Hold the Forevers

Marley touched my arm. “Thanks for agreeing to go with me.”

“I insisted on attending with you.”

“Well, I’m grateful.”

“Here.” I dragged her across the room for alcohol. “This will help.”

Marley nervously downed the entire glass of champagne, and I passed her another one.

“Just don’t get drunk.”

She sipped the second glass more slowly. “Yeah. I’d hate to forget my speech.”

I took a sip of my own champagne. The event was beautiful. The room was completely decked out, and all the attendees were in formalwear. It was a big deal to have a huge association presenting Marley with an award for her achievements in neurological disorders before she was thirty. Whether Marley wanted to acknowledge that or not.

We wandered around the room together. Marley loosened up from the alcohol enough to say hi to her friends and colleagues. I only half-listened to the incomprehensible conversations and was glad when Marley disappeared backstage to prepare for her award.

I took a pose as a wallflower at the back of the room just as everyone quieted for the speaker to announce Marley. She stepped onstage to a huge round of applause. She’d practiced her speech on me last weekend and had been so nervous. No one would have guessed that based on how much of a pro she was tonight.

I was so engrossed in her acceptance speech that I barely felt my phone buzzing against my hip. I pulled it out to silence the vibrations. But when I looked down at the screen, I froze.

Ash was calling.

Why was Ash calling?

We hadn’t spoken in three months. Other than the five-minute conversation at the coffee shop and the unfortunate moment at Elle’s wedding, we hadn’t talked in almost two years. Texts, yes. He sent them with semi-frequency when he was thinking about me. Calling was something else.

I chewed on my bottom lip and then declined the call. I couldn’t answer that. Answering was a bad idea. He could tell me why he was calling in a voice mail that I could delete and never think about again.

Except he didn’t leave a voice mail.

He called back immediately.

I couldn’t think of a single reason that he would call me twice in the same minute. He didn’t even like to talk on the phone. He’d always been a text kind of person. What the hell?

I cursed and then backed out of the room just as Marley finished her speech.

“Hello?”

“Lila, thank God you picked up.”

Ash sounded … frantic. I furrowed my brows.

“What’s going on? Why are you calling?”

“I got into a car accident.”

“What? Are you okay?” I gasped.

“Yeah. I was T-boned by a truck.”

“Jesus.”

“My car is totaled. Air bags deployed. They’re taking me to the hospital.”

“Oh my God, Ash, are you okay?”

“I’m beaten up,” he said, his voice wavering, “but they mostly want to check to make sure everything is okay internally.”

“Fuck.”

“I just …” He paused on the line long enough that I got worried. “You’re the first person I thought of to call. My family is in Savannah. I have friends here, but …” He coughed into the phone and then cursed at the pain. “I freaked out and called you.”

“It’s okay. Do you need me to come to the hospital?”

This was Ash. No matter what the fuck had come between us, I couldn’t leave him to suffer.

“I don’t know. They’ll probably do some tests and send me home.”

“How are you getting home?”

He paused. “I haven’t thought about that.”

“Okay. Text me the hospital information, and I’ll meet you.”

He sighed in relief. As if he’d been holding his breath, calling me, expecting me to tell him to go fuck himself. But this wasn’t him asking us to get back together or trying to ruin my relationship with Cole. This was a real crisis. I didn’t know what I’d tell Cole, but I couldn’t leave Ash stranded.

“Thanks, Lila. I’ll text you.”

We hung up, and I got his message that he was going to Emory. Adrenaline ripped through me, and I rushed back inside to find Marley.

Her eyes darted over my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Ash called. He got in a car accident, and they’re taking him to Emory.”

“What?” Marley asked, wide-eyed.

“He was T-boned. His car is totaled.” Tears came to my eyes, and my hands were shaking. “He said he thinks he’s fine, but I don’t know. I need to go to him. I can’t sit by and not know.”

“Right. Of course,” Marley said at once. “I’ll go with you.”

“It’s your big night,” I protested.

“Ash has been in my life as long as he’s been in yours. I want to make sure he’s okay too. But also, if you go alone, Cole is going to freak out.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. “He’s going to freak out either way.”

She nodded. “Yep.”

“I hate this. I don’t want to take you away from this.”

“Honestly, take me away from this,” she said with a short laugh. “Let me tell someone I have a family emergency.” She squeezed my hand and then darted away.