The Wright Mistake(52)

“You can come with us, Annie,” Jensen offered.

“Thank you,” she said, abandoning her number, so close to the finish line.

“We should all probably go to the hospital to find out what’s going on,” Jensen said. He began apologizing to David, who immediately fended him off.

But fear pricked at me. “Do you think he’s okay?” I asked Annie.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “I don’t know.”





Twenty-One



Austin


Maverick was dead.

One minute, he had been there, taking care of Jason, working for the company, running a marathon. And, the next minute, he was gone.

Twenty-three years old with his entire life ahead of him. A wife and a son. Now, a widow and a boy who would grow up without his father. Just like all the other Wrights at the hospital. But worse. So much worse. He would never even know his dad. He wouldn’t know the man he had been or how much he’d loved his mother. He’d have plenty of family, but no one could replace a father. I knew that firsthand.

Sutton was inside the ER room. She had collapsed onto the ground when she found out that he’d died of an unknown heart complication. Her wails could still be heard, but she screamed at anyone who wanted to come inside to console her.

There was no consoling with this.

Only empty words.

And pity.

I knew that she wanted neither of them.

The only thing that she said coherently was Jason’s name. Over and over again. Like a lament.

But she’d told us not to bring him into the room. She wanted to be the one to tell him when the time was right. He was too young to know what was happening, which was its only mercy. But he wasn’t too young not to know that something was wrong. I didn’t blame her for protecting him. Even when nothing could make it right.

Because nothing would be right again.

We had all joked when Sutton got pregnant that Maverick had done it on purpose, that they had a shotgun wedding, and that he only wanted her money. Then, over the last year and a half, we’d all realized how wrong we were. Maverick had adored Sutton, and beyond that, he had been a great guy and a hard worker. He’d fit in better than anyone had anticipated.

That was irreplaceable.

I wished that I could do something, but none of us could. We just waited on the other side of the hospital room door and listened to our youngest sister, the best and brightest and happiest of all of us, as all of that was crushed out of her.



I found Julia in the waiting room. She had her knees tucked up to her chest with her chin resting on them. She was staring off into the distance with red-rimmed eyes.

“Hey babe.”

I reached my hand out to her. She put hers in mine and then stood. I wrapped strong, comforting hands around her, holding her tight to me.

“How’s Sutton?” Julia asked with a sniffle. “God, what a stupid question. I’m sure she’s horrible.”

“Yeah. She’s not good.”

Julia wiped tears from her eyes and hiccuped. “I can’t imagine. I just…can’t imagine.”

“No, I don’t think any of us can. It made me want to come see you immediately. Touch you, feel you, make sure you were still here, still real.”

A tear slid down her cheek, and I gently swiped it away with my knuckle.

“That’s sweet.”

“It’s the truth. The thought that you could be gone sent me into a panic. I can’t explain it. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I just needed to see you.”

“Sutton will feel that every day, and when she looks for Mav, he’ll be gone,” Julia whispered.

“Maybe we should get you home.” I worried over her distracted, glazed expression.

My Julia was locked away somewhere. Trapped deep within herself. I didn’t know what to make of this, but I would take care of her the best that I could.

“All right,” she whispered. “Should we say good-bye to anyone?”

“I’ll just text Jensen.”

She nodded, completely out of it, as she walked through the sliding glass doors. I followed her out of the hospital and into an Uber. Neither of us had driven anywhere today. We went to her place instead of mine because I wanted her to feel at home and safe.

What had happened gave me perfect clarity in the same way that it seemed to have completely messed with Julia. She was distraught. And all I wanted to do was comfort her and make it all better.

“Maybe we should get you in a shower,” I suggested.

She shook her head and then collapsed onto the couch. “How is she going to be able to go on?”

“I don’t know, Jules. It’s not going to be easy.”

“It’s going to be impossible. I was there with her all day. I saw her love for that man. She was sad because she’d barely gotten a kiss before he left for the marathon. She’s going to regret every single thing that happened this morning. It’s just wrong.”