Leo and Sabrina tried to make things work, but their relationship fell apart after that night. Sabrina chose to fly back to the States early and by the end of July, she’d moved back in with CJ and got steady work as a production stage manager with a non profit theatre company. She and Josh talked occasionally over email or on the phone. His album had been delayed, but was almost complete and would be out in a few weeks.
Early one morning, Sabrina’s phone rang. “Hello?” “Bri, it’s Chelsea.” “It’s 2am, Chels.” “CJ’s been in an accident.” Sabrina’s heart stopped. “Is he OK?” “He’s hurt really badly. A drunk driver hit him…I’m at the hospital now, but they’re still in the ER with him. I don’t know anything.” “I’ll be right there.”
Sabrina rushed to the hospital and found Chelsea in the hallway. “How is he?” “He’s in surgery…something about internal bleeding.” Chelsea stopped to wipe the tears from her already red eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.” Sabrina put her arm around her. “Where else would I be?”
A few hours later, a doctor came to talk with them. CJ was out of surgery and wouldn’t wake for several hours. For the next two days, Sabrina and Chelsea took shifts at the hospital watching over CJ.
Sabrina had just come back from run when the heard the phone ring. “Hello.” “Bri? I must’ve called the wrong number. I meant to call CJ.” “No, I came home early and moved back in with CJ.” “Oh.” “It’s a long story. Josh, CJ’s been in an accident. He was hit by a drunk driver last week. He had surgery, but he hasn’t regained consciousness. The doctors say he’s slipped into a mild coma, whatever that means.” “Bri, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?” The one thing Sabrina wanted was for Josh to drop everything and fly out and help her through this, but they’d been through too much. She really had no right to ask that of him. “No, but thanks.” “Please keep me updated.” “Sure. What did you need CJ for, I mean, is it something I can help you with?” “No, don’t worry about it. It wasn’t important.” “Josh, I’m sorry to be so abrupt, but I really have to get back to the hospital.” “Sure, I’ll talk to you later.”
When Sabrina got to CJ’s room, Chelsea was there, holding his hand.” “What’ll I do if he doesn’t make it, Bri? I’ve loved him for so long…and there are so many things we haven’t done yet. We’ve never even made love.” “Really? I always assumed…” “Yeah, well, it’s not from lack of trying on my part, believe me. He respects your decision to wait until marriage and decided that we should too. I never really minded, but I’m so afraid of losing him.” Sabrina hugged her as her voice broke. “Stop it. You’re not losing him. We are not going to lose him. No go home and get some rest.”
Sabrina waited until Chelsea was gone and sat next to CJ. “CJ, dammit CJ, wake up! You’ve got to come out of this right now, do you hear me?!” She looked at CJ’s handsome face, pale, yet colored by the bruises. Sabrina took his hand and squeezed it. “CJ, I can’t do this, I can’t life my life without you. I can’t be strong for Chelsea and her parents and your parents and our friends. It breaks my heart to see you this way. Please come back to us.” She buried her face in shoulder and cried.
The next day, Sabrina drove home feeling weary. She pulled into the driveway
unable to believe her eyes. She didn’t bother to ask how or why, she just
ran into Josh’s arms and took comfort there. “Are you real?”
she asked. Josh kissed her head. “Of course I’m real.” She
felt so many things at once: happy, gratitude, relief, hope, that she started
to cry again. “I wanted to badly for you to come.” “Why didn’t
you call me?” “I didn’t feel that I had any right to ask you.
Come on, let’s get your things inside.” There was a warmth and familiarity
to this house that made Josh feel like he had come home. “How long can
you stay?” “I don’t know. I’ll figure that out later.”
He took her hand. “Hey, let’s make dinner, like we used to.”
Simple as that, they fell into their old routine. Josh cooked too much spaghetti
and Sabrina added too much garlic in the sauce. Everything was warm and familiar
and however temporarily, Sabrina forgot her troubles.
