Tait would spare no energy on loving her through every minute of the journey.
He settled into his typical chair next to her bed, on the side not consumed by the ventilator and other equipment still keeping her alive. He left the rose on the mattress next to her hand, and placed an iPod next to it, which blasted the newest Imagine Dragons album.
“This is good shit,” he said to her, referring to the music as if she sat there actively listening to it with him. He reached and stroked her forearm while adding, “I think you’ll really like it. Hey, I just found out they’ll be coming through Seattle next year on tour. If you wake up today, there’s a chance we can catch them.”
He liked to call those statements his carrots. He dangled at least a couple of them at her each day he was here, which hadn’t been a lot lately due to the fact that terrorists couldn’t leave the world alone, and he was one of those special terrorist squashers. But now, she was, too. The woman had saved millions of people, who’d never know what she did. Who never realized that the woman in bed 222 at the SeaTac Special Care Nursing Facility was really the heroine who made it possible for them to be alive today, putting up tinsel and bells, anticipating their holidays…living their lives in joyous oblivion.
A nurse walked by in the hall, softly humming The Little Drummer Boy. Tait swallowed on the heavy ache in his chest. “That kid with the drum was a lot like you, Luna,” he murmured. “Didn’t have much to give but he gave his all—and he made a special king smile.”
He watched his tears spatter on her pale skin.
“Please come play your drum for the world again, flower. Come back to us, Luna. Come back to me.”
MORE in all four of these stories…coming December 16!
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