The Brightest Sunset

“Hi,” she whispered, folding her arms around my waist and burying her face in my chest.

“It’s going to be okay,” I promised, smoothing her long, black hair down.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous in my life,” she confessed.

“I know. Me too.”

She peered up at me with glistening eyes. “Thank you for that in there.”

I played dumb. “For what?”

“I don’t know what kind of advance you had to promise him, but to hear him say, ‘I love you,’ I’d gladly pay it a thousandfold.”

I tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “I didn’t pay him anything. That was the truth.”

“Even the part where he chastised Brady for not being nice to me?”

“Actually, yes. I had nothing to do with that.”

She sighed. “God, I love that kid.”

“That makes…” I popped my head up and looked around the room. “A lot of us.”

She giggled soft and sad. “I’m really glad the judge allowed you to be here.”

“Christ, me too. Hey, that reminds me.” I dipped low and kissed her slow and sweet.

Arching her back, she curved her body into mine and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“You were incredible in court today. Seriously, Charlotte, if this whole medical thing doesn’t work out for you, you could have a career in law.”

“I just paid off my medical school loans. I’m not eager to get back into debt for another advanced degree.”

I chuckled. “Well, the option is always there.”

She blew out a heavy breath and glanced back at the door to the waiting room. “Has it been four hours yet?”

“I wish. I hate the not knowing.”

She traced her fingers down my jaw and over my lips. “And Laughlin scrubbed in to observe. He said he’d be sure to keep us in the loop. There will be a nurse who comes in and updates us regularly.”

“Not regularly enough,” I mumbled. And, when her face fell, I felt guilty about not being stronger and more positive for her. “Hey, you want to play a game?”

“Not particularly.”

“Too bad.” Taking her hand, I led her over to two chairs situated away from the rest. “Let’s pretend.”

Her worried eyes flashed dark. “I thought we said no more pretending.”

I kissed her forehead and then murmured, “But this is the good kind of pretending.” I turned her sideways in her chair and draped her legs over one of my thighs. “The kids and I did this a lot after… Well, anyway. I’ll start. Six minutes.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Six minutes to do what?”

“No. Where are we going to be in six minutes?”

“Uh…right here?”

Rolling my eyes, I huffed in mock frustration. “Okay. I’ll start. In six minutes from now, we’ll still be sitting here, but the nurse will have come in and told us that everything is going well. Brady will drop to his knees, thank the lord, and then stop being an asshole for the rest of our lives.”

She grinned. “Psh… Good luck with that.”

“Now, you go. Six hours from now….”

She blinked. “Um…six hours from now, we’ll be…” She stopped talking, and tears filled her eyes.

“It’s okay,” I breathed, rubbing her back. “Nothing is too big to wish for during Six Minutes.”

She nodded and swallowed. “Okay…so, six hours from now, we’ll be sitting in Travis’s recovery room, waiting for him to wake up, while listening to his new heart play a perfect rhythm on the monitors.”

“Damn right we will.” I winked. “Now, my turn. Six days from now…” I tapped on my chin. “It’ll be me and you, dressed all in black. I’m talking ski masks, cargo pants, black Henleys, combat boots—the whole nine.”

“So, we’re robbing a bank? What is it with you always breaking the law? Do you have a crew you need to get back to in jail?”

I laughed when it should have been impossible. “Nope. We’re sneaking Hannah in to see her brother.”

“Ah…we should probably get a giant duffel bag.”

“See? You know what I’m talking about!”

“Though, on second thought, it would probably be easier if I walked her in through the door. Six days from now, he’ll be out of ICU and in the transplant unit. I know some people who can get us in as long as she’s not sick and he’s healing up properly.”

“Oh. Well.” I scoffed. “Now, you’re just showing off.”

Her shoulder shook with laughter and she beamed up at me. “I love you so much.”

“I know.” I winked. “Now, six weeks. You’re up.”

“Humm…six weeks. Well, we’ll be home from the hospital.”

“Whose home?” I clarified.

“Uh…my new one.”

I made the sound of an annoying buzzer. “Wrong answer.”

She twisted her lips. “Okay… Your house?”

I did the buzzer thing again. “Still wrong!”

“Whose house, then?”

I leaned in close and brushed her lips with mine. “Our house.”

“What? No.” She jerked away, but I caught the back of her neck to prevent her from going far.

“You need a bigger place,” I whispered. “I happen to have a bigger place.”

She gripped my wrist, her fingers biting into it as she held it tight. “We can’t just move in together.”

“Why not?” I asked. “It solves all of our problems.”

“Only by creating more problems. What if we don’t work out? The kids would be devastated.”

“So we’ll work out.”

Her panicked gaze searched mine. “It’s not that easy.”

“It is that easy. It’s a commitment. To each other. To the kids. To being a family. Look, I know it’s going to be hard sometimes and we’ll go through our ups and downs like any other couple, but come on, Charlotte. I’m thinking, after all of this, there isn’t much we couldn’t conquer together.”

She began gnawing on her bottom lip. “I don’t know.”

“Yeah, you do. Think about it. Travis gets to go back to the house and bedroom he calls home. You yourself said today that this stress is not good for him. Imagine what another move could do while he’s trying to recover? And, this way, he gets to keep both of us close. On the nights when you’re working at the hospital, he’ll have me there. And, on the nights when I’m at the restaurant, you’ll be there. And, on nights when we’re both there, we’ll be together like a family.”

She cut her eyes over my shoulder. “You’re talking a lot about the kids, but what about us, Porter?”

“Us?” I laughed. “Sweetheart, we are the easiest part of this. I love you. You love me. I get to fall asleep every night with you in my arms. I get to make love to you in the darkness. And hold you in the light. I don’t have to crawl out of your bed to rush home. We don’t have to make time for each other when our schedules get too busy. We can finally be together.”

She shook her head, short and jerky. “It’s too soon.”

“That’s what the six weeks are for, crazy,” I teased.

She half laughed, half cried. “You’re the crazy one.”

“I’ll gladly accept that title as long as you’re planning to move in with me.”

She peeked up at me with timid eyes. “I don’t—”

The whole room jumped when the door suddenly swung open.

Travis’s surgeon was standing on the other side, his face pale and filled with sorrow.

Greg Laughlin stepped in behind him, his face contorted in agony, his eyes aimed on Charlotte.

They weren’t supposed to be there.

They were supposed to be in the middle of surgery.

On my son.

They were supposed to be giving him a new heart.

Giving him a second chance at life.