chest constricts along with my heart as Maci Owens comes walking

out. She’s dressed like she’s going to a fancy dinner and it seems

ridiculous to me. Her hair is done up in a neat bun and she has on

heavy eyeliner and lipstick. She’s wearing a navy blue dress and

black high heels. My dark feelings toward her outfit and looks may

be stemming from the fact that she’s here and doesn’t look the

least bit upset.

Her high heels click as she exits beside one of the nurses.

She has her phone in her hand and a pair of leather gloves in the

other. She passes by me and the woman who once greeted me

with a cheery smile barely acknowledges me. She’s probably still

upset about how I reacted when she tried to tell me Kayden

injured himself.

I keep my gaze fixed on her as she walks down the hall, and

then Seth nudges me with his elbow and I tear my gaze away from

her and fix it on him. “Huh?”

He nods his head at the doorway. “Quit worrying about her

and go in.”

I glance at Luke. “Maybe you should you go in first.”

He quickly shakes his head. “I think he’d rather see you first.”

I’m not sure if he’s right, but I decide to go in. I inhale

another breath in preparation and then enter the room. I’ve always

thought that hospital rooms were the most depressing rooms that

existed, but this facility is much worse. The walls are

unembellished, the floor is blemished, and the bed is made up

neatly for the next patient.

Kayden is standing in the middle of the room with a bag

over his shoulder. In my head I’d been picturing that he’d be lying

in a bed, looking helpless and scared. He’s taller than I remember

and I instantly tip my head up to meet his emerald eyes. His brown

hair is a little longer and shaggier, hanging over his ears and in his eyes and he looks like he hasn’t shaved in a while, his face scruffy.

There’s another scar on his cheek and a bandage on his wrist along

with an array of rubber bands. His body looks solid, but his

expression looks breakable and fragile.

“Callie,” he says, looking stunned and a little upset to see me.

His bag falls down his arm and hits the floor.

“Hi.” It seems like the silliest thing I could ever say, but it’s

the first word to pop into my head.

The corners of his lips start to turn up, but then it vanishes

and I question if I ever really saw it. “You shouldn’t be here,” he

says.

My heart tightens, twines into knots, binding so tightly it

begins to wilt into pieces. I don’t know what to do or say so I tell

him about my road trip. He’s not happy and suddenly he’s leaving,

walking past me with barely a glance. Then I’m alone, unable to

move or breathe. All I can think is that this is the end of it. The end to my happiness.

After standing in the middle of the room for an eternity, Seth

finally walks in. He approaches me like I’m a skittish cat and I

glance down at my nails, wondering if he thinks I’m going to

scratch him.

“Hey.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets and takes cautious

steps until he’s right in front of me. “You want to go get that

breakfast? The first set of pancakes is on me.”

I love that he doesn’t ask what happened. If I had to speak

I’d probably crumble into teeny tiny pieces that would get stuck in

the dirty cracks of the floor. I nod and he swings his arm around

me and leads me outside, holding me together.

* * *

The restaurant is crowded and filled with the voices of

people enjoying their breakfast with their families. Dishes clank in

the kitchen and the air smells like coffee and waffles. Luke came

with us, but he’s been distracted by one of the waitress behind the

counter pretty much since we walked through the door. I wonder if

he did it on purpose, to distract himself from what happened at

the clinic. Luke actually tried to chase Kayden down after he ran

out of the room, but he came back minutes later, looking upset,

but he never said what happened.

“You know what I just realized?” Seth points a syrupy fork at

me as he chews a mouthful of pancakes. “This needs to be added

to our list.”

I glance down at the barely touched stack of pancakes on

the plate in front of me. “What? Eat pancakes?”

His neck muscles move up and down as he forces the overly

large mouthful of pancakes down. “No, eat a lot of pancakes.”

I pick up the bottle of strawberry syrup that’s in the tray at

the end of the table. I press my thumb down on the handle, tip the

bottle, and douse the pancakes with red syrup. “That doesn’t seem

significant enough for the list.”

Seth stabs his fork into his pancakes as he shakes his head.

“No way. Everyone in the world should sit down and stuff

themselves with pancakes at least one time in their life.” He shoves

a bite into his mouth and then closes his eyes and inhales deeply.

“Especially ones this damn good. I swear I’m having a foodgasm.”

A laugh flees from my mouth and he opens his eyes looking

happy. It’s the first time I’ve shown a sign of life since I left the facility. “Foodgasm?” I ask.

He nods his head and swallows his food with a forceful gulp.

“The gasms of champions.”

“Champions of what?”

“Life.”

I can’t stop smiling as I shovel up a forkful of pancakes and

stuff them into my mouth. “All right, we can add it to the list and

then cross it off because we’re doing it right now.”

He grins from ear to ear, then grabs a napkin from the tin

case and dabs the syrup off his lips. His fingers circle the glass of milk in front of him and he wraps his lips around the straw and

takes a sip. He sets the glass down, wipes his mouth off with the

sleeve of his shirt, and then leans back in the booth and drapes his

arms over the back of the seat. He watches me eat with an anxious

expression on his face.

I cram my mouth with pancakes and then look up at him.

“What?”

His shoulders move up and down as he shrugs. “I was just

wondering if you wanted to talk about what happened.”

I extend my hand toward the butter in the middle of the

table beside a plate full of toast and a bowl full of jam packets.

“With Kayden?” I ask and he nods. I grab the knife and slide it

through the butter, getting a thin slice on the blade. “Nothing. I

just messed up. That’s all.”

“You looked like you were going to cry,” he says. “And

Kayden, well, he looked upset when he walked out. I mean, he

practically ran away from me when I said hi.”