Ruin .(82)
Once I was in the gown, Angela hooked up my IV again and gave me some anti-nausea medication. It was over really quick. My dad came in to give me a hug. Lisa strolled in with a balloon and a teddy bear.
I took the gift and gave her a hug.
The football team didn’t know I was in surgery. My professors didn’t know. But Coach did, so when he walked into the room bawling like a baby, it didn’t take me by surprise. We’d been through hell and back. It was surreal seeing a three hundred pound lineman cry — he’d played for Florida State around twenty years ago. He shook his head and grabbed my hand.
“You beat this and I’ll let you play in the bowl game.”
Laughing, I squeezed his hand. “You better let me play. I’m the star quarterback after all.”
“That you are.” He chuckled and patted my hand. “See you when you wake up.”
“When I wake up,” I repeated after him as he walked out of my room.
Gabe showed up soon after that.
He sat down in silence.
“You okay, man?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He still refused to look at me.
“Gabe…”
“I asked God to give me the cancer. I still wish He would. You’re too good, man. You don’t… I just—” A string of curses poured out that shocked even me. “My mind still can’t comprehend it.”
“Stop trying.” I sighed. “And remember what I said, let it make you different.”
“I’ve been clean for three years.” Gabe rocked back in his chair. “This is the first time since then that I’ve been tempted to throw it all away. The pain is too much and then I feel selfish for thinking about myself. I’m not strong like you.”
“You are,” I argued. “I know you are.”
“Thanks.” Gabe stood and walked over to me. “Thanks for being my friend.”
“Well, Lisa did pay me…” I joked.
“Good to know you still have a sense of humor, jackass.” Gabe smacked my shoulder and hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. “You beat the hell out of this cancer or I’m hunting you down, got it?”
“Got it.”
Gabe started walking out of the room when I called him back. “Gabe?”
“Yeah?”
“Be my best man?”
“Best man?”
“Yeah, in three hundred and sixty-six days, I’m getting married to Kiersten. Be my best man?”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” He chuckled. “Does Kiersten know about this?”
“Of course. She loves me, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” Gabe laughed again. “See you on the other side, man.”
Ten minutes went by and then Kiersten walked in.
She was wearing a white dress.
“Sorry. This was all I could find on short notice.”
“You’re wearing a—”
“A wedding dress.” She laughed. “I thought it would give you some much needed inspiration. Now you can dream about me in a white dress — you taking me out of said white dress — me saying yes when you ask me to marry you… yes to all of the above.”
“Come here.” I lifted my hands to her. In an instant she was in my arms, her head buried against my chest. “I love you, Little Lamb.”
“I love you too, Wolf.” She sobbed. “You’re my favorite.”
“Favorite what?”
Kiersten drew back her eyes wide with hope. “Favorite everything. You’re my favorite. Out of all the things I could have in the world that would be my favorite, you win. You win all of it.”
“Wow, pretty high praise.” I smiled and dug my hands into her hair.
“What do you love more?” she teased. “My hair or my heart?”
“Why give me only two choices? Don’t leave out your legs, your laugh, the way you bite your lip when you’re thinking, the feel of your breath on my face, the sound of your voice in the morning, the way you taste, the three freckles on your nose, the fan of your eyelashes, the caring spirit, the determined soul — so why stop at your hair and your heart? How do you expect me to choose? When what I love the most about you — is you.”