Blue Christmas (The Moody Blue Trilogy | Book One) (24 page)

She cried and cried, then cried some more. She fought every tender
feeling she felt for Jason, knowing it was all a terrible mistake. What a fool
she had been to let her feelings run away with him, regardless of who he was or
what they had experienced.

She tried to sleep, but found herself restless, tossing and turning, and thoroughly
frustrated. Finally, around 4:00 in the afternoon, she gave up. She got dressed,
deciding work would be the distraction she needed to survive. It was time to
step back into reality.

“Hannah,
seriously, what’s the matter?”

Kylie’s words startled Hannah out of her thoughts. She turned away,
dialing the combination on her locker.

“Hannah, talk to me! It couldn’t have been
that
bad having to work
during the holidays. Did something else happen? Is your family okay? Are you
sick? Are you—”

Hannah abruptly opened her locker, making it bang loudly. “Kylie—enough!
What is this? The third degree? Whatever happened to ‘hi-how-are-you-good-to-see-you,
Hannah?’ You’re wearing me out.” She faked a sarcastic laugh and knew it didn’t
fool either of them.

Kylie plopped down in the orange plastic chair. She ripped open a bag of
Nacho Cheese Doritos with an exaggerated flair then popped the lid on her Diet
Coke and took a long sip. “Okaaaay . . . So, Hannah, how are
you? Good to see you. I’d say you look great, but that would be a bald faced
lie.” She took a bite of a chip and tried to act nonchalant.

Hannah closed her locker and sat down at the table across from her. The
redhead’s long wild curls never failed to brighten her spirits. She offered the
trace of a smile as she watched the freckles across Kylie’s cheeks dance with
each deliberate chew.

“I’m fine, Kylie. It’s good to see you too. How was your vacation?”

Kylie leveled an impatient glare at her. “I see. So we’re going to play a
game, are we? Fine. My vacation was fine. Christmas was fine. Jason is fine.
The snow is—”

Hannah choked on her orange juice. “What did you say?”

“I said my vacation was fine. Christmas was fine. My brother is fine. The
snow—”

“Oh. Yeah, Jason. Your brother.” She cleared her throat, forcing her eyes
to study her bag of pretzels.

The silence hung between them. “Hannah, I don’t know what this is all
about but wouldn’t it—”

“It’s no big deal, Kylie. I just forgot that Jason was going to be home
from the Navy for Christmas. That’s all. Really.”

“Uh huh . . . and of course that explains why your face
looks like bruised melons and your eyes look like the Atlanta interstate
system. Because of course, we
both
know how much you love Jason.”

Hannah froze. She held her drink in mid-air. Her eyes stung then began to
fill.
Oh no. Not again.

“Hannah, what
is
it?”

She quietly closed the bag of pretzels, grabbed her drink and gathered
her things. “Look, Kylie. I’m not feeling well. Must be a bug or something. I
think I better go home.” Her voice cracked. “Just tell . . . tell
Jim I’m sorry and that I’ll try to be in first thing in the morning.”

Kylie stood up, her chair scuffing across the linoleum. “Hannah, why
won’t you tell me what’s wrong?!”

Hannah reopened her locker and grabbed her purse. “Kylie, I just—”

I have to get out of here. Now.

She slammed the locker and ran out the back door.

“Alli, don’t you want to go lie down for a while? You’re going to make
yourself sick if you don’t get some rest, and that won’t do you or Jackson any
good at all. Please?” Tracey pleaded with her friend as they sat beside Jackson’s
still form.

“No, I can’t go. I know that if I leave him for even a second that
something terrible will happen again. I can’t. As long as the nurses don’t
chase me out of here, I’m staying.”

“I understand.” Tracey draped her arm across Alli’s shoulders. “I’d do
the same thing if it were JT. I don’t know how you’ve done it, Alli. I don’t
know how you keep your eyes open, much less put a sentence together. But just
promise me you’ll try to go get some sleep the next time they make you leave.
Okay?”

Alli leaned her head on Tracey’s shoulder. “I will. I promise. And thanks
for looking out for me. Everybody has been so incredible. I felt like such a
wimp passing out when Jackson—” She turned to look at him again, then looked
into Tracey’s face. “Oh Trace, what would I have done if—”

“Don’t even think like that, Alli. It doesn’t help—” She stopped
mid-sentence. “Alli? What is it? What’s the matter?”

Alli watched the surprise registering in her friend’s eyes. But it was no
match for the shock she felt rushing through her.

“Alli, what’s wrong?”

Alli slowly lowered her head, looking at Jackson’s hand wrapped in her
own. “Trace,” she whispered. “Look.”

“Look at what?”

“Did you see that?”

“See what? What are you talking about?” Tracey’s voiced bordered on
impatience.

“Look.” She motioned with her chin toward her fingers laced through Jackson’s.

They both stared at Jackson’s hand and then it happened. The tiniest,
most imperceptible movement of Jackson’s thumb.

Tracey gasped. “Oh my gosh!”

Their eyes were glued to Jackson’s hand. Neither of them risked so much
as a blink. They watched for any sign of movement. Nothing. Had they imagined
it?

“Jackson! Jackson, squeeze my hand. I know you can hear me, baby. Just
please . . .
please
squeeze my hand!” Nothing. Alli
looked at Tracey for reinforcement, refusing to believe she had imagined what
she felt. Tracey nodded her head, signaling she’d seen it too. Alli looked at Jackson’s
face. He was so still. Not a single sign of life anywhere. Then—

A tear rolled out of his closed eyes and down the side of his face. Alli
held her breath. “Jackson?” she whispered. “Jackson, can you hear me?”

Nothing.

The door quietly whooshed open and JT stepped silently behind them. He
rested his hands, one on each of their shoulders. “Hey. How’s he doin’?”

Neither Tracey nor Alli answered, nor did they look at him.

“Gee, nice to see you too, JT,” he mocked, greeting himself.

“Shhh! JT, be quiet!” Tracey still didn’t turn to acknowledge his
presence.

“Why? What’s going on?”

Tracey grabbed JT’s hand and pulled him to the other side of Jackson’s
bed. “Alli felt some movement in Jackson’s hand. And then—well, check this
out.” She took JT’s forefinger and moved it gently to the edge of Jackson’s
eye.

JT took in a sudden breath. He looked at Tracey then straight across the
bed to Alli. She felt her entire face light up as the first glimmer of hope
filled her soul.

“But if he’s crying, that means . . . that means he must be
hearing something, or . . . at least trying to pull out of it,
right?” JT took hold of Jackson’s hand and started patting it. “JAX! Now you
listen to me, Jackson Greer—you break through that fog and come back to us,
buddy! You can do it, Jackson. I know you can. C’mon, big guy! Please?”

They waited, looking back and forth at each other. Then all of a sudden, Jackson’s
lifeless hand turned in JT’s hand until he gripped it with unbelievable
strength.

“Alli! Look at this! He’s got me in a vise here!” JT laughed out loud,
throwing his head back. “Oh God! Thank You!” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Thank You,”
he whispered hoarsely.

Alli laughed and cried all at once as she watched her nightmare slowly
start to dissipate. She pulled Jackson’s hand up to her lips and kissed it. “Oh
Jackson, please . . . wake up, baby! I know you can hear me!”

Alli leaned her head over until her forehead was resting on Jackson’s.
“Please, Jackson?” Her voice husky with emotion, she begged him. “Please? Oh
please come back to me, Jax?”

This time it was Alli who felt the strength of Jackson’s hand gripping
her own. A low guttural sound escaped from somewhere deep inside him, never
fully arriving in his throat. His breath sounded strained, as if he was trying
so hard . . . Alli pulled her head back, concerned that his
breathing had changed. She looked at the monitor. Perfect.

“Jackson?” she whispered once more.

The same guttural sound seemed to push itself until it finally emerged as
a bona fide groan. Another tear fell from each eye.

JT cried out with impatient anger. “Come on buddy! Dig out of that hole! DO
IT!”

Slowly, Jackson tried to lick his lips. “Where . . . ” His
eyes fluttered as if glued shut until he finally broke them open. They snapped
back shut, his face grimacing.

JT, Tracey, and Alli cheered in unison, beckoning him and begging him to
snap out of it once and for all.

“It’s too bright in here!” JT yelled, whipping around to close the
mini-blinds on the window. The room plunged into a welcomed darkness.

Jackson’s eyes opened again, mere slits as he squinted. Alli climbed up
on his bed beside him, his face cupped in her hands. “Oh Jackson! You’re back!
You’re finally back,” she cried, snuggling into the crook of his neck. He
turned his face toward her as she lifted her head back up. Jackson’s face
contorted with sadness. “Oh Jackson,” she wept, resting her forehead against
his.

His lips trembled as he attempted to speak. “Alli . . .”
he whispered. “Alli.”

She buried her face in his chest sobbing and laughing all at the same
time. She could hear JT and Tracey doing the same. When she looked back up, she
watched Jackson slowly turn his head toward JT as he beheld the tear-stained
face of his buddy. The slightest hint of a smile pulled at the corner of his
mouth. His head dropped back toward her as she continued crying, the waves of
relief washing over her.

“Shhh . . . don’t cry,” he whispered.

“What do you think you’re doing? Young lady, get off that bed!” A nurse
they’d never seen before was the first to enter the room, followed by an
anxious group of doctors and other nurses.

“Sheila, she’s okay,” Jackson’s primary doctor said, moving to the side
of his bed. JT and Tracey made room for him, but JT refused to let go of Jackson’s
hand. “She’s the best medicine he could have right now,” the doctor added. “Hello,
Jackson. Nice of you to join us. How are you feeling?”

Jackson took a ragged deep breath and nodded. “Kinda strange . . .”
he answered softly.

“Did you hear that?” JT shouted. “Did you HEAR that!” JT did the ritual
hand gestures with Jackson that he and the guys always gave each other before a
performance. “Jax, I’ve gotta go get the guys! And your mom and dad and—”

“Whoa, whoa—just a minute there, partner,” the doctor interrupted. “We
need a little time with Jackson here before we invite the troops in. Why don’t
you all step outside for a minute and give us a chance to check him out first,
okay?”

“Oh please don’t make me leave, Dr. Williams! Please let me stay?” Alli
begged.

Jackson’s countenance fell as he shook his head at the doctor. “Please?”
he whispered.

“It will only be for a minute. I promise. She hasn’t left your side for
days, except when we’ve booted her out to examine you. Alli, I promise this
will only take a second and you can come right back in.”

Alli turned her face only a couple inches from Jackson’s. She smiled,
relaxing for the first time since that horrible moment on New Year’s Eve. She
looked into his eyes and kissed him, oblivious to the roomful of people around
them. “I love you, Jackson.”

“Always mine?” he mouthed, his smile weary.

She laughed,
kissing him again. “Always and forever, Jackson. Always.”

“Hannah? Hannah,
open this door right this instant. Do you hear me?” Kylie banged on the door of
her best friend’s apartment. “You either open up or I’ll use my key. Did you
hear that?”

Exasperated, Kylie
dug her keys out of her coat pocket and forced one into the door. She pushed
against it, but the door refused to give way. She grumbled, realizing the
deadbolt would be in place since Hannah was home. She pulled up another key,
shoving it into the deadbolt and pushing her way into the apartment.