He asked.
I said yes.
I’ve spent days mourning Marcie, mourning my health, and mourning Spencer, because I thought I was going to have to give him up. Instead, he’s staying, and my upcoming battle seems just that little bit more bearable.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” I swipe a hand over my cheeks and clear the tears away when Spencer sets me on my feet. “Thanks for coming back.”
“Maybe next time, you could take my fucking calls and get me back here a little faster. Instead, I had to ride here with your brother, and pretend I wasn’t freaking out about his sister.”
Spencer picks me up the way he picked me up earlier, then takes me to the bed, and climbs up beside me in such a way as to announce we’re going into this together.
If I’m in this bed, being poked and prodded and losing parts of my body, then he’ll be right here with me. Every day that I’m having poison pumped into my veins with the hopes it kills the other poison in my body, he’s going to be here holding my hand and telling me I still look pretty.
He sets us up in my bed so I lay on my back with my legs open, then he lays between them, resting his head on my chest and his chest on my pelvis. He drapes himself over me, promising to protect me from everything the world is going to toss at us over the next three months.
“I love you, Priss. Don’t check out on me again.”
I lay back and stare at the ceiling with tears in my eyes. “Okay.”
“Everyone else, get the fuck out of this room. We’re going to sleep; my wife has a big day tomorrow.”
I thread my fingers into his hair and smile at the ceiling. Tomorrow, my war begins.
“Spencer?”
He lifts his head. “Yeah?”
“My surgery is at nine. Can we get up early to visit with Marcie first? I won’t be able to go to her funeral.” My voice hitches. I miss her so much, and not being able to attend her funeral hurts almost as much as her death does. “I just want to say goodbye first.”
He nods and lays his head back down. “I’m wherever you are. I’ll make it happen for you. Then I’ll attend when she’s laid to rest. I’ll attend for us both, and take her those flowers I would have taken her on prom night.”