“I can’t believe you kept this from me.” Jackson said tightly, his gaze focused on the letter he couldn’t believe he was holding in his hands.
“I’ll make it right with her. I’ll do anything. Please, just forgive me,” Sally pleaded.
Jackson shook his head and looked at Alex. “Does she know I’m awake?”
“I called her the day you woke up.”
“Of course you did,” Tommy chimed in snidely from the hallway.
Alex turned to glance behind him. “When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
Jackson ignored their exchange as he quickly calculated the number of days he’d been awake. He read her letter one more time before cursing under his breath. “She thinks I don’t love her.”
“Why would you say that?” Alex asked.
“Because she told me to call her when I woke up if I still wanted to be with her,” Jackson explained, holding up the letter.
Alex’s face dropped. “Oh.”
“Alex, I’ve been out of the coma for weeks, and she knows that.”
“But…”
Jackson interjected, “Have I mentioned the fact that I haven’t called her?”
“Unbelievable,” Tommy snarled and stormed out.
“But you can fix it! Just one phone call will fix everything. She’ll understand. Call her!” Alex pleaded.
“I can’t.” Jackson sighed as his eyes glazed over.
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“Did he meet her when she was here?” Jackson tilted his head in Tommy’s direction.
Alex snorted. “Oh yeah. He met her, all right.”
“Was he mean to her?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“That’s an understatement.”
“What’s his problem?”
Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I honestly don’t know.”
“I think I do,” Sally offered softly. She looked over at Jackson before he nodded with silent approval for her to continue.
“It’s hard to stand by and watch your best friend go down a road you know will end badly for them,” she began. “It’s like you see them in the path of an oncoming train, but they don’t see anything past the pretty trees near the tracks. You want to push them out of the way so they don’t get run over, but they refuse to move. So you’re forced to stand there helplessly and watch the devastation happen, powerless to do anything to stop it.”
“I guess.” Jackson conceded. “But I’m a big boy; I can take care of myself. It’s my decision if I want to stand on the train tracks or not. I know what’s coming, but it’s my risk to take.”
“It’s still painful to watch.”
All heads turned at Tommy’s comment. Alex wasn’t sure if he was more surprised that Tommy had returned, or by what he had said.
“But I didn’t ask you to watch,” Jackson argued.
“But as your friend, I can’t help it,” Tommy insisted. “I can’t just walk away and pretend I don’t care. It just sucked, okay? I’ve never seen you like this about a girl.” Tommy eyeballed Sally.
“Sorry, Sal,” he continued, “but it’s true. Jax, you were crazy for this girl. But she had a boyfriend and I couldn’t help but think that you were headed for some serious heartbreak. Not to mention the fact that the whole situation was pretty messed up.”
“You’re a good friend, Tommy,” Jackson acknowledged. “And I appreciate your concern, but you have to let me live my own life. I knew that I was heading in a potentially bad place. But I had to take that chance.” His eyes softened and he smiled at the thought of Caroline. “See, she was worth the risk. You can’t make those decisions for me.”
Tommy took a deep breath. “I know that. It’s just still hard to stand idly by and watch you get hurt.”
“Are you in love with me?” Jackson asked sarcastically and the whole room burst into laughter.
“I’d punch the shit out of you right now, if you weren’t lying in a hospital bed,” Tommy promised.
“Lucky me,” Jackson smiled.
“I don’t mean to break up the ‘bromance’ we have going on, but…” Alex paused and smiled. “Are you gonna call the girl, or what?”
Jackson took a deep breath. “I have to think.”
“What is there to think about, Jax?” Alex prodded.
“I just need to figure some stuff out, okay?” Jackson snapped harshly and Alex shut up.
Sally watched the exchange between the guys and suddenly felt out of place being there. “Can you guys give us a moment alone?” she asked meekly. Tommy and Alex exchanged glances, then slipped out the door and closed it behind them.
She sat up a little straighter and folded her hands tightly in her lap, before she took a deep breath and looked Jackson directly in the eye. “Jackson, I truly am sorry.”
His face softened and he reached for her hand. “I know. I don’t think what you did was right, but I know where it came from.” Jackson regretted that he had never been able to return Sally’s feelings for him, and his voice gentled. “I need to thank you,” he said, catching her off guard.
“Thank me…for what?” she stammered.
“For loving me,” he said kindly, and squeezed her hand. “I know it hasn’t been easy for you, knowing that my heart was unavailable. But you never let that stop you from taking care of me this whole time. I know you haven’t left my side for a single day.”