Chapter 1
The
cherry red convertible expertly devoured the hot asphalt. Julie handled each
twist and turn like she was racing in Talladega. She rambled on about their
plans to make this Labor Day one to remember, but her voice was lost amid Sarah’s
thoughts. Sarah leaned back onto the supple tan leather and gazed out of the
passenger window, the warmth of the morning sun filtering through the oak,
birch, and poplar trees, bathing the forest floor with a golden light. Up ahead
a doe darted out from behind a grove of pine trees and stopped at a patch of
wild blueberries to have breakfast. As they sped past two beautiful fawns
trotted out from behind her to join their mother in the feast. Labor Day was
the unofficial end of summer and everyone at the lake made sure that they sent
it off in a blaze of glory.
By
the next weekend, everyone will have pulled their docks out of the water, boats
will be stored, and the snowbirds will lock up their summer cottages for the
impending winter. The only people left on the lake will be the yearlong folk
like them. As the little sports cars ate up the country road, Sarah thought
about the first time Colby brought her up here to meet his family. She fell in
love with the area and new she wanted to retire here. She felt so lucky to live
next to her best friend and sister-in-law, Julie. Sarah’s husband was over the
moon that he got to live right next door to his brother. The two of them were
inseparable. Their three kids were happy and healthy, and her book was number
one on the New York Times Bestseller list. Life was good.
Julie steered the car
into the last turn before they reached home. Suddenly, she slowed to a near
stop. There at the foot of their driveway sat a barrage of emergency vehicles. Sarah’s
heart dropped immediately. Paramedics were gingerly rushing a stretcher to the
ambulance. They both strained their eyes to see what was going on as Julie
inched the car closer. Cooper, Colby’s brother, was behind the paramedics,
trying to keep up. Sarah jumped out of the car in a near run. She ran as fast
as she could, her heartbeat echoing in her ears. It felt as if she was moving
in slow motion.
“Colby! Colby!” Sarah
yelled as she ran to her husband’s side. They were lifting him into the
ambulance as she arrived. Tears gathered in her eyes as she pleaded, “Cooper? Cooper?”
She called out for her brother-in-law. “What happened?”
“I… I don’t know what
happened,” he stammered, his eyes filled with fear. “We docked. I jumped out to
tie up the boat and then I heard Colby yell… I turned around to see him falling
backwards into the boat. He,,,he landed on his head. I…” A young paramedic
touched Sarah’s arm.
“Ma’am? Are you his wife?”
Sarah’s attention snapped back to the paramedic.
“Yes, I am. Is he going
to be okay?”
“All I can say right now
is that he suffered a serious head injury. We are going to be taking him to
Aurora. You can ride in the back of the ambulance with him to the hospital, but
we must go right now.” Sarah turned her attention back to Cooper.
“I am going with Colby.
Meet me there.” With that, Sarah disappeared into the ambulance. Taking her
seat next to her husband, she heard the sirens start and felt the ambulance speed
away.
Laid out on the gurney in
front of her was Colby. Only hours ago he was standing on their deck with his
arms around her. She could still remember the warmth of his body and the beat
of his heart against hers. He now looked lifeless. The paramedic hurriedly hooked
him up to wires. The gentle beep of his heartbeat was the only sign that he was
alive. It kept a constant rhythm.
Beep….Beep….Beep….Beep. She
wanted to caress him in her arms, but she could only hold a hand. His skin was so
warm and soft. ‘What if this is it? Just three hours ago, everything was
perfect.’ Sarah thought while contemplating back to only this morning.
Colby was leaning against
the deck railing, illuminated by the rising morning sun. His salt and pepper
hair moved with the breeze, his tan skin glistened from days spent out on the
lake. When he raised his coffee cup, the muscles in his arms tensed.
Sarah watched him for a moment before walking out
quietly and wrapping her arms around his waist. Smiling brightly, he turned
around to return the embrace. Sarah lifted her face to meet his lips. His arms
squeezed tighter around her body, encompassing her completely. She rested her
head on his chest and took a deep breath of Colby’s scent. When she exhaled, her
soul felt instantly rejuvenated.
“Did you sleep okay?” Colby
investigated Sarah’s sparkling blue eyes.
“I did until I realized
you weren’t there.” Sarah replied.
“Liar.” A smile spread
across Colby’s face. “You were snoring so loudly I thought you were going to
scare the loons away.” Sarah broke from his arms, giving him a playful tap on
his chest.
“Excuse me, sir! I do NOT
snore.” She replied, laughing,
“I might have to move
into the guest bedroom just to get some sleep.” He chuckled.
“Sir, I will repeat that
I do not snore. I sleep just like I live, like an angel.” He laughed heartily
at this obvious fib she liked to tell herself.
“More
like the devil.” He said through his laughter. “I have proof on my phone if you
need to see it.” Sarah pretended to act appalled. Colby pulled out his phone and
pressed play. From the speaker came a
loud chainsaw snore immediately followed by Sarah talking in her sleep.
“I
want the sprinkle pancakes with a whip crème smiley face please.” Colby just
stared at her with an ‘I told you so’ look on his face. Sarah stared back unfazed.
“What?
First off, that was the cutest damn snore I have ever heard and second I personally
love a good sprinkle pancake with a whip crème face.”
From
the front door, a singsong voice broke the playful banter.
“GOOD
MORNING LOVEBIRDS!!! Where are you guys?”
“Out
on the deck!” Colby hollered, as he turned back to Sarah, he pointed at her and
whispered, “You are still snorey McSnore pants.” They both laughed as Julie bounced
onto the deck full of her usual energy and completely covered head to toe in
red, white, and blue clothing. Her blonde hair sat in a messy bun on top of her
head and because she was so animated, it bobbled as she spoke.
Beep…Beep…Beep. The sound of the heart machine brought
her back to the present.
‘I hate ambulances,’
Sarah thought as the ambulance bounced so hard she hit her head.
Beep…Beep…Beep.
‘I’ve seen the inside of ambulances
and hospitals way too often.’ There
was the time that Taylor fell doing a handstand and broke her arm. In
kindergarten, Frankie impaled himself in the eye with the pointy end of a pencil.
That included a $30,000 life flight to the Children’s Hospital. Colby spent the
entire week of Christmas in the hospital with a horrible abscess on his butt. Tia
busted her eye open in a Hardees’ ball pit and Sarah had been in too many
ambulances and hospitals to count. It felt as if they were always trying to
avoid one major disaster after another. Somehow, though, against all odds, they
kept everyone alive and relatively safe. It was partly because of the man lying
in front of her. He was her rock. He balanced her.
Sarah wrapped her hand
around his two middle fingers and squeezed, willing him to wake up. She
continued to bounce around in the ambulance, intently focused on the unconscious
face of the love of her life. She didn’t know how much time had passed when the
ambulance abruptly halted, and the back doors whipped open. People surrounded her
and were talking at the same time.
They promptly whisked
away the gurney and her husband. Sarah eagerly ran to keep up with them,
desperately trying to stay in physical contact with her husband. As the
hospital staff pushed him through two secured doors, a tall woman in scrubs
stopped her from following. She was saying something to her, but it was
mumbled. She couldn’t see Colby anymore. “Where did he go?” she thought,
panicking.
“Where did they take my
husband?” she asked without taking her eyes off of the hallway.
“They need to evaluate
your husband for head trauma. I promise you they will be right out to talk to
you as soon as they have an update. My name is Joanne. I am a nurse. We are
going to take fantastic care of your husband. Come with me and we will get you
started on some paperwork.” Together, they walked to a quiet corner of the
waiting room. Sarah’s mind turned over repeatedly, blindly answering the nurses’
questions.
Suddenly, a panicked
voice snapped her out of her daze. There stood Cooper feverishly talking to the
front desk nurse and standing behind him, looking slightly out of place in her
American garb, was Julie.
“They brought in my
brother via ambulance. He has a head injury.”
“Cooper!” She called out.
He whipped his head around at the sound of his name. They rushed over.
“Any news?” Cooper asked,
with tears in his eyes. Sarah simply shook her head. They walked back to the
quiet corner and waited. The family that was supposed to be having a nice Labor
Day weekend slowly arrived as word of the injury spread.
TVs
played in the background, but most of their group were on their phones
researching traumatic brain injuries. Every time someone discovered something
new, they’d run over to Sarah or Cooper. They had discussed every possibility
from him walking out with nothing more than a scratch to…the unthinkable.
Tears
were on the verge of falling the entire time she sat there. She was doing her
best to keep it together, but secretly she wanted to disappear into a room and
break down. Sarah needed Colby like she needed air. Of course, she knew
physically she could live without him, but her heart did not want to. He was
what kept her calm and centered.
Sarah
glimpsed Julie from the corner of her eye. Her bun was just barely hanging on
by this point and looked more like a sock puppet than anything else. The sight
of it brought a slight smile to Sarah’s face. She loved these people with all
of her heart. ‘I wish you could see how many people love you Colby.’ Sarah
thought just when a scruffy young tall Doctor came out to talk to them. Sarah
and Cooper jumped up to talk to him.
“Mrs. Roberts, I am a
neurologist, Dr. Baker. I was called in because of the injury to your husband’s
head.” He reached his hand out to shake Sarah’s. She weakly reciprocated. “Your
husband suffered a serious fall. He is currently unconscious and in a coma, but
he is stable. We have gotten control of the swelling in his brain. He does not
have any other injuries that we can see.”
“Is he going to be ok?”
Sarah pleaded.
“With brain injuries, it
is impossible to form an accurate prognosis right after an injury like this,
but he is in shape and healthy. He has that going for him. We just have to wait
for him to wake up.”
“How long will that be?”
Sarah asked.
“It could be hours; it
could be years. We don’t know.”
“Can we see him?” Cooper
asked.
“I can let two of you in,
one at a time.” Dr. Baker gazed at the family, not willing to assume who those
two people would be. Sarah spoke up.
“It should be me and Cooper.”
“Alright.” The doctor
responded.
“Cooper, you go first.”
Sarah started, “I am going to let everyone know what is going on first.” Cooper
nodded his head and disappeared through the doors that had engulfed her husband.
The news was bad, but it could have been worse. There was hope, and that was
all Sarah needed.
Sarah walked back to the
chairs that held their three children. She sat down and explained the update to
Tia, Taylor, and Frankie. They weren’t happy about not being able to go see
their father, but they didn’t want to cause anymore drama than what was already
happening. Sarah told them she wanted to stay as long as they let her. She
hugged the three of them and then sat down to wait for her turn.
As the time ticked by
family members started to filter over to give their hugs and promises to check
in for updates before departing the hospital. What was once a bustling waiting room
only held Sarah and Julie now. Julie came over to sit next to her. She was
trying her hardest to keep everything cheerful and positive, no matter the
news. She turned to Sarah and tried to give her an encouraging smile. It was nice,
but it was a far cry from this morning when she came over from next door in her
usual jovial manner. Sarah thought back to those moments.
They stood on the deck
with Colby and Sarah, enjoying the warmth from the morning sun. Suddenly, Julie
huffs and says,
“Why
are you keeping me waiting? Tell me!” Julie looked back and forth between Colby
and Sarah. They looked back at her blankly until Sarah said, confused.
“Tell
you what?”
“Hello?
McFly. Did you hear from your agent yet?”
“Oh.
OH!!! That! No. I have heard nothing. Megan probably won’t get back to me till
after the holiday.”
“They
would be foolish to not make your novel into a movie.”
“Or
series.” Colby reminded her.
“Or
series.” Julie agreed. “It’s amazing.” Colby put his arm around his wife.
“Julie
is correct. They’ll pick it up. I just know it. This book is one of the most spectacular
things I have ever seen you create, and I watched you give birth. Three times!”
“Ha.
Ha. Ha.” Sarah mocked him. “I don’t know. I just don’t know if I see such a
vast company like Amazon wanting to film my little book. But. Who knows, right?
Do you have the list, Julie?”
“Yep.
Got everything written that we need to make this party the event of the lake. I
talked to the kids, and everyone is coming. They will be here with their families
around one. You?”
“Yep.
All three are coming. Frankie has a test in Advanced Quantitative Reasoning
this morning and the girls are waiting for their partners to finish packing the
cars. Then they are leaving. They should be here around 130.”
“Great,
let’s get going. I need to hit the liquor store before the good stuff is gone.”
“Alcoholic!”
“You
know I can only handle your family with a few in me.”
“My
family is your family, though?”
“Exactly!”
Julie laughed, and Sarah gave her a little tap. Still laughing, she said, “We
better get going. Colby, your brother is down on the dock waiting for you.”
“Awesome.”
Colby said as he bounded off the deck and headed down to meet his brother for a
quick morning fishing trip. As Julie slipped her arm into Sarah’s they walked
back into the house and, with a shushed tone, Julie asked,
“Did
you tell him yet?”
“No. I am going to tell him tonight. I can’t wait. Just
him and me, alone, for two weeks in the Mediterranean, celebrating thirty-five
years. Thirty-five! Who would have guessed we’d still be together?”
“Well, I always knew.”
“You don’t count. You’ve only been married to Cooper for ten
years. Heck, I still consider you guys newlyweds! I have to change really quick
and grab my phone. I’ll meet you in the car.”
“Gotcha.” Sarah split off to the bedroom as Julie
continued outside. Sarah made quick work of changing into a light floral summer
dress. As she checked the mirror, she realized why Colby loved this dress so
much. She grabbed her wallet and phone quickly from the buffet, knocking down
her wedding picture. Picking it up, she took a moment to admire the two
youngsters in the photo. Except for marrying her best friend, her wedding day
had been miserable. Nothing had gone right. Colby ended up being incredibly ill.
Her Maid of Honor had to leave immediately. Sarah had horrible allergies that
she couldn’t treat because she was pregnant, and none of the food showed up on
time. But now, after all these years, they were going to get the honeymoon they
always dreamed of. Sarah set the picture back in its spot and headed outside.
As she opened the car door, she captured a glimpse of Colby
down on the dock with Cooper. He sensed her gaze and looked up at her. Their
eyes locked, and they smiled. He raised his hand to his lips and blew her a
kiss. She reached up in the air to grab it and then promptly swallowed it. Throwing
his head back, he laughed heartily, which echoed over the lake, and reached her
a second later. He then gave her a little wave. Sarah waved back as she got
into the car.
The realization of that moment suddenly overwhelmed Sarah
as she wondered if that would be her last interaction with Colby, but before
she had enough time to dwell on it, Cooper came walking out.
Approaching one another, they stopped and hugged. Cooper
looked deep into her eyes and said two words:
“Be prepared. He is hooked up to a lot of machines.” The
seriousness in his voice shook her deep down to her core. She could only nod.
The nurse was talking to her as she walked Sarah to the
room. When she finally saw Colby alone in his hospital bed, hooked up to all
those machines, she collapsed in the chair beside him. Her hands wrapped around
his. The tears she had been holding back all day finally broke free. They dripped
off Sarah’s face and tumbled onto the hospital blanket that was providing Colby
with minimal warmth. For such a tall, strong man he looked so small and weak,
laying there. She stared, willing him to wake up, but he didn’t.
“Mrs. Roberts?” The nurse
that helped her originally was at the door. “I am Joanne a RN here. We met
earlier.” Sarah could only nod her head. “Good. Well, I am going to be the one
taking care of your husband today.”
“How long can I stay here
with him?” It was a question and a plead.
“Well, that is really up
to the doctors working on your husband’s case. I’ll check and see what their
recommendations are.”
“That would be wonderful.
Thank you.” Joanne simply nodded her head as she stepped out. Sarah pulled her
chair as close to Colby’s bed as possible. She slid her hand under his and
grasped his two middle fingers, as she often did. There was no squeeze back.
The pain in her chest grew as tears fell harder. The world felt empty and meaningless
with Colby laying there. Her quiet sobs and the beep of the heart monitor were
all that kept Sarah company. It was the soundtrack to her life right now. She
leaned her head on his pillow, just to feel the weight of him next to her.
Suddenly, the gravity of the day’s events hit her. She started crying harder
and rested her forehead on Colby’s cheek. In her mind, she was willing her life
force to transfer to him. She hadn’t realized how much time had passed until
she heard the Doctors, nurses and attendants file in.
“Hello Mrs. Roberts. Today
we have Mr. Roberts. A 60-year-old male in relatively good health. He had a substantial
fall this morning, resulting in cerebral edema. Someone tell me the
complications that are associated with a cerebral edema?” Hands went up around
the room. Sarah felt closed in with all these people standing around her
looking at her husband like a specimen to dissect. Suddenly, her vision got
blurry and the voice became mumbled and jumbled. Quickly, she excused herself
and sidestepped to the back of the room. She recognized a panic attack when she
was having one. It had been a long time since the last one but today had been
increasingly stressful. Realizing she
needed a moment to herself, she quietly slipped into the bathroom. She propped
the door open with her foot so that she could still hear the conversations
going on in the room. There she caught her reflection in the mirror and was
shocked at her appearance. Taking a moment, she tried her best to fix herself
up.
“Everything is going to
be fine.” Whispered the woman standing in front of her, still wearing the
sundress she specifically picked out because it was Colby’s favorite. Her olive
skin was patchy and her eyes were red from crying. The ponytail, that had been
sleek and bouncy, was now loose and disheveled. She fixed herself up while
giving the woman in the mirror a pep talk. “Colby is going to be fine. This
time next year, this entire event will be a dreadful nightmare.” The woman in
the mirror stared back at her, not quite believing her own words. She could
hear the doctor starting to wrap up with the students and she had some
questions that needed answered before he left. With fierce determination, she
stood up straight, looked herself in the eyes and whispered, “You can do this” and
walked out of the bathroom and into reality.
