I watched as a tear rolled down her beautiful face. I reached up and wiped it away.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you. I should have turned around or waited for you to get there before I met him. I just…I just never imagined Trey would ever hurt me…but…” She began to cry harder.
I grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. “Shh…baby, it’s okay. Please don’t be upset. You need to relax and try not to get stressed out, okay? Just take a deep breath and blow it out. You couldn’t have known he would do something like that.”
She quickly wiped away her tears.
I reached for a Kleenex and wiped her nose. “I’m practicing. Ari said I’m going to have to wipe a lot of runny noses,” I said with a wink.
She let out a giggle and shook her head. “Where am I?”
“Brackenridge, but I think they said you could go home tomorrow if you felt good and got some fluids in you.”
“Tomorrow? Oh, I want to go home now, Scott. Can’t I go home now?” she said in that cute whiny voice that drove me mad with love.
There was a small knock on the door, and it slowly opened. I turned to see Azurdee and Lark both walking in.
“How are you feeling, honey?” Azurdee asked with a smile.
“I’m okay…just really sore,” Jessie said.
Azurdee walked to the other side of the bed and took Jessie’s other hand. I glanced up at Lark and shook my head, letting Lark know Jessie didn’t know about Trey yet.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Jessie,” Lark said.
Jessie flashed that smile of hers at him, and I knew what was about to come.
“So, now, are you going to tell us what you do? Because I would love to know how in the hell you caught up to us like that. How did you know where we were?”
Lark shrugged his shoulders. “I just needed the license plate number, and after one phone call to a friend at the Department of Public Safety to check the traffic cameras, bam, there ya go.”
“I’m never going to get it out of you, am I?” Jessie asked.
I peeked over at Azurdee, who was looking at Lark.
“Nope. Nothing really to tell,” Lark said as he quickly looked at Azurdee and then back at Jessie before he turned and sat down.
“We just wanted to make sure you were okay before Lark and I took off. We left all our stuff back in Mason,” Azurdee said as she pushed a piece of Jessie’s hair behind her ear.
Jessie tried to sit up, but she stopped when she realized how sore she really was. “Oh no. I’m so sorry y’all have to drive back to Mason and then turn around and come back to Austin.”
“No big deal, honey. It just gives me more time to grill Mr. Tight Lips here,” Azurdee said as she gestured toward Lark.
Jessie let out a small laugh and then looked back at me. Her smile faded a bit as she took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Is Trey okay? Did they arrest him?” she asked.
I looked up at Azurdee and then quickly back at Jessie. “Baby, um…Trey died in the car accident. He broke his neck and died instantly,” I said.
I watched the tears build in her eyes before she closed them.
“So stupid. Oh my god. If I had just waited for you, none of this would have happened, and…and…maybe you could have just talked him into leaving, and he would…” Jessie began crying.
Azurdee said, “No, Jessica, this is not your fault. You had no idea that Trey would do something like this. You can’t sit here and play what-if. It doesn’t do anybody any good. What happened, happened. There is nothing you can do about it.”
Jessie looked at me, and my heart broke at the hurt I saw in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry that I didn’t listen to you, Scott. I’m so sorry I didn’t just wait for you.”
She began sobbing, so I crawled onto the bed and took her in my arms. I saw Azurdee wipe a tear away from Jessie’s face. I closed my eyes and just held the woman I loved more than the air I breathed.