Breaking Hearts by Melissa Shirley Page B

front of his family, the waiting room full of his friends, and most especially, his sister. I walked in, and Keaton stood to meet me.
    “How is he?”
    He rubbed a hand down my back. “He’s tough. He won’t leave us, Dani.”
    Simon’s mother put her hands in mine and tugged me in for a hug. “Thank you for coming.” She barely resembled the always put-together, perfectly made-up carpool mom I’d seen so often growing up. Her hair, instead of hanging straight and smooth, fuzzed with curls, and her eyes were puffy and red.
    I couldn’t do more than nod around the lump in my throat. “Can I see him?”
    She cupped my cheek with her palm. “Of course. Joss is in with him now, but when she gets back, you can go in.”
    Keaton led me to a seat next to him. Simon’s mother sat beside me on the other side. She huddled with her husband while I leaned in to talk to Keaton. “What have they said, Keats? Is he going to wake up?”
    He swallowed hard. The sound broke a little part of me. His eyes were shot with red from crying, and his hands shook as he reached out to comfort me.
    After a minute, I pulled out of his embrace. For Keaton to look so devastated, Simon was worse than I thought. They’d been almost inseparable for the biggest part of their lives.
    “They said he’s hurt pretty bad, and every day he doesn’t wake up is…” He looked down at his shoes, then lifted his head and dropped a hand on my shoulder. “He’s tough, Dani.”
    Hearing it a second time--as though he needed to convince himself--didn’t calm the trembling in my hands.
    “And he has a lot of reasons to wake up.”
    “You doing okay?” A sob broke from one of us; I couldn’t be sure who, but tears streamed down his cheeks.
    “He’s my best friend.” His voice cracked. “I would trade places with him in a minute.”
    “He knows that. You guys are…” I couldn’t bear the thought of what we would all lose if Simon didn’t make it. “Just tell me he’s going to be okay.”
    “He’s gonna be great.”
    We sat quietly, wrapped in hope and grief until Jocelyn strolled around the corner from her visit with her brother. She stood in front of Keaton and her sadness drew him to his feet, guided his arms around her, his instincts taking over where his words could not.
    After a few moments, she moved away and looked at me. “What are you doing here?” Her voice held none of its usual venom or malice.
    “Can I see him?”
    The whir of the overhead fan provided the only sound in the room. All breathing and speaking stopped. “Why?”
    I blew out a breath and counted ten tiles in the floor before I could answer. “Because I love him too.”
    She opened her mouth. “Tha--”
    Before she could refute the statement with her warped Jocelyn logic, I shook my head and lifted my chin to meet her gaze. I wouldn’t hide how I felt about him to make her feel better. “And he loves me and you know it.” She snapped her lips shut, and I softened my voice, calling on the more-flies-with-honey theory. “Come on, Joss. Please. Let me see him. Then, I’ll go.”
    The tight lines in her face relaxed. Her fists unclenched, and she drooped in Keaton’s arms. “He’s only allowed visitors every two hours. It’ll be a while before anyone can go back in.”
    Relief flooded every nerve receptor I had. I stepped around her so she could sit by Keaton. “I’ll wait downstairs in the coffee shop.”
    She reached out and grabbed my arm as I started for the elevator. “You can wait with us.” Keaton smiled at me, then leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
    The clock ticked so slowly I checked and rechecked to make sure it still moved at all. No one spoke, and the silence in the room echoed louder than if we had all started screaming. I waited, praying for news, for a sign, for something to happen to bring Simon back to me.
    When Joss stood, she looked over at me and nodded. Each step down the hall broke something inside me, and I swallowed a