But as we walked out of the ICU, I remembered something. “Can you just give me one minute?”
“Of course.”
Max’s brother Will was sitting by his side when I walked back behind the curtain.
“Do you want me to give you a minute?” he asked.
I shook my head and dug into my purse. “No, I just forgot to leave this.” Pulling out Yoda, I set it on the tray next to his bed.
“Is that one of his?”
I nodded. “Yeah, he gave it to me the night we met.”
Will chuckled. “If I had any doubt about you being the one, that just sealed the deal. He knew the day he met you.”
I smiled. “I did, too. It just took me a while to admit it to myself.”
“I’ll keep my eye on the little guy. Go get some sleep.”
“Goodnight, Will. Goodnight, Max.”
CHAPTER 31
* * *
Max
She was snoring.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Georgia. Her head was in the crook of my shoulder in a hospital bed, and her body was curled up in a ball beside me. And she was damn snoring.
I smiled. That might be my new favorite sound ever.
I looked around the dark room, confused. I didn’t remember how I got here, though somehow I did know where I was. Bits and pieces came back to me.
I remembered sitting on the bench, lacing up before the charity hockey game.
I remembered people talking to me while I slept. I could hear them, but they sounded very distant, like they were cutting through a thick wall of fog.
I remembered beeping. And someone washing my face. And being wheeled somewhere. And the nurses and Georgia laughing while they…did something. And the number ninety-six. What was ninety-six?
My throat was dry, and my neck hurt, but I didn’t want to move and wake Georgia. And I was so damn tired. So, so tired. I think I might’ve fallen back asleep for a little while, because when I woke up, Georgia wasn’t snoring anymore. She was staring up at me. Our eyes met, and hers grew wide.
She jolted upright. “Holy shit! Max?”
It was hard to talk because my throat was so dry. “You were snoring.”
“Are you joking? You’ve been in a coma for weeks and the first thing you say when you wake up is I was snoring?”
I smiled. “I think you left some drool, too.”
Georgia covered her mouth and started to cry. “Oh my God, Max. I thought I was going to lose you.”
“Shhh… Come here.”
“I think I should go get the nurse. Or the doctor. Or both.”
“In a minute. Just lie back down with me first.”
She kept shaking her head and crying. “You’re really awake. I can’t believe you’re awake. I’m afraid to lie down because what if I’m dreaming, and I go back to sleep and this isn’t real when I wake up?”
“Stop overanalyzing.”
“Are you in pain?”
“I feel like someone beat the crap out of me. But that’s not new.”
She snuggled back into the crook of my arm. “I’m so mad at you. You should’ve told me, Max.”
“I’m sorry. I was trying to do the right thing. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Oh, you will alright. For the next forty or fifty years.”
I smiled. “Your version of punishment is my version of heaven, sweetheart.”
“Do you know how long you were out?”
I shook my head but remembered those numbers again. “Was it ninety-six days?”
“Ninety-six? No. You were out for eighteen days. Why would you think ninety-six?”
I shrugged. “I remember hearing that number.”
Georgia’s brows drew together before recognition dawned on her face. “Ninety-six?” She pointed over to the window. “You must’ve heard us talking about those.”
I turned toward the window and squinted. The entire sill was jam-packed with action figures. “What are all those?”
“They’re all ninety-six original Star Wars action figures. The one in the front is the Yoda you gave me the night we met. But all the others your teammates and friends sent you. Some of your doctors brought them, too.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you heard us talking about those, that you remember the conversation. What else do you remember?”
I told her the jumbled bits that had come back to me.
“Wow. That’s amazing. And I can’t believe you’re awake, Max. I would love nothing more than to lie down and snuggle with you, but I really think I should get the nurse to make sure you’re okay. And I need to call your mom. She’s been so worried. We all have.”