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Brian awoke to the feeling of someone stroking his hair, slow and lovingly. He opened his eyes, thinking he’d be greeted by his wife Leighanne, but instead, he saw Kristin.

“Hey…” she said with a smile. “Didn’t wake you, did I?”

He stretched out his arms and yawned. “No, I was waking up anyway.” He began to push himself up, propping himself so he was sitting up. “When did you get here?”

“Not too long ago,” she replied. “I just left from seeing your cousin…”

Brian stared at her, “And…”

She couldn’t hold it back no longer, she broke out into a full smile. “He’s awake!”

Brian continued to stare at her, but it didn’t take long for a grin to creep up on his face as well. The only thing he could do was reach out and grab her in a tight embrace. Kristin was taken by surprise at first, but she quickly melted into the arms of her husband’s cousin. Once they parted, Brian turned towards Howie, who was still sleeping.

“Howie!” he called out. “Hey D.!”

Howie shifted, but didn’t awake. Both Brian and Kristin chuckled, “That man can sleep through anything.” Kristin retorted.

Brian could only laugh in reply. “I’m glad to know that he’s okay though…” an awkward silence had befallen them, until Brian decided to break it. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m doing okay, now… knowing that everyone is alright.” she replied. “Who I’m worry about though is Leighanne.” Brian’s heart stopped. “You need to talk to her Brian…”

He totally forgot that he had literally iced his wife out the day he awoke. It was just that so many things were running through his head, he was angry at everyone, especially himself. The last thing he told her was to leave her alone, since then, she hadn’t came back to visit him, not even to check up on him. She did exactly what he asked her, and now, he was regretting for ever saying that.

“I know,” he sighed. “I… I didn’t mean to snap at her like that, it just… it just happened, you know? I really didn’t want her to stay away, I just needed to be alone at that time, to get my thoughts together. But now, my thoughts are together, and… what I wouldn’t give to have her with me right now.”

Kristin pulled up a chair and had situated it next to Brian’s bed. She grabbed his hand and held it in hers. “The day she came back from the hospital, she called me, crying. She felt as if you no longer loved her. She wanted to be there for you, she didn’t want you to go through this whole ordeal by yourself, but she had no other choice than to give you what you wanted. To tell you the truth Brian, she said she didn’t want to see you again… and she felt like she wouldn’t be able to face you, even when you came out of the hospital. She hasn’t been getting any sleep, she hasn’t been eating much of anything. Heck, your mother even had to take Baylee outta her hair for a while… she was becoming a wreck.”

All because of me… Brian thought to himself. “She needs you,” Kristin continued. “more than you need her.”

“How?” Brian snapped, he didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but all he was feeling at that moment was guilt, guilty for the fact that his beloved wife was now a wreck all because of him, and she felt like she had no one to turn to. “Do you expect me to miraculously recover and walk up to her with a bouquet of roses and box of chocolates in my hand?”

Kristin sighed and shook her head. “I don’t expect you to do anything Brian… I’m not expecting you to do what’s right… you should be expecting yourself to do that. You’ll think of something, I know you will… although a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates wouldn’t be a bad ideal, what she really needs right now is her husband… what she really wants right now is for her husband to come back to her.”

Kristin rose from her seat and leaned over to kiss Brian on the forehead. “I’ll be back later…” she said as she began to walk out of the room.

“Kristin!” Brian called out.

Kristin turned around once she opened the door. “Yes?”

“Thanks.” he simply replied.

Kristin grinned and nodded, “No problem Bri… both Leigh and I were ‘this’ close to losing our husbands, and we’d be damned if we lose them again.” and with that, she walked out and closed the door behind her.

Brian continued to stare at the closed door, thinking of how right she was. Only now did he realize how close Kristin and Leighanne were to losing their husbands, how close they all were to losing their lives. He glanced over at the phone… he’d be damned if he lost his wife, forever.