In Sickness and In Health

Driving

Cole POV

We are driving back from Cape Cod together and listening to music, I'm driving as I didn't want to put Lili under any extra stress or pressure as she's seems to be exhausted today, the trip seemed to take a lot out of her which her understandable given her current circumstances, I had a great time, the weather was incredible, the sun rising every morning and setting every evening unlike today. The weather is miserable, the pitter patter of the rain against the windows is driving me insane because it's that awful torrential rain lashing from the heavens but it was still lovely to get away just the two of us and Theo.

The hotel we stayed in catered for dogs, so we had the option to bring him with us on our excursions if we wanted to. He mostly stayed in the dogs hub which was a fantastic facility to have where he was spoilt rotten with treats and endless toys to chew to bits. The beaches in Cape Cod are just magnificent, my favourite one was Nauset Beach, an enclosed sandy beach full of the harsh green grass blowing against the tide. Lili and I walked along it every evening,it had that 1920's feel about it women wearing full bathing suits carrying parasols and a vintage ice cream parlour that served freshly whipped ice cream to satisfy your needs of craving something sweet and delicious.

In the twilight night the beach was a tinted sepia colour , the sand an apricot orange, the water darker, our skin soft to the eye. We sat there every night Lili to my left and Theo to my right eating our ice cream and just taking in the evening and chatting in our characteristic pattern, cherishing the beauty of views around us.

When we finished we would stroll back to the hotel and bring Theo back to the dogs hub and then myself and Lili would watch the hotel entertainment of the hotel's jazz band every night. As the musicians played on stage in the smokey haze, the music danced out of their instruments in that swinging rhythm. My feet tapping and my head nodding and swaying. Listening to the saxophone play the night away deep as the soul, soothing, sweet as honey pie. Surging through me, purging my blues and replacing them with a feeling of lightness, living in the moment with my beloved wife.

We are just coming up to Triborough Bridge, I'm talking to Lili about how we should try and arrange to catch up with Casey and Hart over the next coming weeks, she agrees but I don't think she's properly listening and she seems to be weary today. The two of us also are listening to music of the radio and Lili is singing along gently and she's amazing. She's very insecure and shy about singing in front of people it took a while for her to get comfortable singing around me and now she sings at any opportunity she gets and the loveliest thing of it all is her voice. She has this smooth and clear yet powerful voice. Soothing in a way, I could listen to her sing all day, her voice is the promise of tomorrow it was beautiful and she was even more beautiful herself singing along living in the moment and I wish she would never stop.

We carry on driving passing the Triborough Bridge and a Whitney Houston song plays, Lili has goes full force with her singing and I listen and I join her even though I haven't got a single note in my head. We are driving along the highway and the traffic is insane so we are stuck in a very stuffy car listening to "I will always love you", perfect song to be on though. She kisses me as the chorus starts as the traffic begins to flow slowly but still moving.
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Within ten seconds we are back to the heavy traffic with cars piled on top of each other.  Lili leans forwards, her warm breath in my ear, then she hums each song like we used to do for karaoke in back in Vancouver. My lips, the ones that really didn't want to smile tonight due to the crappy weather creep into a grin. She keeps on humming until I take her in a bear hug and kiss her. I swear this girl is an expert on keeping my heart beating, without her I'm sure it would simply stop.

We carry on driving and the traffic has gone down, Lili still humming until she suddenly stops, I turn to her and I think she's asleep so I try and wake up, she's not waking, I turn the wheel, I'm panicking now, "No she can't be dead," I think to myself as tears began to emerge from my eyes.

"Lili, wake up sweetie, come on your scaring me," I say tapping her face gently but she's not responding as the tears stream begin to stream down my face.

A few moments later after she lifts her head softly and simply says the words "Cole" and then as soon I take a sigh of relief, the car sways and buckles. I turn to the left, I had just pulled into the opposite lane and in that instant a commercial truck plows into our car. It was a car crash.

The crash seemed to go on forever even if only was about five seconds long as the adrenaline coarse through my system. I could see there was no hope. My Jeep was hydroplaning into a semi-truck. I couldn't do anything as my car was skimming along the surface of the rain water outside. Braking wouldn't help it was like falling off a cliff just enough time to regret what you did that day but not enough time for anyone to help you or try to faction a parachute from your clothes. In this case there wasn't a thing I could do.  Accelerating , breaking, hand-breaking, nothing, I was trapped in a steel prison As the front of the car hit the truck, I suddenly hated inertia. My body was flung forwards my face hit the air bag, my nose crumpled and broke. I glance over at Lili her face covered in glass fragments and blood, I try to pull her arm. She's unconscious , I try to pull her arm again, I fail again and then all goes black...

Hey guys hope you enjoyed the chapter! Lots of love
L💗