“No,” she defied, making me laugh against her lips.
“Please,” I groaned, “for Ellie.”
“Fine,” she said, sitting back, before attacking me again, knocking me back.
My hands found the small of her back and I kissed her once again. I pulled her away and sat up once more.
She huffed and her mussed hair flopped in front of her face.
“You look beautiful after I’ve ravished you,” I teased.
“You look awful, just awful,” she ribbed.
“It won’t work,” I told her, laughing.
“What won’t?” she asked, a brow raised.
“Taunting me.”
She smiled her clever smile at me.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing our coats and helping her down the bales.
Once on the ground, she sat on a bale and put her shoes back on that had found themselves somehow removed throughout the night.
“You have hay all over you,” I told her.
“So do you,” she said, giggling.
“Stand up,” I ordered, and picked straws of hay out of her lace dress and hair.
She shook out her hair and swept her bangs. She looked flawless, like she hadn’t just rolled around in a hayloft, as cliche as that sounds. She did the same for me and we put our coats back on.
I picked her up and she whooped when I swept her legs beneath my arm.
“How chivalrous,” she said, smiling.
She was so light, I sort of manhandled her, bouncing her around in my arms. When she rolled her eyes, I kissed her nose.
“What a lovely first date,” she commented.
“We didn’t do anything but make out,” I laughed.
She winked. “Exactly.”
“You’re a cheeky little thing.”
“Um, you also got me a present. A very beautiful present, actually.”
“It was nothing,” I told her.
“It was not! It was so thoughtful!”
“I’m glad you like it,” I said.
“How could I—” she began, but the smile on her face fell. “Oh God,” she said, her back stiffening.
I set her down.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Cramp?”
“Uh, n-no,” she said, her hand at her back. “I need—” She stopped short, falling against me.
“Cricket?” I asked, worried.
“Home,” she whispered, the color draining from her face.
“Cricket!” I yelled, scooping her up in my arms as she collapsed toward the ground.
“Cricket,” I demanded, panicking, but she didn’t respond.
I checked for a pulse but it was weak. She was breathing though, shallowly. I ran with her in my arms up the deck and into the living room, shouting.
“Ellie! Emmett!”
I laid Cricket on the sofa and reached for the phone, dialing nine-one-one.
“Ellie!” I shouted once more before the operator answered.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“Uh, my girlfriend just collapsed and I’m not sure what’s wrong with her. Please,” I pleaded, “send an ambulance immediately.”
Ellie came bounding into the room, tying a robe around her waist. “What’s wrong?” she began but took in Cricket on the sofa.
“Emmett!” she shouted and ran over to her. “Oh Lord! Cricket,” she said, crying, “can you hear me?”
I hung up the phone and kneeled at her side. “I don’t know what happened,” I explained. “One minute she was fine, and the next she was grabbing at her back.”
Ellie was crying and smoothing Cricket’s hair from her face. “She, uh, she has kidney failure, Spencer.”
It felt like a bomb had just been dropped, shattering my perfect world.
“What?” I asked.
“The past year, she’s needed dialysis several times a week. She needs a transplant.”
My chest felt constricted and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t have time to worry about anything other than getting Cricket help.
“What can I do?” I asked.
“Are they sending an ambulance?”
I shook my head. “No, a medevac.”
“Keep an eye out and guide them in?” she asked.
“Of course.”
I felt so helpless. I paced the deck back and forth, praying harder than I ever had before, begging God to save her, to keep her here. An agonizing, seven minutes later, the helicopter made its appearance in the sky. I jumped on the balls of my feet in anticipation. It felt like they took forever to set down in the bit of driveway in front of the main house. Two EMTs emerged, and I led them into the house while the pilot sat ready to leave as soon as possible. They rushed past me and into the house. I followed them, panicked, on the verge of falling to my knees and yanking out my hair. I had no idea what was going on. Just an hour before she was normal, happy, in my arms. I was kissing her. Falling more and more in love with her.