Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“Ha! The caterers were probably like, ‘He’s just some dumb kid with a billion dollars. Let’s see what crazy food we can make for this party!’”
“Oh, thanks a lot!” I said. “The sad part is, you’re probably right. Well? You brave enough to try it?”
“Hell, yeah!” We both bit down at the same time. The expression of bliss on her face was so extreme it was almost funny. “Oh my GOD,” she finally said when she’d swallowed her bite. “I don’t care what they are, I just want more. Where did that waiter go?”
In that moment I wanted to grab her and kiss her. The whole Julia experience was too much to handle with her looking so beautiful. Being with her was the best, but it was also a kind of torture. We were pretending. We were dancing around our feelings, acting like the stuff on the surface was all there was. At least I was. How did she feel? I had no idea. My hopes for how I wanted her to feel got in the way of being able to tell what was really going on with her.
I decided then that somehow I would get her alone and tell her everything. The hell with what she remembered or didn’t remember. I couldn’t go on just pretending it was okay to be casual friends with her.
“Julia, this party isn’t going to last very long. After we cut the ribbon, it will be over. I’d love to take you out someplace really nice. Seems a shame to waste that dress on these stuffy hospital people. Would you like to go to dinner at La Maison?”
Oh, wow,” she said. Her eyes traveled over my face for long, long moment, and then she smiled and said, “Yes. That sounds really nice.”
I took her hand and tried to draw her a little closer, but she backed off and let go of my hand. She said, “Where’s that guy with the little orange thingies? Do you want another one?”
Before we could locate the waiter, the hospital administrator came up to us and said, “Okay kids! It’s ribbon-cutting time. Just keep your speeches short, less than five minutes is fine.”
“Speeches?” Julia’s face turned white, her red lipstick standing out like a slash against her face.
I took her hand and squeezed it. “It’s going to be okay. You just have to say a couple of things, smile, keep looking beautiful.” I took a chance and put my arms around her, and felt her relax into them. “That part should be easy, Jule. You’ve got this,” I whispered.
She nodded and looked up at me. “I’ll be okay, I guess. Will you talk first?”
“Sure. And I’ll be right beside you the whole time.”
She exhaled and straightened her shoulders. “Okay. I’m ready.” She kept hold of my hand as we walked to the front of the room.
Someone had taped a wide red ribbon across a door that people had been passing through all this time. The administrator stood beside us holding a comically huge pair of scissors. He nodded at me to let me know I should start talking. I hadn’t thought much about what to say.
“Ladies and gentleman,” I started. “It will be three years ago this August that this young woman here, Julia Winthrop, was brought to Greenwood Hospital in an ambulance. She had suffered extensive injuries in an auto accident. She was transferred from the ER to the ICU, where for three weeks she fought for her life. The amazing doctors and nursing staff of Greenwood brought her from a critical condition, in a coma, to stability and good health. Today, after more surgery, she is the vision of loveliness you see before you.” People clapped, surprising me. “When I left Greenwood, I was just a college kid, and through some events almost as miraculous as Julia’s recovery, I earned a lot of money. I decided to give to the hospital that saved the life of a woman who is very dear to me. Thank you.” People clapped again, harder this time. I turned to Julia, who was giving me a strange look from the corner of her eye.
She stepped forward and said, “I don’t remember much about my time here in the ICU, but I know that if it hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t be here right now. The care I received here inspired me to enter the medical field myself, and I am currently a nursing student at the university, doing my clinicals at Greenwood.” This got scattered applause too. “I don’t know how to express my gratitude, but I hope the staff here knows how much I feel. I also want to thank Nicholas Cochran for his gift of the new ICU. I know that many more people will be helped here because of it. Thank you.”