One Last Call Before Goodbye Chapter 21
Marshall never ended up using that bank card.
He tucked the card into the innermost pocket of his wallet, as if placing a talisman.
Later, when Darlene discovered this, she asked him why he didn’t use it. He said, “Your money is yours. I want to spend what I earn myself.”
Darlene didn’t try to persuade him again.
She knew this was his last bit of stubbornness, and also a promise he made to himself.
A month later, Darlene was discharged from the hospital.
Marshall carried the luggage piece by piece to Louise’s car, while Darlene stood at the hospital entrance.
“Let’s go home,” Louise said with a smile.
“Which home are we going to?” Darlene asked deliberately, glancing at Marshall.
Marshall was stuffing the last bag into the trunk. When he heard this, he paused, turned around, and looked a bit nervous.
“Lena, will you… come home with me?”
Seeing how nervous he was, Darlene suddenly felt a wave of warmth in her heart, and she almost wanted to laugh.
“Do you want to come home with me to Louie’s place?”
Marshall was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, then let’s go to Louie’s home.”
Louise watched the two of them and couldn’t help but laugh. “Did I say you could come to my home?”
Marshall’s expression froze, looking as disappointed as a child whose toy had been taken away.
Seeing him like this, Darlene’s heart softened.
She walked over and took his arm. “Alright then, if Louie won’t let me go to her home, I can only go to our home.”
Marshall was stunned for a second, then realized what she meant, and his eyes lit up instantly.
He looked at Louise, then at Darlene.
Louise shook her head with a smile and opened the car door. “Come on, I’ll drive you two to your home.”
She deliberately emphasized the words “your home.”
Marshall was so happy he looked silly, running to open the car door and then hurrying back to help Darlene into the car.
On the way, the car windows were down, and the early summer breeze poured in, carrying the scent of locust blossoms.
Darlene stretched her hand out the window, letting the wind slip through her fingers, cool and refreshing.
She felt as if she had been given a new life.
This time, she didn’t have to die.
Louise would no longer be sad. Marshall was always by her side.
She turned her head to look at Marshall’s profile in the driver’s seat. Sunlight fell on his face, softening his features.
He had lost a lot of weight, but he looked energetic, with a faint, almost invisible smile at the corner of his mouth. She reached out and held the hand he had resting on the gear lever.
He didn’t look at her, but his fingers tightened, enclosing her hand in his palm.
The days after leaving the hospital were divided into three-month intervals.
At the first follow-up, Marshall was even more nervous than Darlene.
He paced back and forth outside the doctor’s office so many times that Louise felt dizzy just watching him.
“Can you sit down?” Louise couldn’t help but say.
“I can’t sit still.”
The door opened, and the doctor came out holding the report, his expression giving nothing away.
Marshall’s breath stopped.
“You’re recovering very well. All your indicators are within the normal range. Keep it up and come back in three months.”
Marshall leaned against the wall, his legs weak.
Darlene walked out of the consultation room and saw him like that. “What’s wrong? Legs gone weak?”
“…No,” he said, straightening up, but the tips of his ears were red.
Darlene didn’t expose him. She walked over and took his arm.
“Let’s go home.”
Three months after three months, each follow-up felt like a small trial.
Marshall was always extremely nervous, always pretended to be calm, and always secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he heard “recovering very well.”
Darlene saw all of this and kept it in her heart.
She began to take her health seriously—eating on time, sleeping on time, taking her medicine on time.
She finished her design drafts one by one, submitted them to several competitions, got shortlisted for two, and won an award for one.
When she showed the certificate to Marshall, he was cooking in the kitchen.
The range hood was humming. He turned off the stove, turned around, glanced at the certificate, and then smiled.
“Congratulations, great designer.”
Darlene stuck the certificate on the fridge, right next to the notice of Marshall’s company’s first project win.
The two pieces of paper stood side by side, like two people standing together.