AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, there, Summer.” The voice is strained, and worried, and every little bit of what I want to hear. My mother smoothes my hair back from my face as I force my eyes open, and a small smile touches my lips when I see her.
“Mom,” I sigh, putting all of my strength into lifting my arms until I can hook them over her shoulders. “Oh mom. I’m so happy you’re here. Kins said you were, but I couldn’t stay awake, and?—”
“Shhh, shh. You’re okay, hon.” I don’t realize until she wipes tears off of my face that I’m crying, but once I do, it’s like a dam breaks in me.
I sob, face in her shirt, and my mom sits on the bed properly, rocking me a bit awkwardly as I cry. And the best thing about her is that she just lets me do it. Mom just holds me, letting me cry out the pain, the fear, and the worry from the last few days.
“You’re okay,” she murmurs, hands rubbing my back as I cry. “Everything is okay. The doctors say you’re going to be fine. All of your friends are fine.”
My breath catches in my lungs, and I wish I could stop crying, but now that I’ve started, I can’t. Thankfully, my mom is the only one in the room, instead of someone who might judge me for this.
At least, until a noise in my ears signifies the door sliding open, and when I peek over my mom’s shoulder, I see Kayde hesitating in the doorway, concern etched onto his features while he holds two styrofoam cups of hospital coffee.
“I’m clearly crying because you weren’t here for all of a few minutes,” I mumble hoarsely, making a joke out of it. My mom twists to glance back, and a small smile touches Kayde’s lips.
“I can go,” he tells me, setting the coffee cups down on the nightstand. “I can come back—” I reach out with my one free hand and grip the fabric of his t-shirt in a silent plea for him to not go anywhere.
“You don’t have to,” I murmur, feeling selfish. Tears still run down my cheeks, but at least I’m no longer actively sobbing. “You can stay. I uh, hear you two may have met?” My mom pulls back, but helps me sit up slowly and carefully in my hospital bed.
“Someone should’ve told me she has a boyfriend. Especially when it’s so serious,” my mom admonishes gently. I stare up at her, taking in her bright green eyes set in a face as pale as mine with a spattering of freckles. Her dark hair is pulled back into a bun, and more than anything, Mom looks exhausted.
“We’re more like…engaged than just dating,” Kayde slips in smoothly, and I shoot him a withering look, prepared for my mother to launch into a speech about not rushing things.
But my mother beams at him, then looks at me. “You could definitely do worse,” she assures me. “And Kayde says I get to plan the wedding.”
“Does he now?” My brows arch towards my bangs as Mom grasps my hand lightly. “That’s so…bold of him.” If there’s a warning in my eyes, then Kayde just ignores it as he smiles and sips his coffee.
“Hey.” My mom draws my attention back to her and smiles. For the first time, I see her red-rimmed, puffy eyes and the exhaustion dragging at her features; making the lines in her face look worse than usual. Today. My mom looks closer to sixty than fifty, and I don’t like it. “I love you, Summer. And everything is going to be okay. You’ll get to go home in a few days, and then you can sleep and watch all the horror movies you want.”
“While you and Kayde plan the wedding?” I ask rebelliously, and my mother laughs.
“Yeah. Absolutely. We’ll take care of all of it while you go on a Texas Chainsaw Massacre marathon. Sound fair?”
“Only if we get a Leatherface impersonator to marry us.” I yawn, leaning back against the head of the bed. “That sound okay?”
My mother makes a face, and Kayde chuckles. “I’m sure it can be arranged,” he promises, and offers the other cup of coffee to Mom.
“Thank you.” She stands, hand still in mine, and searches my face before she smiles lightly again. “I love you,” my mom reminds me. “I’m going to run to the bathroom, okay?” When her eyes flick to Kayde, I realize this is just a terribly unsubtle ploy for me to talk to my apparent ‘fiance.’
“Okay,” I sigh, knowing she’s going to take her sweet time. “Grab me like ten gallons of coffee on your way back? Please?”
“Nope.” My mother breezes out of the room, closing the door behind her as she goes.
For a moment, the room is silent. I can hear the ticking of the clock on the wall, and the occasional beeping from the machines I’m hooked up to has become white noise to me. “So how’d you do it?” I ask, turning to look at Kayde where he’s still sitting quietly.
His eyes widen, and my sociopath is full of innocent good will as I glare at him. “Don’t even try the Lassie face with me, Kayde. My mom doesn’t just like people. She threatened the last guy I dated with a lawsuit.”
“Maybe he deserved it.” Kayde shrugs. “Maybe she just knows I’m your soulmate.”
“Maybe you’re stupidly charming and know how to get what you want,” I retort, and he chuckles.
“Yeah, okay. Maybe that one. But she does like me, Summer.”
“She doesn’t actually think we’re engaged, right?”
The look Kayde gives me makes me groan, and I throw my head back against the pillows. It’s a questionable move, and my head spins while nausea briefly claws at my stomach. But I swallow it down and suck in a breath before focusing on him once more.
“She’s certainly heard me say it enough over the past few days. And she only questioned it once, then asked why you aren’t wearing a ring. I think that’s the part she’s most upset about,” Kayde admits. “Why? Would you prefer for me to tell her that you’re mine? That I’ll kill anyone who touches you? Shawn is pretty good evidence of that. But I can phrase it that way if?—”
