“When we were at the Christmas party, I could tell he was so miserable. He told his mother and me that he’d made the mistake of not going after you the moment he knew you’d left. He wanted to make things right with you. He said he was going to Jeff and Ari’s because he figured that would be the first place you’d go.”

Oh. My. God. It’s my fault he had the car accident. He was coming after me! “Oh no. Oh god, no. This happened because of me,” I said, barely able to get the words out.

Placing both of his hands on my face, Greg brought my eyes to his. “No! This is not your fault, Heather. This is no one’s fault. It was an accident, and he’s going to be okay. He is going to be okay, Heather. I want you to repeat this to me right now, ‘This is not my fault.’”

Tears were rolling down my face as I looked at Greg. He was the closest thing I had to a father, and I felt like I had just let him and Elizabeth down.

“Heather, repeat it to me right now. You have to say it.”

I slowly started to open my mouth to speak, but instead, I broke down and began crying.

Greg pulled me into his arms. “Everything is going to be okay. He’s going to be okay.”

“I’m so sorry, Greg. I’m so sorry I left. If I had just stayed and talked to him—”

Just then, I felt another hand on my back. I looked over my shoulder to see Elizabeth smiling at me.

“Heather, you will never utter those words out of your mouth again. None of this was your fault. Josh could have just as easily run after you to stop you from leaving. Things happen. This is life, sweetheart. He’s going to be okay. You’re both going to move on from this. You’ll get married and give me grandkids, damn it!” Elizabeth said, taking me into her arms.

I let out a giggle as I buried my face in her sweater. I loved how she smelled. It wasn’t like my mother at all, but it was just the same. Just from being in her arms, I calmed down almost immediately.

Elizabeth held me out at arm’s length as she looked me up and down. “Shall we go in, so you can see our boy?” With a smile, she wiped the tears off my face.

“Yes, let’s go.” I glanced back at Greg before Elizabeth and I headed into Josh’s room.

The moment I saw him in the hospital bed, I sucked in a breath of air. His face was cut and bruised. He was just lying there…broken. Then, it hit me. I hadn’t even asked how the accident happened.

I stopped and turned to face Elizabeth. “Wait. How did the accident happen?” I whispered.

Elizabeth shook her head and glanced down at the floor and then back up at Josh. “A drunk driver ran a red light. Bastard doesn’t have a scratch on him. He’ll be sorry though when my law firm gets done with him,” she said with a wink.

A drunk driver? I looked back over toward Josh. I love him so much. I’ll never, ever leave him again. I’ll never give up on him.

“I love him so much, Elizabeth. I can’t live without him,” I said, turning back to her.

Elizabeth reached down and took my hand as we made our way toward Josh.

“I know, baby girl. He feels the same way about you. I know how much that boy loves you.”

For a few minutes, we stood there, talking.

“Honey, I’m going to give you some time alone with Josh,” Elizabeth said.

The moment the door shut, I sat down in the chair next to his bed. I picked up his hand and stared at the IV.

“I’m so sorry I left you, Josh. I promise you, right here and right now, I will never leave you again. I don’t care if you tell me to leave you…I never will. With every ounce of strength I have, I will fight for our love. I will forever be true and faithful to only you. I love you so much, and I’d be lost without you in my life. I could never go on without you. You are my every breath, every smile, every tear, and every single laugh. You are my everything. You are my life, Josh Hayes.”

Just then, I felt him squeeze my hand. As my heart started pounding, I jumped up, and the chair flew back, landing on the floor with a loud crash.

“Can you hear me, baby? Please squeeze my hand again if you can hear me!”

“Heather! What’s going on?” Elizabeth ran in with a nurse following right after her.

“He squeezed my hand! When I was talking to him, he squeezed my hand.” I smiled at her.

The nurse walked over and picked up the chair.

“I’m so sorry. I just got excited when I felt him squeeze my hand!”

“No worries, sweetheart. Let me get some vitals on Mr. Hayes,” she said as she started to take his blood pressure.

I turned and ran into Elizabeth’s arms. “He’s going to be okay,” I whispered in her ear.

She hugged me for a long time. “Yes, of course he is.”

I was so glad Greg and Elizabeth had talked Ari and Jeff into heading home. I knew Ari wanted to get back to Luke. This was the longest she’d ever been away from him, and I was sure that she was worrying herself sick from not being with her baby.

“How did you manage to get Ari to leave last night?” I asked Elizabeth as she poured me a glass of orange juice.

“The same way I got you to come home with us for a few hours of sleep…I threatened her,” she said as she winked at me.

I looked at the clock. It was getting close to one in the afternoon. Josh would be moved into a regular room today, but the last update we’d heard from Greg was that Josh was not awake yet.

I stood up and took my plate over to the garbage can. Glancing at my half-eaten bacon and eggs, I sighed.

“Baby girl, just throw it away. I’m not going to make you sit until you clear your plate. I’m just happy you got some food in your stomach. Now, why don’t you go change out of Josh’s clothes, honey, and then we’ll head over to the hospital, okay?” Elizabeth said, leaning back against the kitchen sink.

I looked down at what I was wearing. When we got back to the house early this morning, I had gone straight to Josh’s bedroom and put on one of his old T-shirts with a pair of his sweatpants. His smell was everywhere in his room. I’d curled up with his pillow and cried myself to sleep before waking up around nine this morning.

“Just give me five minutes, and I’ll be ready to go.” I washed off the plate and then made my way upstairs.

Five minutes later, I met Elizabeth at the front door, and we headed out to her Mercedes. I loved Josh’s parents. They were super rich, but they never acted like it at all. I remembered going with Greg and Elizabeth when they’d bought this car. She’d hated the idea of owning a Mercedes. She’d wanted a Jeep, like the one Ari had. I giggled as I thought about it.

“Was that a laugh I just heard?”

When I glanced over to Elizabeth, I laughed again. “I was thinking about how you wanted a Jeep like Ari’s, and Greg fought with you about it all the way to the Mercedes dealership.”

Elizabeth let out a giggle. “That’s right. I still want a Jeep, damn it.”

During the drive to the hospital, we talked and laughed about that day. Josh and Greg had argued about some piece of equipment that Josh wanted to buy for the business. Greg had said that Josh didn’t need a stupid new age machine. When Greg had told Josh that he needed to do it all by hand, Josh’s face fell.

Those two would fight all the time, but they loved each other so much. Josh’s eyes would light up when his dad would call and ask if Josh wanted to go fishing. I’d never seen so much love between three people…at least not since my parents had passed away.

The last five miles to the hospital, we drove in silence. I was scared to death, and I had the worst feeling in my stomach. Something wasn’t right. I could feel it.

My phone went off just as we were walking into the hospital. I looked down to see I had a new text message.

Amanda: Hey, I just got to the hospital, sweets. Text me when you get here.