See You at the Finish Line (Run, Love, Repeat #1)

34. Adam

We’ve been driving for about nine hours, the sun has long since set. Music plays softly over the speakers and the streaks of headlights blur my vision. I’m not going to say I’m speeding, but I’m definitely going faster than most of the other cars.

We stopped to grab some food, gas, and a bathroom break but other than that, we’ve been on the road. Over halfway there, I keep telling myself, we’re making great time, but I’m fighting the urge to close my eyes. I didn’t sleep well the night before the race, so I’m wicked beat. I’ll drive right through the night if that’s what she needs. It may not be the best idea, though.

Paige is asleep beside me, but I can tell she’s uncomfortable, constantly shifting to find a better position. A good night’s rest will do us both some good.

“Paige,” I whisper. She doesn’t wake but she stirs. “Paige,” I say a little louder.

“What?” she grumbles. I smile to myself .

“There was a sign back there for a group of hotels coming up, and it’s completely up to you, but would you mind if we stop to get some real sleep?”

Her eyes fly open in a panic. “No, we have to get there,” she says automatically.

I nod, understanding. “Okay, we’ll drive through the night.”

She looks around at the dark road and then turns her gaze on me. It feels like a laser to my head as she assesses me.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

She narrows her eyes. “You’re wiped. Why don’t I drive?”

“Yeah, no. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you drive.”

“Did you just say ‘yeah, no’?” she asks incredulously.

“I think it’s a northerner thing.”

“What?”

“‘Yeah, no’ means definitely not. ‘No, yeah’ means of course. And the best one is ‘Oh, yeah, no, for sure,’ which means absolutely yes.”

She blinks a few times and then bursts out laughing. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Oh, I’m well aware,” I say, joining in her laugh.

“It’s confusing.”

“Not to me.”

“So you won’t let me drive?” She brings the subject back to the matter at hand.

“Oh, yeah, no, definitely not.”

“But you’re practically falling asleep.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“No, you won’t be, and Leah will kill me if I get into an accident and steal her thunder,” she jokes darkly.

“How about this? You call the hospital and ask for an update. If it’s good news, we’ll stop and get some sleep. If there’s no news, we’ll keep driving.”

She thinks it over for a minute. “Okay, fine, but I called an hour ago and they had nothing for me. The surgery is taking so long. How do they not know anything?”

“It could mean a few things. They’re still working on her, which is good—”

“Or it means that they are working so hard so when she dies, they can tell me they did everything they could.”

“You watch too many medical dramas.”

“It’s true, though.”

“Yes, it’s true, but a long surgery also means that there’s a chance. We have received some news. We know there’s internal bleeding, so they’re trying to find the source and repair it. Depending on where that is, it takes time.”

“Why can’t they tell me?”

“It’s hard to balance keeping the family informed and focusing on the patient. You don’t want them to be distracted because they’re worried you haven’t had an update in a while.”

“Yet you’re asking me to call again?”

“That’s because I don’t give a fuck about what they want. I care about you,” I say like it should be obvious.

“Well then, I guess I’ll call. ”

“Good.”

She dials the number the nurse gave her, already knowing it by heart.

“Hello, you have reached the University of Utah Hospital, if you know the extension of the person—” She cuts off the message and dials in the extension code.

“Hello, Paige, I was just about to call you,” comes a muffled voice. Dr. Barns actually answers his own phone, and I don’t know whether to panic or be relieved.

“Just tell me,” she says bluntly, putting it on speakerphone so I can hear.

“Leah is stable,” he says. Paige actively forces herself to concentrate on his next words, but I fist bump the air and a huge smile crosses her face.

“She’s not out of the woods yet, but it’s looking good. We found the bleeding and had to remove her spleen. She also had a punctured lung from one of her broken ribs. We were able to put in a chest tube and her vital signs are stable.”

“But she’s not out of the woods,” Paige says, focusing solely on that.

“Not yet. Her femur was broken and her artery was torn, so she lost a lot of blood.”

“Okay.” Paige breathes. “Okay.”

“This is a good news call, Paige. We are very hopeful.”

“Okay, thank you, Dr. Barns. Is she out of surgery?”

“Yes, she has been moved to the ICU for monitoring. ”

“Okay. Thank you.” Her voice is breathless as the rush of adrenaline seems to dissipate.

“I’ll call you in the morning. Get some sleep.”

She hangs up and collapses into her seat. My hand is on her thigh again, though I don’t remember moving it there. I’m so tired.

“She’s out of surgery, Paige, and the doctors are hopeful. Hold on to that,” I tell her as the shadows darken her face again.

“Okay.”

“So it was good news. Let’s listen to the good doctor and stop to get some sleep.”

“Okay.”

“Is that all you can say right now?”

She nods.

“Do you have a hotel preference?”

She shakes her head.

“Alright then, you just sit there and I’ll do all the work,” I tease. She gives me the middle finger.

“I never lay back and let someone else do all the work,” she jokes, and I jolt at the innuendo. I was not expecting that and apparently, that’s all it takes to wake me up. A sex joke.

She laughs at my expression.

“You’re evil.”

“I know,” she says smugly.

I pull into the closest hotel, a generic chain I know will be clean and nice. I purposefully do not check my phone because I can guess how many messages are waiting for me from Whyatt. And right now, my focus is on Paige .

The check-in desk is occupied by a woman who looks no older than twenty reading a book. Paige sees it and perks up.

“That’s a spicy book,” she whispers to me.

“How spicy?” I’m intrigued.

“Spicy like clutch your pearls, hide it from your mother, pray to Jesus after you finish reading, and make sure your vibrator is on your nightstand kind of book.”

I don’t think I can speak.

“Isn’t that considered ... porn?” I ask. No judgement here, I’m simply fascinated by someone reading that in public.

She shrugs. “Some people think it is and some people think it isn’t. Who are we to judge?”

“Have you read this book?” I ask, deliberately not looking at her.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she says as she walks past me. Yes, yes I would like to know. I’d also like to know if she’d be up for recreating any of it. For curiosity’s sake, of course.

“Hello, sorry to interrupt,” she says with a brilliant smile that hits me square in the chest.

The woman looks up from her book like she’s just realized we’re here. “Not a problem. Checking in?”

“We don’t have a reservation. Are there two rooms available?”

“Sure, let me check for you.” After some tapping on the computer and a moment of scrolling, she looks at us with an apology written on her face. “I’m so sorry, there’s only one room left.”

Paige laughs and I don’t know why. “Of course there is. Give us a minute please.”

The woman nods and goes back to her book .

“Do you want to stay here or go to another hotel?” she asks, and I honestly couldn’t care less.

“That’s up to you.”

She narrows her eyes. “You’re about to fall asleep standing up. We’ll stay here.”

She goes and checks us in. I try to hand her my credit card but she waves me off. We have a glaring match in front of the woman at the desk, her head ping-ponging back and forth between us. I sigh, resigned and too tired to fight. Paige beams at her victory. We get our key card and take the elevator to the sixth floor.

I’m so exhausted, I may call the elevator my bed for the night.

We get into the room and both of us stop dead in our tracks.

One bed we could deal with. A king bed would have been great, a queen would have sufficed, and a double would have worked, if barely. But in the centre of the tiny little room is the smallest single bed I have ever seen.

Oh shit.