Vincent shook his head with certainty and said, “I need to get her out of here for a little while and see if I can’t get her to eat something.”
Ransome felt a bewildering mix of discomfort and sympathy for the little brunette who looked up from her seat beside Patterson Elder’s hospital bed. With one hand she was holding open a tattered paperback on the bed, while holding his hand with the other.
Looking exhausted, she glanced at the three of them and then gave her attention to Vincent as he went over to her and squatted down. “Doll, let’s take you to get you something to eat, okay? You remember Charity, Val, and Ransome? They want to visit Patterson for a few minutes.”
“Of course,” she said, her voice sounding weary and somehow older than her years. “But I don’t want to leave for very long and I don’t want to go very far.”
“You got it. Don’t forget your purse,” he said as she followed him.
“Oh,” she whispered. “Yeah. Silly of me.” She smiled at Charity when she reached out to pat her shoulder but the smile didn’t reach her sad eyes.
Charity’s chin was trembling as the curtains swung closed and then the three of them turned back to the man lying in the bed. The sounds of the equipment monitoring his vital functions was a backdrop to the discomfort of watching his friend slipping away by slow degrees.
Ransome indicated for her to take the chair Leah had just vacated. She cleared her throat as she sat down and covered Patterson’s hand with her own, giving it a gentle squeeze. The quiet in the room grew as he searched his mind for something to say. When he’d suggested the three of them visit Patterson, he’d thought it was a good idea.
Charity sniffled and braced her elbow on the bed while resting her forehead in her open palm. When she finally spoke, it was to the two of them. “The day could come when we’re forced into a situation like this…”
Val walked over to her and gathered her long golden hair into his hand. His hands were shaking a little bit and he looked as if he was having a hard time, too. “Baby, don’t…”
Looking up at him, she gave him a sad smile. “Like it or not, it could. If I’m in a situation like Patterson’s I don’t want the three of you approving valiant measures to keep me alive. I have a living will. If there’s no hope I want you to let me go.”
Ransome nodded in agreement when Val cast a questioning glance his way and then said, “It’s the same for us. No point in delaying the inevitable. But we’re going to avoid getting into that kind of situation as long as we can.”
“I hope so, Val. It hasn’t been that long since you’ve joined me and Justin, but I’d feel the same way about losing any of you. It would be hell.”
Ransome’s eyes burned at the thought of having to live without her and he said, “It’d be hell for us if we lost you, angel.”
She lifted her head and said, “Patterson, if you can hear me, thank you for being my friend. I’m going to miss you, you big flirt.”
Ransome and Val rumbled amused agreement. Charity picked up the paperback and opened it to a yellowed, dog-eared page, and began to read. The two of them gladly stood by and listened for a few minutes.
This situation wasn’t anything near okay. It was the last kind of ending he wanted for any of his friends. But it was the best tribute they could offer. It gave the woman who’d obviously cared about him a chance to breathe for a little while. He knew that if he, Val, or Justin were in a similar circumstance they’d appreciate Charity having the break.
It was a fucked-up kind of rationalization, but losing friends in tragic accidents had a way of making a person look at the world differently.
After the visit, they checked in with Grace and then took a long ride out into the Hill Country. The only thing missing was Justin. Ransome knew he could’ve gotten off of work to go with them on the visit but he’d taken him and Val aside and had told them that it might do Charity good to go for a ride and get some fresh air.
In the end, as the sun had begun to turn the sky brilliant shades of orange, pink, and purple, the ride itself was a sort of tribute to Patterson.
Chapter Twelve
“Knock, knock. Good morning, Gracie. You decent?” Ethan murmured from Grace’s hospital room door as he swung it slowly open. His teasing tone suggested he hoped she wasn’t decent.
“Yes, baby. Come on in.”
“I guess I should’ve gotten here earlier,” he replied with a chuckle.
She smiled as one of the men she loved more than anything else in the world slipped into her room with a largish silver-patterned box in his hands. “I might’ve been indecent earlier, baby, but it wasn’t a sexy moment for me, trust me. The nurse just helped me shower and get a fresh hospital gown on.”