Ming smiled. “Pleasure to meet you.” She turned to me. “I’m gonna find a bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
After she left, I faced Mr. Cavallari again. The look of fear in his eyes was enough to shatter whatever protective mechanisms I’d been using thus far. I could feel my tears creeping in.
Judge Judy was playing on the television mounted on the wall. Her abrasive tone was particularly agitating, given my state.
“We have to stay positive.” Noah’s dad took my hands in his. “Do you believe in prayer?”
“In all honesty, I grew up without religion and never prayed much. But I’ve prayed non-stop since leaving Vermont. It’s almost instinctual, just desperate wishes for anyone up there who will listen.”
“Good.” He nodded. “Keep it up.”
“I will.” I paused, my emotions bubbling over. “Mr. Cavallari, Noah is everything to me.”
Still holding my hands, he said, “You mean so much to him. When he talks about you, his entire being lights up, like I’ve never seen before.”
“He has to be okay. He just has to.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw a woman with long, dark hair. I realized she was Olivia, Noah’s ex-wife.
She looked right at me. With tears in her eyes, she said, “You must be Heather.”
“Yes.”
“I’m—”
“Olivia. I know. It’s good to meet you.”
“Good to meet you, too.”
It was amazing how feelings like jealousy could take a backseat in times of crisis. In a strange way, I wanted her here. Noah needed the support and good vibes of everyone who cared about him right now.
Olivia embraced Mr. Cavallari.
“What’s happening, Neil?” she asked him.
“They told me to expect the surgery to last about five hours. We’ve got another hour to go. No one has come out since he went in.” He let her go. “I’m gonna go see if I can find anything out. I’ll be right back.”
Neil walked away, leaving Olivia and me alone in the waiting area.
“You got here fast,” she said.
“Fast as I could.”
Ming suddenly appeared. “Hey.”
“Ming, this is Olivia, Noah’s ex-wife.”
After they shook hands, Ming gave me a look that said, holy shit.
Ming must have felt awkward, because she excused herself again. “I’m gonna sit down over there. Just holler if you need me.”
“Okay.”
“You know, I saw him today,” Olivia told me.
“You did?”
“Yes. He seemed fine. Perfectly healthy.”
“Around what time did you see him?”
“About noon. I stopped by his house for, like, fifteen minutes so he could meet my daughter. She had a doctor’s appointment in the area.”
I thought back to the phone message Noah had left me. That was sometime before one in the afternoon. It must have been right after she left.
“So he didn’t seem off at all?” I asked.
“No. He didn’t.”
Olivia looked just as worried as I felt.
“You know what the last thing he said to me was?” she asked.
“What?”
“That I’m a good mother and he’s proud of me.” She burst into tears. “We’ve been through a lot, so that really meant the world to hear.”
I reached out to hug her. We embraced as two people who needed each other’s support. This wasn’t the time for bitterness or ego. All that mattered was Noah pulling through. He needed us—all of us.
As I let her go, I said, “He’s always spoken so highly of you.”
Olivia sniffled. “It was hard for me to hear him admit he’d fallen in love with you.”
What?
My heartbeat accelerated. “He told you that?”
“He did. Is that a surprise?”
“Well, he hasn’t said it in those exact words, but…”
Could that be what he was calling to tell me?
“Well, he most definitely said it in those words today, Heather. He told me he loves you. I’d been questioning his intentions when it came to your relationship, and he shot that down. He’s very protective of his feelings for you. I’d never seen that side of Noah. I thought you might need to hear that right now.”
“You’re right. I do. Thank you.” We hugged again, and I laughed a little. “This is weird, right?”
“Totally weird.” She smiled.
Such a strange mix of emotions swirled through me: joy from knowing that Noah loved me and excruciating fear that I would never get to hear that directly from him.
Neil Cavallari reappeared, looking defeated. “The nurse didn’t have any new information. She promised to let me know if she hears anything from the doctors.”
He took a seat across from us and placed his head in his hands. I went to sit down, and Ming moved from her seat in the corner to be next to me.
We all sat in silence, the sadness and fear in the air so overwhelming you could practically see it. I returned to saying prayers in a loop. It felt like my entire life was on the line. The fate of my future was down that mysterious hallway leading into the operating room.
Olivia suddenly stood. “My husband just texted. He’s driving around with the baby, and she’s hungry. I’m going to go feed her and come back. Please text me if the doctor comes out.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” Neil said.
A few minutes later, someone in blue scrubs came rushing toward us. Neil and I stood in unison.
He addressed Noah’s father. “The surgery was successful. We won’t know until he wakes up how much neurological damage there was. He was very lucky that the people in the supermarket acted fast and the hospital was nearby. We were able to get in as quickly as possible to stop the bleeding. But the fact is, if damage did occur, treating the aneurysm won’t reverse it. Rest assured that we did everything we could, and his vitals right now are good.”
“Can we see him?” Neil asked.
“I’m going to ask you to give us a little bit. Someone will come out and bring you into recovery soon. He’s going to be in the ICU for at least two to three weeks while we monitor him for complications.”
“How many people fully recover after something like this?” I asked.
“About fifteen to thirty percent of people escape major difficulties, so that outcome is the exception rather than the rule.”
Oh my God.
My fear paralyzed me.
“What about the other seventy-five percent?” Neil asked.
“Anywhere from mild to severe brain damage. Once blood enters the brain, it damages the tissue. Brain function is impacted, causing, in many cases, memory loss and cognitive disability. It’s why we acted as quickly as possible.” He must have noticed how distraught we looked because he added, “Some people do go on to live perfectly normal lives without any long-term damage despite rupture. Don’t give up hope. We’ll know more very soon as he wakes up.”
He placed his hand on Neil’s shoulder. “Someone will be out shortly to escort you back.”
“Thank you, doctor,” he said.
We held each other, and I whispered, “He’s alive. We’re so lucky.”
So many thoughts flooded my mind. No matter what happened, I was in this for the long haul. I would never leave Noah’s side. I didn’t care if he couldn’t remember me or couldn’t speak. I was here to stay.
A nurse appeared. “Both of you can come back, provided she’s family.”
“This is my daughter, his sister,” Neil said without hesitation.
“Follow me,” she said as she led us down the hallway.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to him.
My heart felt like it started beating again at the sight of him. Noah was still asleep, hooked up to an IV. It was a relief to see that he looked pretty normal, albeit unconscious. His chest rose and fell, and I was never so happy to see someone breathing in my entire life.
Tears stung my eyes as I asked the nurse, “How long until he wakes up?”
“It varies. It’s taking him a while, but that’s not uncommon.”
She wrote something down in her chart as if this was business as usual. I wondered if she realized this moment was the hardest I’d ever experienced, that for me, the world had stopped moving every second he wasn’t awake. I didn’t know whether the love of my life was going to be okay, whether he would even remember me. I didn’t know what I would do if Noah couldn’t speak. No matter what, I would be here. I needed to be strong for him.