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My chest throbs. "Your mom is still here."
"How do you know?" Matt chuckles dryly.
Hesitantly, I reach out a hand, lay it across his chest. "Because she'll always live in here."
A single tear slips down Matt's face. "I don't deserve your friendship after all the shit I've done."
I pull my hand back, wrap my arms around myself. "I think we both have done some pretty messed up shit."
Matt's head whips in my direction. "Did you just say shit?"
My mouth drops open in surprise. "Fuck, did I?"
He starts laughing, and I do, too.
"What's happened to you?" he jokes.
"Life," I nudge his shoulder with mine.
We sit in silence for a few moments, neither of us saying anything. But then the clouds begin to part and blinding sunlight pours from the sky in waves of flaxen gold.
"You're right," Matt smirks as he lifts a hand, smiles at the sunlight flooding his arm. "She's still here."
I close my eyes and lean my head back, bathe in the warmth and light as the sun punches through the grey clouds above.
"Matt!" I hear Mom frantically yelling.
I raise my head, open my eyes. Mom's running towards us, her face pale, Dad trailing behind her. "Audra's water broke. We need to get to the hospital right now!"
Matt jumps up, turns to face me.
"Go!" I tell him.
And he does, running through the throngs of people, crushing the snow beneath his feet.
Time.
It always moves so damn fast.
Too damn fast.
Chapter 56
Kyle and I hold hands as we walk into the hospital, the sound of my high heels clacking along the sterile floor. It feels strange to be here. The last time we wandered these halls, we were being told Diane didn't have long to live.
Now, a new life is about to begin.
Matt's going to become a father.
Junior year of high school, Matt and I had to work on a project together for Health class. We didn't have to carry around a sack of sugar or an egg and pretend it was our child, but we had to make a plan for our futures. Decide if we wanted children, what age we wanted to have them at, what we wanted our careers to be.
It seemed stupid to me, to make a plan for my future when I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had never been good at anything other than basketball and I really had no desire to play competitively. I liked playing for fun.
My eyes scanned the first question.
Do you want to get married?
I wasn't sure. I wanted a marriage like Mom and Dad's, but I also knew how rare theirs was. Danny and Nora were always trading snide remarks, arguing over who worked harder, who was more tired, who gave more to their family. I definitely didn't want that kind of marriage. Sounded like a prison sentence, if you had asked me.
