Chapter
70
Jenna wandered down the hallway, looking all around for
AJ. She stopped at the nurses’ station,
deciding to ask if any of the nurses had seen him.
“I think I might have seen go into the chapel, over there,”
one young nurse said, pointing to a closed door with a tall stained glass
window on it across the hall.
“Okay, thank you,” Jenna said absently, heading over to the
chapel door, confused. She had never
thought AJ to be the religious type, and a chapel was the last place she would
expect him to go. But maybe in this time
of tragedy…
Slowly and carefully, Jenna opened the door and peeked
in. To her surprise, there indeed was
AJ, sitting in a pew towards the front of the small chapel area, his head
down. Closing the door silently behind
her, Jenna entered the sanctuary and stood in the back, unsure of what to
do. As she studied AJ, she saw that his
shoulders were shaking. He was
crying.
Jenna felt trapped.
She couldn’t just leave him there, but she didn’t want to walk in on his
grieving time and embarrass him. So she
stood there, as if her legs were frozen.
All it took was a small, accidental cough on Jenna’s part,
and AJ’s head shot up abruptly, and he whirled around in the pew, his eyes
boring into her.
Jenna’s mouth opened, but she could not speak. She shifted from one foot to the other, not
knowing what to say to him.
“I… I’m sorry,” she finally choked out. She turned and grabbed for the chapel door,
wanting to get out, but AJ stopped her.
“You don’t have to leave,” he said, his voice hoarse and
raspy sounding from crying.
Jenna stopped and slowly turned back to face him. She stood there a minute and then hesitantly
walked down the aisle to the pew where he was sitting.
AJ offered her a grim smile and patted the wooden seat next
to him, silently inviting her to sit with him.
Wordlessly, Jenna slid across the pew to sit beside him.
“Are you okay?” she asked him softly.
AJ turned to look at her, his eyes shining with fresh
tears. “Not really,” he admitted. “Dr. Sanford is here. He came all the way from Tampa because
Lyssa’s not stable enough to be moved.
He said… he said she’s not doing well… she’s too weak for a transplant
right now, even if they did find a donor, and he said… it doesn’t look good…”AJ
trailed off, tears spilling down his cheeks.
Jenna struggled to keep her emotions in check. “Oh, AJ,” she murmured, her voice
wavery. Tears filled her green eyes and
began to roll slowly down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Jen,” AJ apologized tearfully. “I didn’t mean to-“
Jenna stared up at him, as he trailed off once again. Their eyes locked onto each other, and
suddenly, on impulse, AJ reached out and took Jenna in his arms. Jenna’s green eyes never left his face. And suddenly, their faces were drifting
closer, and before they knew it, their lips were pressed against each other in
a kiss.
***
“Howie, I’m gonna go walk down the hall and see where Jenna
went to, okay?” Nick said, standing up.
“Sure, Nick,” Howie said.
“I’ll just wait here for AJ.”
“Okay,” Nick said, and headed out of the waiting room. He walked down the hall, looking around for
Jenna.
“Are you looking for your girlfriend?”
Nick looked up towards the source of the voice. It was a young nurse, coming down the hall
towards him.
“Uh, yeah, I am actually,” he said.
“She went into the chapel with your friend,” the nurse
said, pointing to a door down the hall with a stained glass window on it.
“Okay, thanks,” Nick said, offering his famous half smile
to the nurse. She fairly glowed,
managing to return his smile, and he gave her a slight wave and continued down
the hall to the chapel door.
He tried to look through the stained glass window, but it
was hard to see through, so he quietly opened the door and stepped in. It was dark inside the chapel, and it took a
moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimness.
When it did, his mouth dropped open in shock.
There, in the second pew from the front, were two people,
wrapped in each other’s arms, their faces pressed together in a kiss. It was AJ and Jenna.
Nick let out a hoarse cry, his eyes welling with hurt
tears. He stumbled backwards, unable to
take his eyes off them. Jenna pulled
away from AJ, looking up sharply. When
she saw Nick, her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.
“Nick!” she cried, but Nick ignored her. He shook his head, unable to even speak, to
ask her what was going on. He stared at
her accusingly, as he backed up further, until his back was against the closed
door. Then he turned and fled from the
room, blocking Jenna’s anguished cries from his ears.
***
