The Push: A Sequel to The Pull Read Online Free PDF Page B

about. She’s not taking care of herself, and I doubt she’s going to without me hovering over her.”
    “Well, then, it’s a good thing you’re there to help take care of everybody.”
    I closed my eyes for a moment. “Gwen…”
    “I’m here, Shane.”
    There was that awful pain again stabbing me right between the ribs. This woman was so caring it was almost surreal. “I know it’s a long shot, but…any way at all you can come out here? I could really use you by my side right now.”
    “Shane…”
    “I know you can’t, but I just thought I’d ask one more time.”
    “I feel terrible not being able to be there with you,” she whispered.
    “No, no,” I said quickly. “Don’t worry about it. I know you have a business to run. I feel like an ass for even asking. I’ll be back in your arms before you know it.”
    There was a moment’s silence on the other end. “I really wish I could be there with you. Please send my love to everyone.”
    “Yeah, I will.”
    And she hung up. I knew there were probably a hundred people around her listening to her conversation. She was never alone and always so busy when working. It hadn’t been fair of me to ask, but I couldn’t help it. It felt as if part of me was missing without her around. I put the phone back in my pocket and walked back to where my parents were now standing, anxious to get them back home so I could focus on whatever it was that I could do to get my brother back to health again.

FOUR
    Livvy
     
    It seemed like hours before Shane returned to the hospital. I just sat there watching and waiting for something miraculous to happen to Darin. The nurses constantly came in and out, different ones as they changed shifts, coming to check on my husband’s vitals only to tell me nothing had changed.
    I needed a shower—badly. I felt so grimy, but I didn’t have a vehicle at the hospital, and it’s not like I wanted to leave even if I could. Shane had tried to convince me to come back to my in-laws’, but I had to stay with Darin. My legs were glued to this floor, only leaving for a few moments at a time to get some water or go to the bathroom.
    I felt numb and extremely impatient. My thoughts kept going back to how things had been reversed before. I was the one lying there in the hospital bed not waking up, and Darin had been here by my side. How very difficult this was for anyone knowing your entire life was wrapped up in the what-ifs, all the while praying and making deals with the man above for some miracle to happen so that you can have love and happiness within your grasps again.
    I had had some of the best months of my life lately. Darin and I had renewed our vows. We were still living in that development but were making plans to get the house ready to sell soon so that we could buy a place with a little land for our little one to play on. We’d just been to the doctor’s and had a sonogram determining the sex was a boy. Darin had been thrilled, rambling off all the things he was going to teach him and all the sports they could go see together. Perfection. My life had truly grown back to perfection, and now my poor Darin was fighting an internal battle trying to come back to me and our son. It was torturous to have to sit here and wait for the unknown, and every time I felt that torture and wanted to scream out, I had to remember that Darin had been through the same hell. He’d gone through various stages of depression and found comfort in Violet. Just thinking about that woman made my skin crawl. But I understood why it had happened, I did. Violet didn’t matter in the scheme of things anyway. She meant nothing. She wasn’t here, and I was. That said it all.
    “Nothing’s changed with him then?”
    I turned to see Shane enter the room. He didn’t look as cheerful as before. Even his voice was full of melancholy. “No.”
    He took a seat next to me and folded his hands between his nose and mouth while studying Darin. “Yeah, I figured as