“Imani.”
“What the hell else could there be?”
“The driver in the other car that Mom hit.”
“What about them?”
She reached out to grab my hands. “It was Bleu…”
My heart was crushed into a million pieces. “W–what? Is–is he? Don’t tell me he’s– Isa, please don’t tell me.”
Isa shook her head. “He’s alive, Imani. I saw him briefly when I was there identifying Mom’s…her–her body. He was coming out of surgery. I had to lie and tell them I was his sister just to try and get some information. So, I don’t know if they’ll let you in to see him or not.”
“W–what did he look like?” I trembled. “Was he okay? Was he awake?”
“The nurse told me that he fractured his femur and had some broken ribs, and luckily everything else was cuts and bruises. I don’t know much else.” She shrugged.
I sighed. Although I was still a nervous wreck, I was grateful I didn’t have to attend two funerals. I could barely stomach knowing my mother was gone. I couldn’t lose Bleu, too, especially not how I ended things between us.
“I don’t know if I can see him lying in a hospital bed with tubes in his nose and monitors beeping all around him. I don’t even know if he would even want me there. What if he wakes up and sees me and is like, Bitch, what the fuck you doin’ here? I’ll die, Isa.”
“He wouldn’t say that, and you know it. Bleu adores you, no matter if you’re too stubborn to see it.”
“I’m not stubborn! Well, I mean, maybe a little, but that’s beside the point. Bleu and I, we–”
“You what?” she interrupted.
“We want different things.”
“Yeah, you want him, and he wants you.”
I shook my head. “I doubt he wants me anymore. I said some pretty hurtful things the night I left. We haven’t spoken in months.”
“Why did you fight him so hard in the first place? I’ll never understand that.”
“Because I’m terrified, Isa! He looks at me, and my knees go weak. He smiles, and I melt. I can’t live like that. Walking around with my insides all gushy, and for what?”
“Will you just admit that you love him?”
“What good would that do? I’m where I am, and he’s here, rebuilding his life. I already did that.”
“Listen, that man is laid up in a hospital bed, fighting for his life right now. You’re probably the only person he wants to see when he does wake up. If that whole wedding debacle of mine taught me anything, it’s that life is too short to half-love anybody, and if you love him with your whole heart like I know you do, then you need to get your ass down to the hospital and tell him how you feel before it’s too late.”
I huffed before wiping my eyes again. “You’re right.”
“I can drive you there if you want.”
I tipped my head forward. “Okay.”
“Just let me go to the bathroom first.”
Isa headed down the hallway and closed the door to the bathroom when I heard a knock on the door. I walked over and looked through the peephole to see a man standing there with smooth, milk chocolate skin and a full beard stretching from one diamond-studded ear to the other. I immediately knew who he was without ever seeing his face or meeting him in person. I never pegged Isa to fall for someone with a nose ring or a fade with some kinky, curly sponge twists, but he was handsome, nonetheless.
“Um, is this Isa’s apartment?” his baritone voice asked while looking at me with a brow crumpled in confusion.
I folded my arms across my chest. “Who are you?”
“Elijah?” Isa called out from behind me.