by Brynn North
“No, you’re not wrong,” I conceded. “But is that so bad? That I want to see where we can go from here?”
He walked over to the ledge by the roaring river and set his coffee cup down. “Kat. No. It’s not so bad to want to try something. But I think you’re forgetting I have feelings too. I don’t want to be the choice you make after your first choice isn’t available. I also don’t want to be some rebound plan for you. I want more than to be someone’s second choice.”
When he put it like that, it did make my whole declaration idea sound terrible. I immediately scratched it from my mind.
“It’s not that. I mean, it is that, but I needed you to teach me there’s more out in the world than what I was experiencing. That I was settling. I’m not asking for a future or a relationship. Just... a chance.”
He looked at me seriously, his handsome face still. My heart pounded, telling me this was yet another situation it didn’t know how to handle. I was used to joking Boston, irritated Boston, and flirty Boston. But this version unnerved me and made my stomach twist. By the look on his face, he wasn’t having the time of his life with this conversation either.
“And how do I know you’re serious and that you won’t just dump me if Shane snaps his fingers?”
I racked my brain for something to say, but then realized I could do better with something to show him. I whipped my phone out of my pocket.
“Look!” I said triumphantly. “I deleted him on both my Instagram and deleted my entire second stalker account.”
He took the phone from me and thumbed through it for a second. “You’re serious? This is your proof?” His voice was incredulous.
“Yup,” I said, refusing to be deterred. “Big proof too.”
He handed my phone to me and sighed. “Oh, Kitty Kat, what am I going to do with you?”
I broke out into a huge grin, and my heart did a happy dance. I had him now, I just knew it.
“Meet for dinner? Seven o’clock.?”
He shook his head again, but this time a smile was on his face. “You’re crazy. But it’s on.”
27
I was humming to myself as I dug Vi’s best boots out of her closet. Just as I was admiring how good my feet looked in the sleek snakeskin booties, my phone rang in my back pocket.
“Whoa,” I said when I saw who was calling. I answered a little hesitantly, stomach already knotting up. What did Shane’s mother want? She and I were always cordial, but not exactly close, especially after she tried to get Shane to dump me.
It didn’t take me long to find out. “Katrina, Shane’s been in an accident.”
“What? Why? What happened?” I gasped as I ripped off Vi’s booties and raced toward my bedroom, flinging open my closet door to grab a few things. Wherever Shane was, I’d have to figure out how to get there, even if it was in Dubai. I’d just have to put the cost of a ticket on my credit card and pay it off over my entire lifetime.
“He’s back in Chicago, attending some kind of fundraiser for Big Brothers, Big Sisters.”
I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. I knew which one she was talking about, as it was one of the few events I liked attending with Shane. This one benefited teenage foster children and was one of the biggest fundraisers of the year. Shane was in his element when it came to Big Brothers, Big Sisters, though he didn’t have personal experience with a troubled childhood himself. He just recognized his privilege and loved making a difference in their lives, and it was one of the things I admired the most about him.
The thought of Shane coming back to the USA, so close to me, yet not telling me or asking to see me, was another stab to the heart, even though I wasn’t sure I would want to see him. In normal circumstances, at least.
“How long was he in town?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.
“Just a few days. He was supposed to leave tomorrow. But he was having lunch with a few of his partners, and,” her voice paused, wavering a little, “a car, possibly a drunk driver, ran a red light. Hit the entire group.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, holding the phone on speaker while putting my head in my hands. The room started to spin, taking my heart along with it. “How is he?” I managed to eek in a raspy tone. I glanced at my bag, with one sneaker sticking out of it. Maybe I wouldn’t need to rush after all. Just the thought of that made me even woozier, and I gasped for air.
“He’s alive.” I never knew hearing those words could induce such an intense wave of emotions. I was weak with relief and angry at the driver, all at the same time. How could someone just plow through a group of people? In broad daylight?
“He’s alive, but how alive?” I demanded, wondering for a split second if that even made sense. You can’t be different levels of alive, could you?
“He’s in surgery for his leg. That got hit the worst. He hit his head pretty badly too, but doctors are hoping it’s only a concussion. We’ll hear soon. I know you aren’t together anymore, but you two were so important to each other for so long I thought you’d like to know,” she finished tearfully.
A fresh round of tears streamed down my face. “Of course,” I sobbed. Even if I had worked on moving on, I couldn’t imagine a time in my life that I wouldn’t care what happened to Shane.
“Shane would want to see you. Can you come to Chicago? We’re already there.” Shane’s mother’s voice pleaded with me and my heart broke even further, imaging how awful it was for her to sit in a hospital waiting room, hoping for good news about her son. No matter how many times she had been rude to me in the past, my heart went out to her. She needed comfort in any way she could, and I needed to see for myself that Shane would be okay.
“I’ll be on the next flight out,” I promised, zipping up my duffle bag.
Luckily, several flights between Minneapolis and Chicago came and went every day, so I was able to book a flight and take an Uber to the airport within the hour.
On the way, I texted Vi to tell her where I was going, and she demanded to get updates as soon as I had them. I thought about telling Boston what was going on but didn’t know exactly what to say. I hesitated the entire ride to the airport, and just as the driver was pulling up to the departure drop off, I finally pulled out my phone.
Kat: Hi
Before I could go any further, he responded.
Boston: What’s up?