrs. Jackson asked.

  He felt his cheeks redden. “We had nicknames for each other.”

  Mrs. Jackson blinked, surprised. “I didn’t know that.”

  Jordan bit his lip, hoping to hold back tears. “It was a secret.”

  The puppy nuzzled Aurora’s neck, but she didn’t respond.

  Mrs. Jackson sat back in her chair and started crying again. “She’s gone. She’s really gone.”

  Jordan hated to ask it, but he had
to. “Did you and Aurora ever discuss end of life plans? Do you know her wishes for a situation like this?”

  After a few moments of silence, Mrs. Jackson choked out, “We never talked about it. I couldn’t discuss something like that…” Mrs. Jackson turned to her husband and bawled.

  Jordan softened his voice. “You two should start discussing Aurora’s future. I’ll send the neurologist in to talk about your options.”

  Jordan scooped up the puppy, went home, and cried. He fell asleep with a furry head curled in the crook of his arm.

  Around noon there came a knock on his door. He was surprised to find Mary standing there. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

  She held a casserole dish. “I made lasagna. I know you’ve been upset, and I figured you haven’t been eating enough.” She set it down on his kitchen counter. “I’ve been trying to give you space, but I want to help.”

  A layer of guilt on top of despair was too much. Mary was wonderful and perfect. For someone else. “That was really kind. I’ve got no food here, and no desire to get any.”

  “You should at least try it.” She stood in the kitchen, wringing her hands. “Do you want me to heat it up for you?”

  He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Mary, I love that woman in the hospital. And even if she doesn’t make it, it’s not going to work out between us. You’re fantastic, but we’re not fantastic together. It’s not fair to drag things on when I know it won’t work.”

  Her breath caught. “You’re breaking up with me?”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry. I should’ve done this a while ago. I knew things would never go far between us, but I enjoyed your company.”

  She swallowed and nodded. “I wish I could be mad at you, but you look miserable as hell. I hope she gets better.” She walked out of the apartment and softly closed the door.

  He would’ve felt better if she’d thrown the tray of lasagna at him.

  ***

  The next day, in-between an emergency appendectomy and a hip fracture, he slipped off to Aurora’s room. Ten days had passed with no change. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson weren’t even there. He sat beside Aurora’s bed and reached for her hand.

  “I lied to you about something, A.J. Remember when I was ten and told you it was too yucky to have a girlfriend? That wasn’t true.”