Wyatt put his hand on her shoulder. “That’s fucking crazy. Just another reason to hate winter. I can’t wait to move to Florida.”

“You’re not going anywhere!” Jax started to panic. “You have to stay here and help me because—”

“Stop,” Wyatt said, placing his other hand on Jax’s shoulder. “I know where your mind is heading right now, and you need to stop.” He shook Jax until she looked up. “You know I’m not going anywhere, and you know I say weird shit when I’m nervous.”

Jax took a deep breath. “I know.”

Wyatt ruffled her hair. “Let’s get some coffee, and we’ll talk this through.”

They fought the line of patrons and snagged two cups of fresh coffee before the carafe ran out. Jax sat on a small ledge by the hospital’s large windows instead of at one of the small café tables. She needed to look out at the sunny day, even if every tree on the property looked dead.

“They can’t tell you anything else?”

Jax stirred her coffee and watched the tiny whirlpool and spinning bubbles. “No. I expected…I don’t know what I expected. It’s been less than twelve hours—you’d think they’d still be doing something.”

“I guess not doing something is technically doing something.”

Jax placed the lid back on her coffee and took a sip. She didn’t want coffee. She didn’t want anything. She wanted Gretchen to wake up. “They did at least a hundred scans and emergency surgery to relieve the pressure by drilling into her skull.” Wyatt puffed out his cheeks and blew. Jax could tell she was making him queasy. “And then I’m sitting there bickering with Amanda like nothing’s wrong. Like her sister isn’t lying lifeless…”

“Hey, everyone copes differently. You do what you have to do to keep your head on straight.”

“To keep myself from thinking about being a single mother.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“I appreciate your positivity, but did you see Gretchen? A machine is breathing for her. She’s black and blue and has a hole in her skull.”

“She’s a fighter.”

Jax looked at Wyatt. Her heart tried hard to be hopeful, but her brain whirred with statistics and worst-case scenarios. “I don’t know if this is a fight she can win.”

Wyatt nodded sullenly. He looked out the window and squinted at the bright light that illuminated his brown eyes. “Remember when we were sophomores and Gretchen broke her left hand? She had so many finals and projects lined up, and her dominant hand was out of commission. She had to teach herself how to function all over again.”

Jax started to smile. “Our sex life got wild.”

Wyatt held up his hand. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Oh yeah.” Jax wiggled her eyebrows for good measure.

“The point I’m trying to make is Gretchen knows how to adapt and tackle challenges. She knows how to fight and win. She aced every single final with zero help.”

Jax scrunched her face up. “I helped.” Her shoulders fell when Wyatt looked at her incredulously. “Well, I refilled the paper in the printer a million times.”