Rising from the Ashes (28 page)

Emmy slammed her hand down in frustration. “What she did—”

Luke cut her off again.

The man was really pushing his luck today. I was certain that interrupting Emmy twice in as many sentences was going to earn him some serious repercussions.

“Wasn’t done to you,” he replied passionately, causing Emmy to rear back in surprise. “Look”—he turned on the bar stool so that he could address both of us—“I know that what she did was hurtful. I get that. But don’t you think the woman has suffered enough? Christ, she’s your best friend, Emmy. I see how not talking to her has been eating at you. And, Jeremy, despite what she did, she’s still the love of your life.”

I opened my mouth to stop him right there, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“She was a scared kid. She made a mistake. Trust me, I know
all
about those. But she didn’t do it to hurt you, man. It wasn’t malicious. Our little group is the only family Savannah has ever had, and she thought she was trying to do right by one of them.”

All I could do was sit there and blink, letting Luke continue as he turned back to Emmy.

“Baby, I know you’re sensitive about losing Ella, and there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t regret not being there for you. But you’re a sister to Savannah. The last thing she wanted was to cause you any more pain. You need to get past this. It wasn’t done to you, honey. Right or wrong, what she did, she did to spare you.”

I saw tears forming in Emmy’s eyes as she listened to him speak.

“Jeremy…”

Luke’s voice pulled my attention off of Emmy and back to him.

“You have to listen to me when I tell you this. You can’t hold on to the past in order to stay angry. All that’s gonna do is eat at you until there’s nothing left. You have to move on. Forgiveness is tricky, but trust me, it’s so worth it in the end.”

He reached over and placed a hand on Emmy’s, looking at her with a smile full of so much love.

“My mom told me I’d never live a whole life if I didn’t have Emmy in it, and she was right. You’ve gotta ask yourself, will your life ever be whole without Savannah?”

Luke stood and leaned over the counter to plant a kiss on Emmy’s lips before leaving for work. Both of us were just silent for a while.

“I think we might have fucked up,” Emmy said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” I replied, feeling my stomach knotting up. “I think we might have.”

“Savannah?”

I turned around in a daze to find Ben standing at my door.

“You okay? I’ve been calling your name. Didn’t you hear me?”

“Huh?” My brain was foggy, and my energy was shot. “Sorry, I must not have been paying attention.”

“Are you feeling okay? You look a little sick.”

He wasn’t too far off the mark. I wasn’t sure if I was coming down with a cold or something, but I definitely wasn’t feeling like myself. But I’d be damned if I was going to take a sick day and sit at home, feeling bad for myself.

“I’m fine. Just a little under the weather. I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” I tried to give him a reassuring smile.

“Okay. Well, would you mind coming into the conference room? There are some things I’d like to discuss with you.”

“Okay,” I replied slowly, unsure of what he wanted to talk about.

I stood and followed him into the conference room.

As I walked through the doors, I was greeted by a loud, “SURPRISE!” from all of my coworkers.

On the large mahogany table sat a beautifully decorated two-tiered birthday cake with my name and what appeared to be twenty-seven candles. Surprised didn’t begin to cover what I was feeling as everyone began singing “Happy Birthday.”

I stood on shaky legs with a fake smile plastered across my face. Being the center of attention was the last thing I wanted in that very moment. I was feeling lightheaded and a little sick to my stomach. All I wanted to do was get back to my desk and work until the day was over, so I could go home and fall into bed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to get that wish.

“Happy birthday, Savannah,” Ben said from somewhere behind me.

I turned my head a little too quickly, and things began to spin. I placed my hands on the back of a chair to try to steady myself. I could feel a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead, and my skin began to feel clammy. Ben was right there to catch me just as my knees went out from under me.

“Savannah? Savannah!” he called frantically.

I could hear him. I just couldn’t force my mouth to open and respond. My vision blurred, and the edges started to grow black, darkness creeping closer and closer to the center.

From a distance, I heard an echoed voice calling out for someone to call 911 just before the darkness closed in around me completely, swallowing up anything and everything until there was nothing left.

When I finally awoke, I was lying in a tiny bed in an unfamiliar room. I tried to sit up, but the movement caused my head to pound and my stomach to instantly revolt. I lifted my right hand to touch my forehead, and I felt something catch. When I looked down, I saw an IV needle taped to the top of my hand.

I’m in a hospital?

“You shouldn’t be sitting up.”

My gaze darted from my hand over to the door where Ben was walking through.

“How did I get here? What happened?”

He walked over to the uncomfortable looking chair sitting next to the hospital bed, and he took a seat, placing an ankle on the opposite knee. “You got here in the back of an ambulance, and what happened was you passed out in the middle of the conference room. You scared the living shit out of us, Savannah.”

I vaguely recalled the moment right before everything had gone black. There had been singing and cake.

“I didn’t even get a piece of cake.” I pouted, remembering how amazing the cake looked. At that image, my stomach let out a loud growl that echoed through the sterile room and my cheeks heated with embarrassment.

“Don’t worry. No one got any. You passed out before we even had a chance to cut it. People hadn’t even finished singing ‘Happy Birthday’ before you hit the floor.”

My eyes widened. “I hit the floor?” I screeched.

One corner of his mouth quirked up. “Nah, I caught you before you face planted.”

I sat back with a huff and narrowed my eyes. “And people say chivalry is dead. You’re such a gentleman.”

“I do try,” he replied.

I laid my head back and rubbed my tired eyes.

“You really scared the hell out of us, Savannah,” Ben said softly.

Before I had a chance to respond, the doctor walked into the room. She was a pretty woman in her mid- to late-fifties, if I had to guess. She had her chestnut colored hair with just a hint of gray throughout cut into a sleek bob. “Good afternoon, Ms. Morgan. I’m Dr. Abernathy. Glad to see you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Um…I’m a little tired, and I have a wicked headache, but other than that, I feel fine. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Ms. Morgan—” she started.

I cut her off. “Savannah, please.”

“All right, Savannah. When was the last time you had a proper meal?”

I looked up at the ceiling in concentration. “Uh…I’m not really sure.”

“Well, you came in severely dehydrated, underweight, and if I had to guess, completely exhausted. Your body hasn’t been getting what it needs in order to function properly, and it seems it reached its limit today.”

I rolled my eyes at Ben when he shot me a disapproving look from his chair.

“That’s just great. I’m being hospitalized for exhaustion. I’m like a bad celebrity statistic, only without the fame.”

“This could have been much worse,” Dr. Abernathy continued. “I’ve hooked you up to an IV that will give you all the nutrients your body needs, and I’m going to go ahead and keep you overnight until your levels are regulated.”

“Is that really necessary?” I whined. Yes, I whined. I wasn’t happy about that, but I hated hospitals with a passion.

“Yes, it is,” Ben interrupted. “You haven’t been taking proper care of yourself, so you need to stay until you’re better.”

I wanted to reach over and smack the knowing look right off of his stupid face.

“Savannah? Savannah!”

The doctor, Ben, and I heard a voice calling out my name from the hallway seconds before the door to my room burst open.

Luke stormed in and came right up to my bed before wrapping his arms around me tightly. “Are you okay? Jesus Christ, you scared the shit outta me!”

He was squeezing so tightly that I felt like my lungs were deflating.

“Can’t. Breathe,” I wheezed out.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Luke stood and looked around the room frantically, his eyes bouncing between Ben and the doctor. “What happened? Is she going to be okay?” he demanded in an authoritative voice.

“I’m fine, Luke. What are you doing here?”

“I heard the call come through, and I got here as soon as I could. You passed out?”

Dr. Abernathy stepped in to explain the situation to Luke. Ben gave me a what-the-hell look and cut his eyes to Luke. All I could do was shrug my shoulders in confusion. I was flabbergasted that Luke was here.

After the doctor finished explaining to Luke that everything was fine and that they were just keeping me overnight to be on the safe side, she went to go check on her other patients, leaving me alone with Ben and Luke.

Ben cleared his throat uncomfortably and stood from the chair. “I think I’ll go get another cup of god awful coffee, so you two can talk.”

He headed out the door as Luke took the seat Ben had just vacated.

“What are you doing here, Luke?” I asked once we were alone.

“I told you. I heard the call come in. You really think I
wouldn’t
show up?”

“But Emmy will be—”

He held up his hand to stop me. “Emmy will just have to deal with it. Just because the two of you aren’t seeing eye-to-eye at the moment doesn’t mean that you’re any less of a friend to the rest of us. Besides, you don’t need to worry about that right now. You need to concentrate on getting better.”

There was no stopping the tears welling up in my eyes. His sincerity was too much for me to handle, and before I knew it, I was bawling like a damn baby in front of him.