“They could’ve –”
“Leigh! Listen to me. I was there. You would not have been able to save her. Her body suffered irreparable damage.”
I pull away from Dad and stand up, as I say, “You don’t know what I’m capable of doing, Dad.”
Dad gets up and places his hand on my shoulder.
“You’re right. I have no idea what your mind is capable of, but I do know it was humanly impossible to repair the damage done to her body.”
Dad hugs me tightly as everything inside of me rebels. It’s just another word for failure. Impossible.
“I have no doubt that you’ll prove me wrong one day,” he whispers.
He eases back and takes hold of my hand.
“Let’s go home, sweetheart.”
I hug Evie goodbye before I turn to Willow.
“I’ll take the first flight tomorrow,” she promises as she hugs me.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Carter helps to carry my bags to the car, and I’m surprised when he rides with us to the airport. When we get there, he makes sure everything is in place for our flight back home.
I press a kiss to his cheek, truly thankful for everything he’s done for us.
He smiles at me, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s a look of awe on his face.
“If I ever need a doctor, I pray I get you. You’re going to do amazing things, Leigh. I have faith that you will perform miracles.” He presses a kiss to my forehead, and whispers, “Jaxson cares about you.”
Chapter 6
JAXSON
One year ago…
Marcus strides into my office and unbuttons his jacket before he sits.
“Where have you been? I went to your office to check if you wanted to grab something across the road for lunch.”
“I had a meeting,” he says distractedly.
“I take it the meeting didn’t go well?”
He gets up and walks over to the window. He stares outside, instead of answering my question.
A couple of weeks ago I overheard a phone call where he was talking to a doctor. Marcus doesn’t know that I know. I’m hoping he’ll tell me when he’s ready. Knowing that my friend is terminally ill is killing me. I’ve started researching, hoping I’ll find something that can help him. So far I’ve had no luck and the feeling of helplessness grows with each passing day. It’s hard to keep up pretenses around him.
“Have you ever watched people, Jax?”
“What?” I ask as I try to catch up after my thoughts drifted off.
“I wonder if there’s a person out there who doesn’t pretend.”
I don’t answer him because right now we’re both fucking pretending nothing’s wrong.
“I’m breaking things off with Willow,” he whispers.