“Summer, stop!” Henry grabbed my arm. I pulled my wrist from his grip and stepped back. “You need to get into bed.”
I turned away from him. My own brother felt like a stranger to me. “Do you know where she is?” I asked Poppy.
She shook her head. “No, I’ve asked a million times, but no one will tell me anything.”
The door opened yet again and Cecilia walked in. “Poppy, you can’t be in here.” She shook her head. “And you need to be in bed, Summer.”
“Lily,” I corrected and froze. Lily? I recoiled, shocked at myself. What? No. Turning in a daze, I climbed back in bed. Why did I say that? “Can you just please find out how Rose is?” My eyes welled up with tears again. “Please?”
Cecilia nodded. “I’ll do my best. Back to your room now, Poppy. You can visit later, I promise.”
Why weren’t they calling Poppy, Becca? Had no one come to see her to tell the doctors the truth? My heart sunk. I was so sure her family would come forward. Poppy left without a fight, and I was alone again. Well, not really alone.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lewis staring at me as if I had gone crazy. I probably actually had, but I couldn’t tell anymore. Did I want to talk to him? I did, but I didn’t know how. What could I possibly say to him? Things must have changed for him now—it had been seven and a half months! We’d never technically broken up, so I wasn’t sure what we were. What did I want? Together. I definitely wanted to be together, but I didn’t know how to be anymore. I wasn’t the same Summer he fell in love with. I had nothing to offer him.
My eyes stung. He’s here with me. I wanted to rush to him but I was scared. “Can you give us a minute, please?” I asked, staring down at the bed. They would know I meant leave me with Lewis. My family left the room, and he sat on the edge of the bed, facing me. We had reached a point where I had to look at him. There were no distractions I could use anymore. This is Lewis. Why am I so scared?
“Sum,” he whispered. My name didn’t seem so wrong when he said it. It had meaning, and I remembered all the times he had called me before. “Look at me, baby.”
The air left my lungs. Baby. I couldn’t find my breath. Gulping, I looked up. He stared at me with love and relief in his eyes. I saw my future there again. That hadn’t changed. My heart fluttered, and I felt alive again.
The atmosphere changed again—charged with such a high sense of relief and longing. I had missed him so much. There wasn’t one day that I hadn’t thought about him. I had heard that true love is realized after a couple has experienced and overcome something huge. Was this it? I still loved Lewis so much, and it looked like he felt the same way. I wasn’t na?ve enough to think I would leave this hospital with him and live happily ever after—after all, perfect endings were for fairy tales—but I had more hope for things working out.
Lewis’s lips slowly turned up into the most beautiful smile I had seen in a long time. “Hi, you,” he whispered.
I grinned, mirroring him. “Hi.” This was a little weird. We had never been weird before. Because I knew him before we got together, we had always been comfortable around each other.
We lapsed into silence again. I played with the soft material of the hospital gown I was wearing. Please say something better than hi! Would it be like this for a while? Maybe we had to get to know each other again. I knew I wasn’t the same person, and I didn’t know if I ever would be again.
“How are you?” He frowned at himself and shook his head as if he was telling himself off. Yes, Lewis, stupid question.
“I’m fine.” He raised an eyebrow. “What do you really want to ask me?”
He bit his lip and sighed. “Sum, I have a million questions, and there’s so much I want to say, but I can’t find the words.” He shuffled forward and my heart leaped. What’s he doing? “Right now, I just want to hold you. I’ve missed you so much.”
I moved so I was sitting forward, giving him permission. His arms shot around me and pulled me against his chest. His hand gripped my hair so desperately it filled my eyes with fresh tears. I buried my head in his chest and let go, bursting into tears. All of the horror, heartache, and fear over the last eight months poured out, and I sobbed until my throat was raw.
Lewis held me, kissing the side of my neck occasionally. “It’s okay, baby. You’re safe now. I love you so much.” He must have been uncomfortable in his odd bent-over position, but he didn’t move an inch. I felt his body shake, and I knew he was crying too. Lewis didn’t cry. I had never seen him cry. It broke my heart.