Chapter Five
Six years ago
Tonight was the big game against Kansas State, the game everyone would be at, the game the team was all pumped for, and Cash was lying in a hospital bed doped up on painkillers because he’d just had his fucking appendix removed. Why now? Jesus.
He rolled his head on the pillow, the hospital bed raised so he was half sitting, and looked out the window. The late-afternoon sun slanted into the room, highlighting the bare starkness of pale yellow walls, linoleum floors, and the ugly vinyl chair in the corner.
His mom had hurried to Austin when he’d had the appendicitis attack, freaking out that he had to be rushed into surgery. She’d stayed with him yesterday and today but had to get back to Houston for work, and he’d assured her he’d be fine. He picked up the remote for the TV and glumly flicked through channels. Zilch. Nothing interested him.
“Hey,” a soft, feminine voice spoke from the door.
He turned his head and blinked, his forehead tightening. What the…?
He had to be hallucinating from the drugs. A princess stood in the doorway of his hospital room. A beautiful, elegant princess with long dark curls, wearing a bright golden ball gown, tight on top, with a full skirt billowing out from her tiny waist. Pink flowers adorned the dress and her hair, and she wore matching gloves that reached up to her elbows. He blinked again.
“It’s me. Callie.” She advanced into the room. “How are you doing?”
His frown deepened. “Callie?”
His best buddy’s girlfriend. He still gazed at her in confusion. “What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?”
She smiled and moved closer, seeming to float across the room in that big poufy skirt. “I came to see you. How are you doing?” she asked again.
He rolled his head back and forth on the pillow. “I’m okay. Pissed that I’m missing the game.”
Her eyes softened. “Yeah. How long will you be in the hospital?”
“I might get out tomorrow, or the next day.”
“Oh, that’s good. Are you in pain?” Her eyebrows pulled down.
“Eh. A little. They’re giving me good drugs.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
“Why are you dressed like that?”
Callie’s family was rich as sin, and she was a pampered, pretty sorority sister who flitted through life surrounded by glitter and rainbows and smiling friends, but even she wouldn’t dress like this to visit someone in the hospital.
“Oh.” She glanced down at herself. “I actually came to visit someone else. Um, she’s out in the hall. Could I bring her in?”
What was happening here? These drugs were really messing with his mind. “Uh. Sure.”
She glided out of the room and returned pushing a small wheelchair. A girl with very short, wispy reddish hair sat in it. “This is Hannah. Along with Disney princesses, she also loves college football. I told her a friend of mine was here, and she wondered if we could visit you.”
Still confused, he said, “Hi, Hannah. Nice to meet you.”
“This is Cash Hale,” Callie said to Hannah. “He plays for the Longhorns.”
Hannah’s eyes lit. “Are you the quarterback?”
“No. Wide receiver.”
She nodded eagerly. “I hope you win tonight. I mean, I hope the team wins. Even without you.”
“Yeah, I hope so, too. Wish I was playing.”
This was kind of bizarre. They talked a little football, then about his appendectomy, and then he asked, “And why are you here in this hospital, Hannah?”
“I have leukemia,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’ve had it for a long time. It went away, but it came back, and so I’m having more chemotherapy.” She sighed. “I thought I was done with all the needles and stuff.”
“Oh.” Well, that put his freakin’ appendectomy right into perspective.
“Hannah’s been through a lot.” Callie set a gentle hand on Hannah’s wispy hair. “She’s a warrior princess.”
Hannah’s smile was radiant in her pale face. “I am.”
Wow.
“I better get you back to your room, Miss Hannah.” Callie rose from the chair.
“Okay.” Hannah tipped her head. “You look so pretty. Doesn’t she look pretty?” She turned to Cash.
“She does,” he said roughly. She looked gorgeous.
“Belle is my favorite princess. Because she loves books.”
“You like to read?” Callie asked with a sweet smile. “I do, too.”
“Thank you for bringing me here.” Hannah turned to him. “Thanks for letting me visit.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s been a fun day, hasn’t it?” Callie asked.
“Oh, yes! I’m going to Disney World!”
“Thanks for letting us visit, Cash,” Callie said as she pushed the wheelchair out, Hannah waving at him.
He looked up at the ceiling. What had just happened?
He got more answers moments later, when Callie reappeared. “Hi again.”
“Hey.”
“Thanks for talking to her.” Her eyes were pink, and her lips trembled.
His gut pinched. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She blew out a breath and pulled the chair closer to the bed. Her skirt spread out all over it. She swiped her gloved fingertips under one eye and firmed her lips. “I mean, maybe. I volunteer with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. You know what they do, right?”
“Uh yeah. Make wishes come true for sick kids.”
She nodded. “Hannah loves Disney princesses. Today we came to tell her that she’s going to Disney World, and I dressed up as her favorite princess to help deliver the news.”
He stared at her, speechless.
“Hannah’s dying,” she continued, her voice low. “She’s been through so much. She had a bone marrow transplant about three months ago, but she relapsed again. They’re not sure how much time she has.” She drew in a shaky breath and attempted a smile. “But she’s going to Disney World.”
His heart constricted watching the emotions cross Callie’s face as she talked.
She plucked at her satin skirt. “I had this dress from last year. Once a year we do a Princess Ball to raise money for the foundation.”
“Princess Ball.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “It’s really fun. Little girls dress up and come to meet their favorite princesses. We take lots of pictures, and they do crafts and get manicures. They love it, and we make a lot of money for the foundation.”
“I see.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m a princess every day.”
“That’s not what I was thinking.”
“No?”
He cleared his throat, his muscles tensing. “I was thinking that’s really awesome of you to do that.”
Her eyelashes fluttered, and their eyes met. It felt like the air in the room changed, becoming charged. “Thank you.”
“I guess the Princess Ball is easier than meeting a kid who’s dying.”
Her lips trembled again, and she nodded. “Yeah. But I wanted to do it. It’s important.”
When he’d first met Callie, they’d been learning about electricity in one of his classes. Electricity was a form of energy, the flow of charge carried by free-flowing electrons. You couldn’t see electricity…but you could feel it. And around Callie, he felt something—a charge, a flow of energy. It seemed like there was an electric field around her, and just being in her presence was… Okay, he was a nerdy engineering student.
Yeah, he’d thought Callie was a princess when they’d first met, and not in a good way. She was beautiful and glowing, always perfect and polished, and she came from a different social sphere than he did—wealth and privilege and everything she could ever want. That didn’t stop him from wanting her.
Until she started dating his best friend, Beau.
She was perfect for Beau, who came from the same kind of social background she did. Cash couldn’t deny that.
But as she hung out with them and he got to know her better, he realized she wasn’t the spoiled and self-absorbed princess he initially thought she was. Sure, she took a while to get ready to go out and was a frequent customer at The Glam Bar, getting manicures and pedicures, but she was unassuming and friendly, warm and caring. And now he also saw she was brave.
Seeing her with that sick little girl, being so warm and nice, dressing up as a princess to make Hannah happy, visiting the hospital—which was a crap place to be—and nearly in tears because a little girl she barely knew was dying…a strange sensation twisted in his chest. The affection he’d developed for Callie over the years, as well as the inconvenient physical attraction he’d always felt for her, now mixed with admiration. It all swelled up inside him and became something…huge. Intense.
Impossible.
She was his best friend’s girlfriend. And he was in love with her.
Time stopped, and his world narrowed to a pinpoint of light as this realization struck him. He felt like he’d been tackled hard and slammed to the ground.
“Are you okay?”
He focused on her face, her eyebrows pinched together. “Yeah.”
“Is there anything you need? Or want?”
Oh fuck. He stared at her. So pretty and sweet, gazing back at him with innocent eyes.
You. I need you. I want you.
He was so screwed.
“Why aren’t you at the game?” he managed to croak.
“Oh. I’ll get there.” She lifted a shoulder. “Want me to get you a Coke or anything?”
He swallowed and curled his fingers into the hospital blanket. “I’m good.”
“I guess you won’t be able to play for a while.”
“Yeah. They said a couple of weeks, at least.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “But I won’t miss many classes.”
“That’s good. I’m sure Beau will help you catch up with anything you miss.”
They were both engineering students. “Yeah.”
“And if you need anything when you get home, let us know.” She paused. “When you get discharged, call us. We can come pick you up.”
“What makes you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Volunteer.”
“Oh. Well, the sorority does a lot of charity work. I’m the one who got involved with Make-A-Wish, and then I roped some of the other girls into doing the Princess Ball with me. I…like making kids happy. It puts my own problems into perspective.” A faint shadow passed over her features that made him wonder what kind of problems Callie Sutherland could have.
“Yeah,” he agreed with a wry smile. “I was lying here feeling sorry for myself until Hannah came in and told me her story. So thanks for that.”
Their eyes met, and she smiled. “These kids are amazing. So strong and brave. Inspiring.”
Again…why did she need to be inspired? She led the perfect, charmed life. He longed to know…because if there was anything he could do to make Callie happy…he’d do it. He’d do anything.
Even if that meant…staying away from her.