by J. Bengtsson
Within a month of waking from the coma, Jake was playing his songs on the piano again. There was some worry that his vocal cords had been damaged during the intubation but when Jake started singing again, it was clear that they had recovered nicely. Things were slowly improving for Jake. Everyday, he made progress. After six months of recovery, Jake was nearly back to his old self. In fact, he might have even been better than his old self because the pain that had been dogging him for years was finally under control. He still had some issues but it was nothing like it had been before.
Probably the single biggest challenge Jake was dealing with now was how to handle his fans and the press. After his well-received public statement and his near-death experience, Jake had become somewhat of a hero. His fame had taken on new heights. He was more popular than ever before. If people hadn’t known who he was before, they knew now. His kidnapping, and the fate of the other victims of Raymond Lane, became front-page news again but this time Jake was not cast as the villain; instead he was portrayed for who he genuinely was, a courageous kid who saved himself from a vicious killer. The world now followed his every move. Jake was not exactly thrilled by his accelerated fame; in fact he was decidedly embarrassed by all the coverage, but he was quickly coming to terms with his new normal.
It was for that reason that Jake was asked to stay away from the graduation proceedings. My school’s administration worried that his presence would be too overwhelming and that the security necessary to keep people away would be too costly. They also argued that his being at the graduation might take away from the experience of the other families and graduates. Jake was, instead, encouraged to go to a viewing room and watch the proceedings on a TV screen. Although I wanted him there with me in the stands, I understood the university’s position. This wasn’t just about me. There were other graduates who deserved their day as well.
“Do you know who that is?” Darcy asked Sydney and Riley as she pointed to Jake.
Both looked up at him then Sydney’s eyes brightened and she burst out, “JAKE!”
“Shhh!” All the adults in our group shushed in unison. Sydney flung herself on Jake. I was forced to give up my guy to an eight-year-old. He spent a minute chatting easily with my niece. I gazed at him in awe. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I never took him for granted anymore. I loved him so much.
Jake caught me staring and smiled. He whispered something to Sydney. She giggled and then walked away. Jake came up to me and kissed my lips with his hairy beard.
“I forgot to tell you,” he stated. “Congratulations, babe. I’m proud of you.”
We moved our party to a private location after the graduation ceremony was complete and all pictures had been taken. My mom and Michelle had worked together to put the party on for me. They had become friends at the hospital while Jake was in the coma and had kept in touch ever since. It turned out to be a pretty big bash with my family and Jake’s, and my friends from Arizona and some of Jake’s band and crew that I’d become friends with. After dining on catered steak, chicken and ribs from a local barbeque joint, the party broke up around 12:00am. It was just Jake and I and our moms and a couple of others who stayed to clean up. Jake pulled me aside and handed me an envelope.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Open it,” he grinned.
“It’s so heavy,” I giggled. I opened it and pulled out plane tickets…like 20 of them. “What is this?”
“The party isn’t over yet,” he said. Both Jake’s family and my family came back in the room. They were toting suitcases.
“What the?” I looked out over all my excited loved ones.
“We’re flying to Tahiti.”
“All of us?”
Jake nodded, smiling.
“When?”
“In about six hours.”
Epilogue
Jake
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, shocked. She jumped up and kissed me. This was the reaction I was hoping for. I was a little worried that Casey wouldn’t appreciate having no time to prepare but this was the only way to surprise her and have all the family together in order to make the trip.
If I had to be honest, the vacation was not only a celebration for Casey and all the hard work she’d put into getting her degree. It was also a thank you to our families for all the support and love they had given us the last few months. It hadn’t been an easy road for either of us since I woke up from the coma.
Those weeks in the hospital are a blur to me now. I was transported to my parent’s house after being released. My mom doted on me hand and foot. Usually I wouldn’t have been able to stand such treatment but I was too weak to protest. Casey struggled to complete the semester while spending most of her time in the hospital or at my parent’s house with me. She made the two hour round trip drive nearly every night and stayed the weekends until the winter break mercifully arrived and gave her four weeks off. I was worried about the stress on her but the more I worried about her the more stressed she became.
Two physical therapists alternated treatments for nearly eight hours a day every day. It was truly exhausting but regaining my strength was all I wanted. I hated being dependent on others. One week into Casey’s break, I insisted on moving back to my place against my mom’s strong objections. As grateful as I was to her for all she’d done, I was reaching my breaking point. I was used to being independent and making my own choices. But at home being cared for by my mom, it was like I was back to being the child and I couldn’t take it anymore.
Besides, Casey and I needed alone time. Our relationship had really taken a backseat to my rehabilitation. She’d been more of a nurse than a girlfriend. I wanted to be me again. I wanted Casey and I to get back to the place we were before the shit that crapped down upon our lives happened. And aside from a quick romp in the bathroom at my parent’s house, we hadn’t had sex in a really long time.
Moving home was the push I needed to get my life back together. Interest in me had skyrocketed after nearly dying. An outpouring of support had flowed in from all over the world and once I got home I started back with my music. For a while there in the hospital I worried that I might never regain the fine motor skills necessary to continue on as a musician. It took a lot of hard work to get back into the rhythm of things but I finally felt confident in my abilities again.
As soon as I doing well enough, I started back on social media. I wanted to keep my fans updated on my progress. The response was overwhelming and humbling. My new album came out in the beginning of January debuted at number one. It had been sitting at the top of the charts ever sense.
Casey was at my side through all the craziness. Both of us were ready for her to be done and graduated. She decided to put off getting a job right away. She wanted to travel with me for a while. I had a lot of commitments set for the summer and she wanted to be with me. I secretly hoped that she wouldn’t work at all but it was not my place to say. I would let that decision be up to her.
The chartered private jet whisked the whole McKallister/Caldwell group to a resort in Tahiti where we all got adjoining over-the-water huts. We spent several days laying in the sun and playing in the water and doing various water sports. On our fifth day there, we all took a boat to a private island for a day of sunbathing and barbeque. It was May 30th, one year to the day since Mitch and Kate’s wedding…and one year since Casey and I met. A lot had happened in the past year but it was all worth it to get us to this point in our lives.
I looked over at Mitch. His arm was around his wife who was now four months pregnant. Life just moved forward at lightening speed and if you didn’t get on the ride while you could, you were going to be left behind. That wasn’t going to be me anymore. I was not going to waste time any longer. My past was no longer in control…my future was.
Casey come up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. You wanna take a walk down the beach with me?”
&
nbsp; “Sure,” she smiled.
I took her hand and we wandered along the water line, not really talking, just enjoying each other’s company.
“Ahh…look,” Casey said. “Someone must be getting married here later.”
She pointed to an arch that was covered in flowers and surrounded by a little white fence.
“Oh yeah,” I commented. “Let’s go take a look.”
We walked up the sand until we came to the fence. I stepped over it.
“Jake. You can’t do that.”
“Why? I’m just looking.”
“There’s a security guard over there,” she whispered as she gestured toward him with her eyes.
“If he says anything we’ll leave. Come on,” I said holding my hand out.
Casey wouldn’t take it. “Jake. No.” She glanced over to the security guard.
“Live a little. What is he going to do?”
Casey hesitated, uncertain what to do.
I sighed. “If he comes over I’ll give him a fifty.”
My hand was still out waiting for hers. Finally she grabbed it and stepped over the fence. I guided her to the arch and we walked under the flowers.
“Oh my God, Jake, this is so pretty,” Casey admired. Then she got a better look at the flowers. “Wait…these are….Gardenias and Stephanotis and Peonies…these are all my favorite flowers…that is crazy! What are the chances?” She smiled as she took in the sight with wonder in her eyes.
After a few seconds she turned to me and said, “Isn’t that crazy?”
“Not so crazy,” I responded.
She looked at me, confused.
I knelt down on one knee.
“What are you…oh my God, Jake…,” Casey gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Tears immediately sprung up in her eyes.
“This is all for you Casey,” I said as I opened my hand to reveal a tiny box with a sparkling 2-carat cushion cut yellow gold diamond engagement ring inside.
Casey looked at the ring, then at me, then back at the ring. She seemed genuinely shocked.
“Will you marry me, Casey Caldwell?” I asked as I slipped the ring on her finger.
Casey was beaming from ear to ear as tears rolled down her cheeks. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Yes. Yes. Of course, yes. I love you.”
We sat in the sand and kissed under the arch of Casey’s favorite flowers. After a couple of minutes we heard cheering back at the BBQ.
“Did they all know what you were planning?” Casey asked, grinning.
“No. Only Kyle and he was sworn to secrecy.”
“Well, they figured it out.”
“A lot quicker than you did? I thought I was going to have to knock you out and drag you under the arch for a minute there.”
“I know. I didn’t want to ruin some girl’s dream day. But that ‘some girl’ turned out to be me!” Casey gushed, her eyes beaming with happiness and love.
I nodded, smiling. Casey wasn’t ‘some girl’ to me. She was my world and my future. We were no longer just Jake and Casey. Today we officially became ‘Cake.’
About the Author
Thank you for taking a chance on a first time author. If you made it to this point, you invested time and patience in this story. As a brand new writer, I really appreciate it. I have been kicking this idea around for a while but only recently decided to try my luck at writing. Although I’m sure I made my share of newbie mistakes, I hope that you still enjoyed reading the story. If you appreciated my earnest effort, I would be grateful for a positive review.
J. Bengtsson is married with three teen/college age kids and lives in Southern California.
