“I had a little pain, but the doctor came in about an hour ago and said he would discharge me.” He glanced at her. “Are you here to tell me, he changed his mind?”
She sat beside him on his bed and shook her head. “No, I’m not.” She let out a breath and took his hand in hers. Luke’s eyes fell onto their hands and then he looked back at Leah’s drawn face, dread lurked in the pit of his stomach.
“What’s wrong?” He asked sharply. When she lifted her eyes to meet him, he shook his head, he didn’t have time for her to sugarcoat whatever she needed to tell him. “Leah, speak.”
“Jake’s not doing well.” She stammered, her voice squeaking from her nerves.
He looked at her as if she had just punched him in the gut. Without caring about the soreness he was feeling, he quickly rose from the bed, cringing as the pain seared through him.
“That’s impossible. The doctor’s said the transplant went well.” He said more to himself than to Leah. She quickly stood up and rushed to his side.
“You need to take it easy, you’re not completely recovered.” She placed her hand on his forearm, trying to sway him back towards the edge of the bed. He tugged his arm from her grip and shook her off him, as if she was a pesky fly.
“Leah, do me a favor and don’t tell me what I need. Instead, tell me what is going on with Jake.” He said and clenched his jaw, trying desperately to find patience.
She swallowed, defeated and took a step backward. “He’s had a dangerously high fever all night. It will not break and his immune system is too compromised from all the chemotherapy to fight off the infection.”
He looked at her and studied her eyes that were full of sympathy. He swallowed the lump in his throat, realizing her voice lacked any sort of hope. “But the bone marrow, was supposed to help him.” His voice was rough, almost desperate.
“What’s happening to Jake, has nothing to do with the bone marrow transplant. His body is too weak from the chemo Luke and his organs…” She shook her head not able to finish her sentence.
“His organs are failing.” Luke finished for her. She didn’t utter a single word. All she did was hang her head. Luke stood frozen for a moment, waiting for her to look up at him and give him some sort of good news. He’d take anything at this point. She never lifted her head. He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the ends. As he grasped the strands he wished his hair was straws, and he would be the one holding the shortest one and not his brother.
He brushed past Leah, and as quickly as his body allowed, he went in search for his brother.
Nick sat in his assigned seat at the dance competition that was being hosted at The Atlantic City Convention Center. This place was a zoo, he thought as he took in his surroundings. He felt completely out of place, and made a mental note that if he ever had a daughter, she would be the biggest tomboy to ever live. He glanced beside him at Sam, who was watching one of the competitors perform. She had barely said anything to him the entire morning, it was driving him crazy.
He casually stretched his arm across the back of her chair, and leaned close to her ear. “When is she going to go on?” He whispered into her ear. Then, because he couldn’t help himself, he reached out and tucked one of her blonde strands of hair, behind her ear.
Sam shuttered, feeling his breath on her earlobe. He grinned slightly, musing on the fact that no matter how mad she claimed to be, she still was affected by him. He watched her glance at the program she clutched in her lap. She quickly flipped through the pages to find out when Ava would be performing.
“There are two more teams before she goes on.” She whispered back to him harshly, not taking her eyes off of the stage. He watched her, contemplating his next move. When he went to trail his fingers down her arm, his phone rang. She turned to him abruptly. “Are you kidding me? I told you to put it on silent!”
His eyes widened at the tone of her voice as he quickly reached for his phone. He silenced the ringing, not even glancing to see who was calling. She met his gaze and then motioned to his phone.
“You should take it, could be some pressing business, you need to tend to” She spat sarcastically, before turning her head back to the stage.
Nick sighed or maybe he growled; he couldn’t be sure. He looked down at the phone and saw Luke’s number.
“Hello?” he whispered into the phone.
“Where are you?” Luke asked roughly.
Nick squinted and held his free hand to his other ear, trying to block out the surrounding sounds to hear Luke better. “Where do you think I am? What’s going on?”
“You have to leave.” Luke said sternly.
“Leave? She didn’t even go on yet.” Sam turned around and faced him as he spoke.
“Nick, I need you to leave. Jake isn’t good.” His voice caught and Nick wasn’t sure if the line had gone dead.
“Luke?” Nick asked, hoping he hadn’t heard him correctly.
“Please, just come home.” That was all Luke managed before ending the phone call.