Free Your Heart to Keep: Holly and Jax by Amanda Mackey Page A

back. I think my mom had asked him to keep coming over to keep an eye on me because I’d seen more of him this past week than I had in months. Later in the day I’d get him to drop me back home because Monday I was going back to work. I needed to keep busy.
    Hearing the phone in the kitchen peal out, I motioned to Micah with my head as I slowed down the punches. “Can you get that?”
    “Sure.” He didn’t even lift his head up from his IPhone but rose from the bed and walked out the door still glued to Facebook.
    A minute later he was back, holding the phone out to me. “Who is it?”
    “How the fuck should I know?”
    “Male or female?”
    “Female.”
    I took my gloves off and snatched the phone off him. “Hello?”
    “Hi Jax. It’s Catherine.” Why was Chloe’s mom calling me?
    “Catherine. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing okay. Taking each hour as it comes. How about you?”
    “I’m coping.” That was all I was doing. Nothing more.
    “I’m glad to hear that.” She cleared her throat and paused for a bit as I waited for her to tell me why she called. “You may or may not want to hear this Jax but I received a phone call yesterday from Chloe’s donor recipient.”
    Crap! Don’t do this to me! “And?”
    “After speaking with her, Hank and I have made the decision that we’d like to arrange a visit.”
    “Why would you want that?” I didn’t really give a damn what they chose to do but why call me and tell me this shit? Was it to guilt me into giving a toss about the female who lived because Chloe had died?
    “She sounded like such a nice girl. Holly was her name. She didn’t have to call and offer her sympathy but she did and she was extremely grateful to have been given a new life because of our daughter. That means something to us. I thought maybe…”
    “No! Look, I’m sorry Catherine, I really am but if you expect me to go visit this girl or call her…I just can’t.”
    Mrs. McQuade’s fatigued sigh didn’t go un-noticed. “I thought that would be your reaction but I wanted to call and give you the option anyway.”
    “I appreciate your call. If there is anything else you need, let me know.”
    I threw the handset onto my bed beside Micah who had stopped messaging on Facebook and was looking at me, oddly.
    I ran a hand over my face and sighed before jabbing an elbow into my trusty punching bag.
    “Who was that dude, and why do you look so pissed?”
    “It was Chloe’s mom.”
    “It didn’t sound like she was calling just to ask how you were.”
    I walked over to the vacant wall adjacent to Micah and sat on the carpet, with my knees up, forearms resting on them. “They’re going to visit the bitch that got Chloe’s heart.” I squeezed my eyes tigtly shut before opening them again. “She was going to ask me to go but I cut her off real, quick. Jesus Micah! Why the hell would they want me to do that?”
    I gazed at my best friend as he studied me, head slightly tilted, his brown eyes suddenly filled with depth. He was about to say something that I knew I wasn’t going to like, I could tell. He always got that look whenever he tried to talk me into something I didn’t want to do.
    “I think you should go.”
    “What the fuck? Are you crazy? Goddam it! You’re supposed to be supporting me, not shooting your mouth off about something you know nothing about!” My knuckles cracked as I squeezed my clenched fist with my other hand.
    “Calm down, Man! Just think about it for a second, alright? Mrs. McQuade had a valid point. Aren’t you the least bit curious to find out about and meet the girl who has your girlfriend’s beating heart? It’s the only thing left of her that’s still alive. The only thing real that is still a part of what you two had together. And you make it sound like the recipient had a choice. She didn’t. A heart came up and she was a match. It could have been anyone’s. Any one’s at all but it was Chloe’s. Dude I think that’s a sign.