“I’m so sorry, Jake,” I don’t know what possessed me to get in that car. I knew he had been drinking, but for some reason that red flag just didn’t go off like it should have.
Jake looked back down at me, and a tear fell down his cheek. “When we got here, they wouldn’t let me see you. They said that you were lucky to be alive, and that they were stitching you up and making sure everything else was OK. The doctor eventually came out and told us that you were stable, but they still wouldn’t let me see you because I wasn’t family.”
“But you’re here now. How?”
He smiled. “Your parents took one look at me and – when they saw the state I was in – insisted that they let me back to see you. I just can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re awake.” He bent down and placed a kiss on my hand. “Baby, I’ll be right back. I have to go get your parents. They have been worried sick.” He stood up, gently placed a kiss on the side of my head, and walked over to the door.
“You still haven’t told me what happened to Gabe.” I let out, causing him to briefly pause before continuing out the door and shutting it behind him.
All of the worry over the possibilities of what could have happened to my friend was pushed aside as my parents walked in with my sister directly behind them. Each one looking like they have been up all night.
My mom rushed to my side as soon as she saw that my eyes were open. “Emma, I am – we are – so happy that you are awake. We have all been so worried,” she soothed. “Can I get you anything? Do you need anything? Are you in pain?”
I forced a smile. “I’m OK, mom. I mean – I’m as good as I can be.”
“Of course you are, honey. Just let us know if anything changes, and we will have a nurse in here right away. OK?” she smiled sweetly.
“OK. Thanks, mom.”
I looked over at my dad, who still hadn’t said anything, and almost broke out in tears because of the concerned expression on his face. “Hey, dad.”
“Hey, my beautiful little girl,” he choked out as he walked closer to the side of my bed and took one of my hands.
His reference to me being his little girl made me let out a small laugh. “Dad, I’m not so little anymore and I haven’t looked in a mirror yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that I don’t look beautiful in my current state.”
He gave me a warm smile. “You couldn’t not look beautiful if you tried, and you will always be my little girl.”
“Oldest little girl,” McKenzie added with forced sarcasm, trying not to sound as worried as she so clearly was.
I couldn’t help but smile at my sister’s attempt to put on a brave front. “Hey, Kenz. You’ve been uncharacteristically quiet over there,” I teased, which earned me a genuine smile from her.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to interrupt the Emma Show,” she attempted to joke, which made me laugh harder than I expected, causing me to wince as I was reminded of the pain.
“Sorry, Em,” she said, the grief returning to her face.
“Kenz, get over here. I’m fine.”
“Clearly,” she said in disbelief as she made her way to my side.
“Seriously, I’m OK. I’m not dead.” As soon as the words came out, all the worry about Gabe came flooding back into my brain. Along with the question of, why hasn’t anyone told me about him yet?
“But, Em, you could have been,” my sister’s voice broke, causing my mom to retreat into my dad’s arms. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, OK? I still need my big sister,” she whispered.
I reached over and took her hand as my eyes filled with tears at her words. “Kenz, I’m not going anywhere. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. OK?”
She forced a smile as she nodded her head to agree with me, while wiping a tear from her eyes.
After giving everyone a second to collect themselves, I took a deep breath and then addressed the one piece of information no one had volunteered. “Where is Gabe?” I asked to no one in particular. For a brief moment, you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
“He’s fine, honey. He was released last night with a cast on his arm and a few bumps and bruises,” my mom finally spoke up with a tight-lipped smile, causing me to immediately release the breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding.
“Yeah, and a broken face,” McKenzie let out under her breath.
“Wait? What?” I looked at my sister.
“You should have seen it, Em,” she said as her eyes went wide. “It took both Evan and Dylan to pull Jake off of him. It was crazy! Jake took one look at Gabe when he walked out into the waiting room and then all of a sudden Gabe was on the floor and Jake…”
“McKenzie,” my mom cut in sharply. “That’s enough.”
This was a lot of information to try to process all at once. “So if Gabe’s OK, why has everyone avoided just telling me what happened instead of letting me assume the worst?”
“He’s just not everyone’s favorite person right now, sweetie. He should have never let you get in his car – much less allowed himself to get behind the wheel,” my mom said as kindly as she could manage.
“No, he shouldn’t have,” my dad added, not bothering to hide the anger in his voice. “I’m just glad Jake got ahold of him before I had the chance to…”
“William!” my mother cut in again.
There was a knock on the door followed quickly by Jake poking his head back in.
“I wanted to give you guys a moment, but is it alright if I come back in?” He was clearly asking just to be polite because by the time he was finished with his question, he was already sitting in the chair by my bed and taking one of my hands in both of his.
“Jake, you know it would have been alright if you needed to go home and get some rest or at least take a shower,” my mom said, wearing the most genuine smile she had since she first saw that I was awake. She let out a warm laugh before continuing, “Come on you two. Let’s give these guys a minute.” She gave me a little wink before shooing my dad and sister out of the room. She stopped briefly to put her hand on Jake’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze before exiting behind the rest of my family.
Once the door was closed, I looked back over at Jake. “You’ve been here all night?”
“Emma, I was so worried about you. There is no way I was about to leave you. They would have had to drag me out.”
“You’ve been here all night,” I repeated as a small smile broke onto my face. My eyes glossing over, again, as I let those words sink in.
Realizing I was making more of a statement than re-asking my question, Jake leaned closer to me and let one hand brush the side of my face. “There is nowhere else I’d rather be.”
I smiled while giving his hand a squeeze before thinking about how that might hurt if his hands were sore. Given what Kenz had said, I quickly released my grip. “So I guess I should ask how you’re doing, or how your hands are doing at least?”
Jake clamped his eyes shut, as soon as my words were out, and sucked in a breath. He lowered his head, and his demeanor quickly changed from happy and relieved to worried and anxious. “Before they told us you were OK, he came out in the waiting room. Just walked out, wearing only a cast on his arm. Emma, I was so upset. He is the reason you are here right now, and he walked out in only a cast.”
After a few seconds, when he still didn’t raise his head back up, I squeezed his hand three times. Glancing back up at me, his eyes were full of worry. “I’m so sorry. I was just so mad I couldn’t see straight and he…”
“Did it make you feel better?”
He cringed, “Yeah. It kind of did.”
I gave a little shrug, “OK then.”
“That’s it? I’m off the hook?”
A small laugh escaped my lips. “Yeah. I guess so, and from what I hear he’s lucky it was you and not my father. Plus, and this might make me a terrible person, but I sort of feel like he deserved it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad that he’s OK. It’s just, after everything
that’s happened…I guess what I’m trying to say is, I understand why you did it.”
I watched as a look of relief washed over his face as everything I was saying sunk in. “Thank God,” he let out, sounding more like himself once he realized I wasn’t upset with him. “I was so worried that once you found out what happened with Gabe…and top that off with what happened last night,” he paused to let out a nervous breath. “Listen, I know Evan said something to you about my past.”
“About that. Jake…”
“Look, Emma. There’s a reason I don’t drink much anymore. I don’t like who I can become once I’ve had too many. And I’ve been in a lot of fights because of it.”
“You normally win those fights, don’t you?” His eyes grew wide and worry returned to his face. “It’s just how Evan reacted last night toward Gabe. It didn’t seem like you getting hurt was ever really a problem.”
He nodded his head in understanding. “No, Emma. Me getting hurt was never usually part of the problem.”
“Well, is that who you are anymore?”
“No. It hasn’t been who I am for a while now.”
“Then what’s done is done. You can’t change your past, and you can’t worry about it either. I don’t even know that guy you say existed. I do know the guy in front of me, and that guy I’m crazy about.”
A smile broke across his face as he chuckled that chuckle of his that I love so much. “I’m pretty crazy about you too, Em. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you next year.”
And just like that, there it was. The dreaded next year. “Jake, about next year.” My eyes shut as tears threatened. Blame it on the pain and the emotional toll from everything that has happened.
“Hey. What is this? What about next year?” Concern was evident in his voice.
I popped my eyes open as I looked over at him. “What are we going to do next year?”
“Well, not being able to see you every day is really going to suck, but it’s only for a year. Then you will be at A&M with me. And then I’ll be able to see you every day if I want to,” he said simply. “Better yet, several times a day if I want to,” he finished with a sexy smirk, which caused me to laugh out loud, resulting in a wince as I was reminded of the pain my entire body felt. “Sorry. I won’t make you laugh anymore. I wasn’t even thinking.”
Once the pain went down, I looked back over at Jake, “So you want to stay together next year?”
I barely got the words out before he responded. “Hell yeah! Don’t you?” His reaction caused me to laugh out loud again, resulting in another wince. “Sorry again,” he grimaced. “I wasn’t expecting you to say something so crazy.”
“It’s just…long distance is hard, and they say that most high school relationships don’t make it.”
“Who are they? They clearly aren’t us. Besides, there is always the exception to the rule.”
“Well, yeah but…”
“No buts.” He stood up out of his chair and carefully sat down next to me on the bed. “Emma, do you love me?”
“Yes.”
Smiling his perfect smile, he gently leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Then if I have to drive back every weekend that first year, I will.” He let out a small laugh as he shook his head. “Emma Crawford, I love you so much, and you’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you get away that easy. I don’t care if any other high school relationship in the history of the world has ever made it. All I care about is that we will. You’re my whole world, Emma, and there is no story or version of my life without you in it.” He paused for a moment and looked at me with a smile that reached both of his ears. “Em, you and me, this is how it ends. Us together…happily ever after…however you want to say it,” he continued, pausing again to reach up and wipe the tear that had escaped down my face with his thumb. “We’re the exception. This,” he said gesturing between the two of us, “is the exception.”
There was no stopping the tears that were now free falling down my face. I didn’t even know it was possible for my heart to feel as full as it did in that moment.
I reached up, needing him to feel everything that I was feeling, and took the sides of his face in my hands – slowly bringing his lips to mine and stopping right before they connected. “Point Jake,” I whispered against his lips before kissing him with everything that I had.
Epilogue
Jake
“Jake. Listen man. You need to get your shit together.”
I stuck my hands in my suit pockets while I looked over at Gabe, as he bent down to plug the lights into the outlet on the back porch. He was right. I was so nervous I could barely keep my hands from shaking. I just knew I was going to take one look at her when she got to the ranch house and mess it all up.
Every minute that went by seemed to go by slower and slower. All I wanted was my girl here and for her to say yes as I slipped the two and a half carat, princess cut diamond on her finger. If that didn’t happen soon, I’m pretty sure I was going to sweat straight through my suit or suffocate due to the lack of air that didn’t seem to be getting to my lungs.
The lights lit up and Gabe and I exchanged glances, both smiling at each other at the sight. They were perfect; Emma was going to love them. So now, the lights were up, the flowers were set, and the tables were in place. All that was left to do was to light the candles that lined the back porch and that were on each table. As nervous as I was, I couldn’t wait to see her face as I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.
Quinn had Dylan, Ryan, and her husband helping her in the kitchen as she slaved away making food, sides, and desserts all afternoon. While Gabe, Evan, and I took care of getting everything set up outside.
I just couldn’t believe it was finally happening. Our parents and other guests had arrived not too long ago and were getting ready in their rooms. Knowing Emma, I knew she would want those she cared the most about to be able to share in the celebration of our engagement. I had set everything up so that after I proposed our family and closest friends could be here to celebrate with us. The only people missing were the girls.
Emma was under the guise that they were having a girls weekend, one last hurrah before the start of her senior year at Texas A&M. She even thought I was out of town for work. About a week ago, Quinn had invited her and the girls to the ranch house for the weekend. Before that, Maya had been in charge of keeping this weekend wide open. So in the not too distant future, Emma would be arriving with Maya, McKenzie, and Jade – who had been a part of the group since the girls’ freshman year.
“Everything is all set around the corner for ya man,” Evan said as he walked back over to Gabe and I. “Want to come take a look at it?”
I glanced down at my watch. “Sure thing, but we need to hurry so I can go inside and cool down before she gets here. Is it unusually warm out here to either of you two?”
Gabe and Evan exchanged glances before bursting out laughing.
“Yeah, well, we’ll see how you two feel before you propose to the love of your life.”
They looked at each other once more before once again cracking up.
“Everything is going to work out how it’s supposed to. This place looks great. Thanks to Quinn and her slave-driving ways, the inside looks perfect and the food looks and smells incredible. Emma is going to be in girl heaven when she gets here. Plus, it helps that she’s crazy about you – has been ever since she met you. Though for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.” A sly smile broke across Gabe’s face before he shot me a wink. “Even without all this,” he gestured to all the immaculate decorations, “she would say yes. So chill the hell out,” he laughed.
There was a time when I would have told you that you were crazy if you had said that Gabe would grow to become one of my closest friends – friends at all for that matter. After the accident, we couldn’t even be anywhere near the other. But looking at us now you would never guess that. I suppose we have Jade to thank for that, and I wouldn’t be surpr
ised if Gabe and Jade weren’t too far from this themselves.
It’s funny how things work out. Who would have known that Ryan would have beaten us all to the altar? Eloping of all things. Not everyone was particularly thrilled that they did that, but I have a feeling the news they are going to share tonight will be received well by everyone. Ryan had pulled me aside earlier to ask if I minded if they broke the news tonight. I assured him it would only add to Emma’s excitement before congratulating him myself.
“Alright, man.” Evan slapped me on the back, breaking my train of thought. “Maya just texted saying they were ten minutes out. Let’s get these candles lit and you in your place.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my readers. Thank you so much for taking the time to read Emma and Jake’s story. It means the world to me.
To my amazing, patient, and handsome husband Chris. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have lost count of the amount of times you listened to me brainstorm, read the same section over and over again while I tried to explain what I was thinking, and just my general babble about this book. Not to mention the hours of your life you selflessly gave up to help me piece through this story and relearn grammar rules (including the ones we never knew existed). I’m pretty sure you know more about comma usage at this point than I do. I am a lucky girl to have a number one fan, unofficial editor, and best friend wrapped up in one sexy package! Thank you for helping me chase my dream. I love you.
Aleah Esparza – Where do I begin? This book would have never happened if you wouldn’t have demanded to know more. Thank you for reading and then re-reading sections of this book and for listening to my many thoughts and ramblings. You will never know how much I truly appreciate your enthusiasm for this story and for falling in love with the characters as much as I did.
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