When August Ends

“What’s happening, Neil?” she asked him.

“They told me to expect the surgery to last about five hours. We’ve got another hour to go. No one has come out since he went in.” He let her go. “I’m gonna go see if I can find anything out. I’ll be right back.”

Neil walked away, leaving Olivia and me alone in the waiting area.

“You got here fast,” she said.

“Fast as I could.”

Ming suddenly appeared. “Hey.”

“Ming, this is Olivia, Noah’s ex-wife.”

After they shook hands, Ming gave me a look that said, holy shit.

Ming must have felt awkward, because she excused herself again. “I’m gonna sit down over there. Just holler if you need me.”

“Okay.”

“You know, I saw him today,” Olivia told me.

“You did?”

“Yes. He seemed fine. Perfectly healthy.”

“Around what time did you see him?”

“About noon. I stopped by his house for, like, fifteen minutes so he could meet my daughter. She had a doctor’s appointment in the area.”

I thought back to the phone message Noah had left me. That was sometime before one in the afternoon. It must have been right after she left.

“So he didn’t seem off at all?” I asked.

“No. He didn’t.”

Olivia looked just as worried as I felt.

“You know what the last thing he said to me was?” she asked.

“What?”

“That I’m a good mother and he’s proud of me.” She burst into tears. “We’ve been through a lot, so that really meant the world to hear.”

I reached out to hug her. We embraced as two people who needed each other’s support. This wasn’t the time for bitterness or ego. All that mattered was Noah pulling through. He needed us—all of us.

As I let her go, I said, “He’s always spoken so highly of you.”

Olivia sniffled. “It was hard for me to hear him admit he’d fallen in love with you.”

What?

My heartbeat accelerated. “He told you that?”

“He did. Is that a surprise?”

“Well, he hasn’t said it in those exact words, but…”

Could that be what he was calling to tell me?

“Well, he most definitely said it in those words today, Heather. He told me he loves you. I’d been questioning his intentions when it came to your relationship, and he shot that down. He’s very protective of his feelings for you. I’d never seen that side of Noah. I thought you might need to hear that right now.”

“You’re right. I do. Thank you.” We hugged again, and I laughed a little. “This is weird, right?”

“Totally weird.” She smiled.

Such a strange mix of emotions swirled through me: joy from knowing that Noah loved me and excruciating fear that I would never get to hear that directly from him.

Neil Cavallari reappeared, looking defeated. “The nurse didn’t have any new information. She promised to let me know if she hears anything from the doctors.”

He took a seat across from us and placed his head in his hands. I went to sit down, and Ming moved from her seat in the corner to be next to me.

We all sat in silence, the sadness and fear in the air so overwhelming you could practically see it. I returned to saying prayers in a loop. It felt like my entire life was on the line. The fate of my future was down that mysterious hallway leading into the operating room.

Olivia suddenly stood. “My husband just texted. He’s driving around with the baby, and she’s hungry. I’m going to go feed her and come back. Please text me if the doctor comes out.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” Neil said.

A few minutes later, someone in blue scrubs came rushing toward us. Neil and I stood in unison.

He addressed Noah’s father. “The surgery was successful. We won’t know until he wakes up how much neurological damage there was. He was very lucky that the people in the supermarket acted fast and the hospital was nearby. We were able to get in as quickly as possible to stop the bleeding. But the fact is, if damage did occur, treating the aneurysm won’t reverse it. Rest assured that we did everything we could, and his vitals right now are good.”

“Can we see him?” Neil asked.

“I’m going to ask you to give us a little bit. Someone will come out and bring you into recovery soon. He’s going to be in the ICU for at least two to three weeks while we monitor him for complications.”

“How many people fully recover after something like this?” I asked.

“About fifteen to thirty percent of people escape major difficulties, so that outcome is the exception rather than the rule.”

Oh my God.

My fear paralyzed me.

“What about the other seventy-five percent?” Neil asked.

“Anywhere from mild to severe brain damage. Once blood enters the brain, it damages the tissue. Brain function is impacted, causing, in many cases, memory loss and cognitive disability. It’s why we acted as quickly as possible.” He must have noticed how distraught we looked because he added, “Some people do go on to live perfectly normal lives without any long-term damage despite rupture. Don’t give up hope. We’ll know more very soon as he wakes up.”