“Sally hasn’t been here for a while. Jackson went to her place mostly.” Alex stopped short of revealing any more.
Caroline understood. “Thank you, Alex.”
“Good night.” He shut the door behind him.
Caroline washed her face and brushed her teeth before crawling into Jackson’s bed and allowing the smell of him to engulf her. Once in his bed her eyes fell upon his nightstand. She thought briefly about lighting the candle, but knew it wasn’t her place.
She noticed something barely peeking out from the drawer. She knew better than to snoop, but curiosity got the best of her. She pulled it open without a sound and the picture of her and Jackson from the plane fell back inside. She ran a finger across the image of his face, as her passion surged.
The flashing light on Caroline’s cell phone drew her attention away from the picture. Her heart instantly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds inside her chest. She scrolled through her text messages and missed phone calls, her burden deepening with each one. Slowly, she pressed the digits to her mom’s cell phone. Her mom answered immediately, her voice filled with concern.
“I know, Mom. I’m so sorry for leaving like that. Yes, I’m in New York. Of course I’ll be back soon. I know. I’ll apologize to Clay’s parents, as well.”
She took a deep breath. “I can’t explain it all right now, Mom, but I promise to fill you in. I know, I’m sorry. No, I’m not in any trouble. No, I haven’t talked to Clay yet. I know…,I’ll call him.”
She took another deep breath. “Yes, I’m okay. I’m really sorry, Mom. I know. I’ll call you soon. I love you too. ’Bye.”
Unable to fathom having another conversation, she set her phone to “alarm only” and fell asleep wrapped in Jackson’s essence.
****
Caroline, Sally, Alex, and Tommy sat in various chairs around the hospital room when Jackson’s parents walked through the door. Jackson’s mom instantly started crying at the sight of her only son and his father reached his arms around his wife to comfort her. His mother looked up in Caroline’s direction and gathered her composure. “Oh, hello there. I don’t think we’ve met?”
Caroline stood up with a smile and reached out her hand. She noticed the same heart charm that Jackson had sent to her, fashioned on top of a ring his mother wore. “I’m Caroline. I’m a friend of Jackson’s,” Caroline said politely.
Tommy cleared his throat and Caroline shot him a nasty glare. “Do you know Jackson from school? Or the city or something?” his mother inquired.
Caroline felt her face flush with embarrassment. “No, ma’am. We met on a flight almost a year ago.” Caroline felt like a complete idiot at the admission.
Mrs. Parks’ expression reflected shock and confusion. “Oh. Well, thank you for coming.”
She walked over to Sally with a huge grin on her face. “Oh, Sally. Thank you so much for being here. I know it will mean the world to Jackson when he wakes up.” The two hugged like old friends.
Tommy could barely contain his laughter as he attempted to hide the devilish grin on his face with his hands. And Alex’s face, in his discomfort, had turned bright red. Neither had realized that Jackson’s parents didn’t know who Caroline was.
Caroline desperately wanted out of that room. “If you’ll excuse me, I really need to use the restroom.” She jerked open the door, practically busting it off its hinges on her way out.
Caroline ran around the corner and threw the bathroom door open with an exasperated breath. She flung open a stall door and quickly locked it behind her. She sat on top of the seat, buried her face in her hands and gasped for air. Tears spilled over her fingers as she berated herself. What was she doing there? His parents didn’t even know who she was! She didn’t belong there. She wasn’t his best friend, or the girl he was dating, or anything to him. How could she have been so stupid?
“Oh my God,” she said out loud as the most awful of realizations slammed down on top of her.
What if Jackson didn’t want her there?
Caroline realized at that moment she had to go back to San Francisco. Her ego had allowed her to simply assume that Jackson could never get over her the same way she couldn’t get over him. She had convinced herself that he still wanted her, when she didn’t know that to be the truth at all.
She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and pulled herself together. She exhaled and walked out of the bathroom toward the nurse’s station. “Excuse me?” Caroline spoke to the middle-aged woman behind the counter.
“Yes?” the nurse asked, her eyes weary. “Can I help you?”
“Do you have a pad of paper and a pen I can borrow? I’ll give it right back as soon as I’m done.”
The nurse smiled. “Of course. Here you go.” She handed her a legal-sized notepad and a pen with yellow smiley faces.
Caroline walked over to the empty seats along the wall across from the nurses’ station and sat down to write Jackson a letter, just like he had once done for her all those months ago. Tears fell onto the paper, but she never stopped. Her heart spilled into her words. Everything came out on that page.
When she was done writing, she handed the notepad back to the nurse and asked if she could trouble her for an envelope. The nurse handed her one and Caroline carefully wrote “Jackson” on it with a small heart at the end. “Thank you so much,” she said to the nurse before she returned the pen and walked toward Jackson’s room.