Trix pulls off her scarf and rolls it up. “Robbie, don’t move,” she says as she presses it firmly against my side. Her face goes blurry. “We’re getting help, okay? Just stay with us.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Don’t close your eyes, Rob!”
“That’s a lot of blood…”
“Nora, shut up. You’re gonna freak him out.”
I hold up my hands. “Guys, I’m fine…”
They push them back down.
“Don’t move,” Trix says. “Just keep talking.”
My tongue feels heavy. My speech slurs.
I feel cold.
Fuck.
“Rob!” Someone taps my face. “Shit, we’re losing him.”
“Robbie!”
“Stay awake, honey.”
I can’t keep my eyes open. I try to picture another skyline again, but I see nothing but snow.
I think of Melanie. She likes snow.
When it snows in New York, will she think of me?
I hope so.
But probably not.
Forty-Two
Melanie
It’s snowing again.
I stare at it through my balcony window. Countless flakes falling from the sky without a care in the world, landing on whatever they land on, and that’s that. That’s the end of them. They either attach to their equally careless friends or melt into nothingness. Seems like an interesting life.
Man, I need to lighten up. I mean, I did what I wanted to do, didn’t I? I went. I met with Robbie. I told him what I felt, and that’s that. I’m one step closer to starting my new life. One less carry-on to worry about in my world of baggage. I’m moving to New York City! It’s going to be a blast!
Maybe I’ll feel better about it after Christmas.
“Humbug,” I say to the sky.
“Hey, Melanie.”
I turn around. Drew stands in my doorway with the cordless house phone in his hand.
“What do you want, Drew?”
He holds up the phone. “It’s for you.”
I exhale. I turned my phone off on purpose. I don’t want to talk to Robbie. I don’t want to talk to Nora and I really don’t want to talk to Trix.
“Just tell them I’m not here,” I say, turning back to my depressing window.
“It’s the hospital.”
I pause. “The hospital?” I ask, stepping forward.
Drew meets me halfway and gives me the phone. “They asked for you,” he says.
I clear my throat as I raise it to my ear. “Hello?” I ask.
“Ms. Melanie Rose?” a woman asks.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Good evening, ma’am. I’m calling from Chicago North Hospital. We have you listed as the emergency contact for a Mr. Robert Wheeler.”
Oh, goddammit.
I frown, annoyed. The bastard still has me as his emergency freaking contact?
“What’s he done now?” I ask, pinching my brow.
Her tone remains sympathetic. “I’m sorry to tell you this, ma’am, but there’s been an incident involving Mr. Wheeler. He was admitted to the emergency room about a half hour ago with a gunshot wound to the chest.”
“He’s been shot?!” I ask, too stunned to care about volume control.
Drew lunges forward to stand beside me, angling his ear to try to listen to the call.
“Well...” My breath hitches. “Is he going to be okay? How bad is it?”
“He’s in surgery at the moment, ma’am,” the woman says. “We won’t know much more until he’s out.”
“Okay. Um...” I try to focus, but my thoughts run wild. “I’ll be right there.”
She says something more, but I honestly don’t hear it. The call ends and, somehow, I remain standing.
Robbie’s hurt. Robbie’s in the hospital. Robbie’s in surgery and bleeding and dying and the last thing I did was walk away from him.
My heart stops.
What have I done?
“Melanie.” Drew stands in front of me. “What’s going on?”
I swallow around the lump in my throat. “It’s Rob. He...” I can’t even say it. “She said something about a gunshot wound to the chest and that’s he’s in surgery and...”
Drew turns around and motions for me to follow. “What are we waiting for? I’ll drive.”
I don’t move. I turn completely numb.
Don’t you dare do this to me, Robbie.
“Melanie?” Drew says from the doorway. “Come on.”
A tear falls down my cheek. “But what if he...”
“He’s not,” he says. “He won’t. He’s gonna be fine, big sister.”
What if he is?
What if he does?
I wipe the tear away, more annoyed than ever.
If he’s not, then I’ll kill him myself.
“And then, the gun went off!” Nora leans so far forward in her chair, she looks about ready to fall off. I’m sure she would if it weren’t for Clive’s sturdy hand resting on the back of her neck. “And Robbie threw himself in front of me! It was crazy!”
I nod from the chair directly across from them. I hold a disposable cup of vending machine coffee in my hands, but it’s ice cold now. “Uh-huh,” I say, my voice barely audible in the bustling hospital lobby.
“Then, Clive tackled Alex to the floor and Lance grabbed his gun and then everyone descended on Alex to make sure he was down and the entire time I was like, ‘where’s the bullet? where’s the bullet?’ and then Robbie just kinda dropped to the floor and that’s when I saw the blood. We told Robbie to sit down, you’ve been shot, but he was like, ‘no, I’m fine,’ and we were like, ‘no, seriously, Rob, you’ve been shot,’ but I guess adrenaline really does a number on you, you know?”
She catches her breath, obviously still very high on adrenaline herself.
Again, I nod. It’s all I’ve been able to do for a while now. “I’ve heard that,” I mutter as I set the cold coffee down on the floor by my ankle.
Trix looks at me from the chair next to Nora. She’s been mostly silent this whole time as Nora recounts the entire thing, only interjecting to clarify a detail or two here and there. “He was really brave,” she says, calm as standing water.
Was. He was brave.
I’ve referred to Robbie in the past tense so many times before, but tonight is the first time it hurts this much.
I swallow the tears. “Where’s Alex now?” I ask.
“He’s in custody,” Trix answers. “Lance is there now. He’s
