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He presses his lips into a thin line and I guess we lost to North Carolina. “Devon hit a buzzer beater to win. But they aren’t out celebrating, instead they’re here for you and Lettie.
“Thank you. Take care of my mom. Can you stay with her while I talk to Jasper?”
Jasper paces the sterile white and gray hallway. When he sees me, he immediately grabs me by the arms and pulls me into him. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault. Did she overdose on her ADHD medicine?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure they’ll tell me anything. Why do you think it’s your fault?”
“She was endangering her life and Diamond Mine’s. I flew off the handle and told her I knew she hadn’t been taking her medicine. What if she took too many, trying to be fine so she could ride?”
Mom peeks her head out the door. “She’s moving and mumbling.”
“Jasper, you were trying to help her, and I’m forever grateful to you for caring about her. I appreciate all you’ve done for her, and I’m sorry for the tension between us.” He swallows hard and he obviously cares about Lettie. “I mean it. Thanks for being here.”
I shake his hand, then turn and walk back into Lettie’s room. Mom and Coach get some coffee and leave me alone with the only person who makes me feel complete.
I’m looking out the hospital window when Lettie mumbles in shaky breaths, “No, no. Don’t go,”
I turn back to the bed and sit on the edge of her bed. “I’m never leaving you again.”
Her eyes flutter open, swollen and shattered. “Wrong guy at the wrong time,” she says as her voice trails off.
“Don’t say that, Lettie. You’ve always been my everything and always will be.” She moves our intertwined hand under her cheek, silently crying. “What happened, baby? You scared me.”
“You texted me, and I… had to see you with Dai…” She slurps up her words over her tears. “Daisy in my seats. Your mom said the seats were taken, but she would get me tickets.”
My heart sinks over the devastation in her voice. “Why would Daisy be in my family’s seat?”
“The election. I saw you holding her, and I thought she was living my life. My life. Mine and yours.” She bursts into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. My thumbs rub back and forth over the soft skin of her hands and wait with sadness and remorse wracking my body.
“You were coming over to tell me it was really over, that you found someone else who made you happy. You looked happy. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was leaving to come to the game and see for myself in hopes I would be wrong, but when I opened the door, my mom was standing there.”
My jaw drops. “Your mom?” Her mom is a drug addict, and I can feel anger rushing through my veins. I immediately put the pieces together—her mom gave her drugs.
She shakes her head. “Mom showed up asking me for money. She saw a video of us singing somewhere, and she thought…” She inhales and continues to cry. “Thought we were still together and that I would have money to pay off their drug dealer. She promised they were quitting. God, I’m such a fool wanting a mom of my own.”
“You’re not a fool to want a good mother. What happened?”
“I told her about us breaking up and not even being friends.” She closes her eyes and huffs. “Dane,” she cries. “She said she had something to make me feel better. Something that would take my pain away, and it wouldn’t hurt me; it was a prescription. I kept seeing Daisy kiss your cheek and thinking about her stealing my life with you.”
She cries, and I cry with her. Lettie deserves parents who put her first. Hell, everyone does.
“You said nothing would change, and everything did, Dane. I lost more than I ever expected. I wish I would have never given in to you at the fundraiser. If I didn’t, none of this would have happened.”
My heart rips a little more, knowing she wishes we hadn’t been intimate or was never my girlfriend. I kiss her cheek. “Baby, I have so many pent-up emotions inside me right now and so many things I need to tell you. This was all my fault, but I can promise you that I was faking happiness because that’s what I had to do to get through the day, not being with you or talking to you. Daisy was screwing my dad. The asshole used me for cover, so if anyone caught her with him, he could say she was coming to meet me.”
“You aren’t in love with her?” she asks with her eyebrows stitched together in confusion and her throat quivering.
“I’ve only loved one person in my life, and she’s lying in a hospital bed. You’re my best friend and…. ” My words die in the air because I don’t know what we are.
“Dane, I’ve lost everything. I hurt so damn bad. You were moving on with your life without me. I’ve cried and cried. Jasper won’t let me ride because I can’t focus. I felt like you abandoned me, even though I’m the one who ripped us apart.” She turns her head away from me.
“Lettie, when you broke up with me, how many times did you say we would stay friends?”
“But we didn’t, did we?” she asks in a hushed tone.
Placing my fingers under her chin, I turn her face toward me. She needs to know how much I love her. “Because it felt like a ten-inch blade was jabbed into my heart and twisted. You destroyed me, Lettie and then my dad threatened to take away your sponsorships.”
Her eyes narrow.
