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Chapter 27

Olivia was only vaguely aware of the events that happened after that. She recalled the paramedics rush into her room. She remembered the pricks in her arm, as they inserted IV’s, and the oxygen mask they put over her mouth and nose. It offered little relief.

After a few minutes, they loaded her onto a stretcher and wheeled her out to an ambulance, which was parked in the driveway. Melinda ran alongside the stretcher, gripping Olivia’s hand. She looked as terrified as Olivia felt.

“We’ll meet you at the hospital, honey,” she said, as the paramedics began to load her into the stretcher.

“Wait!” Olivia rasped, suddenly thinking of something.

“Don’t talk, sweetheart,” a paramedic said, but Olivia ignored him.

“Mom!” she cried. “Call Nick! His number’s… in my… night table. Call him!”

Those were the last words she got out before her world went dark, as she fell into unconsciousness.

***

“Think fast!” Brian yelled, hurling his basketball towards Nick.

Nick threw up his hands to protect his head from getting smacked right off and unintentionally caught the ball. “Ha! Nice try, Littrell,” he gloated, passing the ball back to Brian.

The Boys were at the venue in Boston, where they would be performing that night, hanging out while the crew finished building the set.

Brian and Nick passed the ball back and forth and dribbled it around the stage. Suddenly, they heard a cell phone ring.

“That’s mine,” Nick said, running over to his bag to get his phone. “Hello?”

“Hi, Nick?”

“Yeah. Who is this?” Nick asked.

“This is Melinda Caisson, Olivia’s mother.”

Nick’s heart began to pound. Why would Olivia’s mom call him? “Oh, hi, Mrs. Caisson,” he said. “Um… what’s up?”

“It’s Olivia. She’s very sick. She’s been taken to the hospital, and we’re on our way there right now. She wanted me to call you,” Melinda said tearfully.

“What happened?” Nick asked, his voice shaky. She had said everything was fine before he had left!

“She was having trouble breathing and spiking a temperature. I’m not sure what’s wrong with her, but it doesn’t look good,” Melinda replied.

“Oh, God…” Nick raked a hand through his hair. What was he going to do? He wanted more than anything to fly home to Tampa and be with Olivia. But what about the concert?

“Listen, Nick, we’re almost to the hospital. I have to let you go now. I have your number though, and I can call you back when we know more, okay?”

“Okay, that would be good,” Nick said, still considering his options. “Bye.”

“Goodbye, dear,” Melinda said hurriedly and hung up.

Nick slowly put his phone back in his bag, still in shock. He looked up to see Brian staring at him in concern.

“What happened?” Brian asked.

“Olivia’s real sick, Bri. I need to get down to Tampa,” Nick said. “Do you think we could can-“

“Talk to Kevin,” Brian replied before Nick could even finish. That’s what they always did when they had problems – talk to Kevin.

Nick nodded and ran off to find Kevin.

***

Hours later, Nick was on a flight to Tampa. Kevin had gotten a hold of their manager and asked for the next few concerts to be postponed so that Nick could go home to be with Olivia. Management hadn’t been too happy, but Kevin stood his ground, and soon the group, minus Nick, was holding a short press conference, while Nick was on his way home.

When he got to the airport, he went home long enough to drop off his suitcases and get his car. Then he drove to the hospital.

***

Olivia lay in her hospital bed, feeling better than before. Her chest still hurt, and it was still a little hard to breathe, but she knew she would be fine. Pneumonia. That’s all it was.

The ER physician that had examined her had started her on IV antibiotics right away, and Dr. Avery had come down too and assured her that it had nothing to do with her brain tumor and that she would be feeling better in a few days.

The antibiotics were already seeming to help, and Olivia felt a bit sheepish, thinking of how terrified she had been in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. She had thought that it was the end, that she was going to die right then. She wondered what Nick would think.

Her mother had told her that she had called Nick once and promised to call him back again when they knew something more. Melinda had tried to call again once they got the pneumonia diagnosis, but his cell phone had been turned off. Olivia hoped he wasn’t worrying too much. She didn’t want to scare him for no reason. But then again, he didn’t have much reason to be scared yet. He didn’t know she was going to die.

Olivia swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and tried her best to push Nick out of her mind. To keep herself occupied, she turned on the TV and started flipping channels.

She started to flip past CMT, the country music channel, but stopped when she saw what video they were playing. It was LeeAnn Womack’s “I Hope You Dance”, an old favorite song of hers. Olivia wasn’t a big country fan, but from the moment she had first heard the song, the year before, she had fallen in love with it. The lyrics had always been meaningful to her, but ever since she had been diagnosed with cancer, they became even more so.


I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it our or dance

I hope you dance… I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances but they’re worth taking
Loving might be a mistake but it’s worth making

Don’t let some hell bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out, reconsider
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance… I hope you dance
I hope you dance… I hope you dance

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it our or dance

Dance… I hope you dance
I hope you dance… I hope you dance
I hope you dance… I hope you dance


When the video had ended, there were tears in Olivia’s eyes. She had suddenly realized something. She loved Nick. And for that short, horrible period when she had not been able to breathe, the thing that she had feared most was that she would die, and he would never know how much she loved him.

She had to tell him. She couldn’t die knowing that she had never let him know she loved him. Just like the song said, Living life means taking chances if they’re worth taking. Loving might be a mistake, but it’s worth making. She had to take the chance and tell him know how she felt. Otherwise, she would never get another chance.

***