My Forever June (6 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Tucker

My father made a last minute announcement that he had a job out of town and needed me with him. This was not good news for me. It meant I wouldn’t get to see June for at least five days. I called her to tell her and was thrilled, on the one hand, that she seemed really bummed about it. I told her I would call her as soon as I arrived back in town and we would go do something together—her pick.

              The five days were painful for me. I missed June’s dazzling smile, the smell of her hair, and yes, even the clutter that surrounded her. I would go so far as to say that I would even put up with Felix if I could just see her beautiful face again.

             
When we finally arrived back in town, one day later than expected, I called June first thing, not even caring that my father was listening in on the conversation. Her voice was music to my ears, and she seemed really happy that I was back.

             
We made arrangements to meet at Kennedy Park in Wilmington. She wanted us to rent bikes and take a ride through the park. She said she always wanted to do that but never had anyone willing to go with her. I knew it would be fun. I was quickly learning that anything with June was fun.

             
The moment I saw her, I ran to her and pulled her into my arms in greeting. She squealed and hugged me tight as I spun her around and around.

             
“Tucker Mitchell, if you don’t stop spinning me around I’m gonna puke all over you!”

             
I chuckled at that but put her gently on her feet. It was the first time I had ever seen her wearing tennis shoes. She was usually barefooted or wearing flip-flops.

             
“Nice converse. I like the red. They go really well with your shorts…and your legs.”

             
She giggled and smacked my arm. “Hush it and just get on your bike.”

             
I grinned back at her and grabbed the bike. “Yes, ma’am,” I responded playfully, taking one more quick peek at her lovely long golden legs.

             
The park was beautiful this time of year. The lake was filled with mother ducks and their babies, people were walking their dogs, children were playing on the playground, and it was warm but not too warm. I was riding behind June and enjoying watching her hair flow behind her and around her helmet. Occasionally, she would glance back at me to make sure I was keeping up. She was thoroughly enjoying herself, and I loved it. To show off, I took off past her, leaving her in my dust, not literally, of course. I glanced back at her, enjoying her expression until suddenly alarm broke out on her lovely face and I heard, “Tucker! Look out!”

             
I quickly turned and spotted a group of children darting out in front of me. I jerked my bike sharply to the right to avoid them and hit a park bench, sending me and the bike flying into the air. I don’t remember landing.

Chapter Seventeen

June

I screamed as I spotted the chi
ldren running toward our path—and Tucker. “Tucker! Look out!” I yelled, but it was too late for him to avoid them. He jerked his bike hard and the next thing I saw was Tucker and his bike sailing into the air. My heart stopped at the sound of his crashing to the ground. I jumped off of my bike and ran to him.

“Tucker!” I knelt by him and grabbed his hand. He had hit his head on the huge rock behind the park bench he had flipped over, and he was unconscious. I gently took off his helmet to check him out. There was no blood, thank God.

Someone approached me and handed me a wet towel, which I then carefully rubbed against his face and forehead.

“Tucker, honey, can you hear me?” I was getting more worried by the minute. He wasn’t waking up.

Finally, after a few more minutes of torture, he began to stir.

I let out a deep sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God you’re awake. Tucker, can you hear me?” I asked as he appeared groggy and unfocused.

“I-I think so,” he responded, but he was still groggy.

“Just sit still a minute.” I helped him to a sitting position and he took a minute to adjust. “What happened?”

“You jerked your bike to avoid hitting those kids and flipped your bike over that bench. You hit your head on this rock. Thank God you had on a helmet.”

“Yeah,” he agreed as he tried
to stand.

I grabbed hold of his waist and helped him to his feet. “I think I better take you to the hospital to have you checked out. He didn’t argue.

I sat in the waiting room and had a strange sense of déjà vu as I waited for Tucker to be examined. The longer I waited, the more anxious I became. I stood and paced, feeling a slight sweat begin to form on my lip and the back of my neck. He just had to be okay. I didn’t know what I would’ve done if something serious had happened to him. Not now. We had just found each other.

Before my thoughts could get too carried away, Tucker exited the door and approached. He shrugged. “I’m fine. I have a concussion, that’s it.”

“That’s it! That can be serious, Tucker.”

He smiled and rubbed his hand gently along my cheek. “It’s sweet that you’re worried about me.”

“I’m serious, Tucker. What did the doctor say?”

“He told me to take it easy for a few days and to let him know if I had any symptoms like persistent headache, nausea, or vomiting.”

“Do you feel okay now?” I asked, taking his hand in mine.

He studied our hands looped together and said, “I do now. Oh, and he said I needed lots and lots of kisses.”

I rolled my eyes and playfully bumped his shoulder with mine as I tugged him toward the exit doors.

The next day, I sent a text to Tucker, checking in on him to see how he was doing. He responded with ‘I’m fine, but missing you’. This brought a smile to my face. He was such a special man. I suddenly wondered why I had been so reluctant to fall in love in the first place. It
was such an amazing sensation. I felt like I could climb Mount Everest without any oxygen at all.

Later that morning, I went upstairs to work on my latest painting. I
was branching off from my usual scenes and was working on another scene that had been holding my mind captive for over twenty-four hours. It was the scene of Tucker on his bike as he sped past me. He glanced back at me and smiled his amazingly adorable smile, with that nose scrunched. It had freeze-framed in my thoughts and I was able to paint it the way my mind recalled it.

I was interrupted by a knock at the door. I peered out the window and Tucker
backed off the porch and waved up at me. “Tucker!” I said to myself as I practically dropped my paintbrush and bolted from the room and down the stairs to the door.

I calmed myself as I
squeezed the doorknob and gently opened the door. “Tucker. What are you doing here? It’s in the middle of the day. Shouldn’t you be at work?”

He stepped inside, pulled me into his arms, and pressed his hot lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck
, slipping my hands into his hair, as he lifted me off my feet. He pulled back and grinned down at me.

“Well, hello to you too.” He sat me on my feet
, and I took a hold of his hand and tugged him with me. “I have something I want to show you.” I led him up the stairs and over to my painting. “Look what I’ve been doing today.”

I studied him as his mouth fell open and his eye
s grew wide. “Oh, wow, June. This is great. I thought you only painted beach scenes.”

I covered my mouth and chuckled as I gazed back to the painting in awe
. “Yeah, me too. I guess you inspire me.”

“Can I watch you finish?”

I shrugged. “Sure, if you want.” And that’s how we spent the rest of the afternoon…mostly.

Chapter Eighteen

June

Tuck
er and I had been dating intensely for over a month and neither one of us had yet to tell the other we loved them yet. For some reason I was nervous about the idea. The only person I had ever told I loved them was Blake and look how that turned out. And yet I knew in my heart that Tucker was different. He would never hurt me like Blake did. They were completely opposite.

             
We were meeting at the ice cream shop for a treat and then Tucker was cooking me dinner. This was the perfect night to tell him how I felt. I was nervous but also determined. I knew he already knew that I loved him, but he deserved to hear the words. I was also prepared to
not
be disappointed if he didn’t say the words back to me. I knew how he felt too, but he may not be ready to tell me.

             
We had our ice cream cones in hand as we strolled down the city street toward Tucker’s truck. We were giggling about the brain freeze he just had as we walked.

Suddenly, I realized that he had stopped. I turned to him. “Tucker, come on.”

  His expression was frozen, his eyes staring off into the distance as if he was lost in a daydream.

“Tucker? Is everything okay?” I laughed. “Okay, the joke is over.” But he didn’t move. I began to get alarmed the longer he just stood there, unmoving.
What do I do?
I thought. My gut told me something was terribly wrong. I took his ice cream from his hand and dropped them both into the nearby trash and took his hand and pulled. His feet stepped forward so I knew he could still walk. I then led him slowly to his truck, helped him inside, and got into the driver’s seat.

“Hang on, baby.
Hang on. Everything is gonna be okay,” I repeated, as much for myself as him as I punched the gas and headed for the hospital.

* * * * * *

I helped Tucker out of the truck and guided him slowly into the hospital, yelling for help as I walked. “Someone, help me! I need some help!”

             
A nurse ran to me and took Tucker’s arm to help me guide him inside. “What’s the problem, ma’am?” the male nurse asked me.

             
“I don’t know!” I stopped then and turned to him—and then I fell to pieces. “We were walking and then he just stopped! I can’t get him to respond or anything, it’s like he’s in a trance or something!”

             
“Ma’am, it’s okay. We’ll take care of him. Who is his doctor?”

             
“Oh, uh, Doctor Dyksterhouse.”

             
“Great. I’ll contact him right away. In the meantime you take a seat in the waiting room over there. We’ll keep you informed.”

             
He gently led Tucker through the lobby and they disappeared through the doors. I paced, and paced.
What could possibly cause him to do this?
I wondered. I had never seen anything like it in my life.

             
I gasped, remembering his parents and pushed the numbers on the phone until the words ‘parents’ came up. I was thankful I had thought to take Tucker’s phone from his pocket.

             
After the call was made to one frantic mother, I sat down in one of the chairs, put my face in my hands, and cried like a baby. I had never felt so helpless in all my life. The love of my life was sick and there was nothing I could do to help him. All I kept thinking was ‘this can’t be happening, we just found each other’ over and over.

             
When his parents arrived, they demanded that I tell them exactly what had happened. They seemed puzzled too. They said his seizures were never anything like this, and he hadn’t had a seizure since his brain surgery fourteen years ago.

             
We were all three pacing the floor when I recognized Doctor Dyksterhouse entering the room—with Tucker.

             
“Oh, Tucker!” I said as I threw my arms around him and squeezed. “You scared me to death.”

             
“I’m so sorry, June,” he responded, pulling me tight against him.

             
“What on earth happened?” his mother demanded from the doctor as she rubbed her son’s arm sweetly.

             
“Well,” the doctor began, “I’m not totally sure just yet, but it appears he’s had some kind of side effect from the head injury he sustained a week or so ago.

             
“What head injury?” his dad demanded.

             
Tucker winced. “Um, yeah, sorry I didn’t tell you guys about that. Can I tell you later?”

             
The doctor continued. “Anyway, I need him to stay overnight for observation and some tests. Try not to worry. We’ll figure out what’s going on.”

             
“Doctor, can I stay with him, please?” I begged.

             
“I’m afraid not, dear. He needs his rest and the testing will take a while. Come back in the morning.”

             
As we kissed goodbye, I felt like my stomach had fallen out and my heart was breaking. He needed me now more than ever and I couldn’t stay.

             
I tossed and turned all night, anxious for the next morning, and as soon as the sun was up, so was I, and I headed back to the hospital to see my man. And this time no one would stop me.