Loving Eden (9 page)

I
checked my phone every ten minutes for a text from Grey. He said he would let me know about our dinner plans. It was almost five, and I still hadn’t heard from him since he ran out of the bedroom.

I worried the enormity of the envelope Mason had dropped on him was starting to sink in. No amount of sex could cure that problem. I folded my laptop and placed it in the storage closet. I didn’t like leaving it out on the desk. I switched the AC off and locked the door behind me.

Grey’s truck wasn’t at the house. I jogged up the stairs, and let myself in. I decided to go ahead and take a shower. It always took me three times as long to get ready. I might as well get started.

I checked my phone again after the shower, after my makeup routine, and after I finished drying my hair. It was six o’clock now, and the alarm bells were starting to ring in my head.

Normally, I wasn’t a worrier, but I hadn’t been able to shake this odd feeling all day. I tapped his number and waited for him to answer. The call went straight to voicemail. I was ready to hit redial repeatedly, but my phone started ringing.

“Marin?”

“Hey, Grey’s hurt.”

“What?” I sat at the kitchen table. My hands started to shake.

“He’s at the regency medical center. There was an accident when he was on the roof. Do you need me to come get you, or do you know where it is?”

I grabbed my purse. “No, I’m on my way.” My voice cracked. “How bad is it, Marin?”

“He’s going to be ok. I think it’s just his leg. One of my mom’s friends is a nurse there, and she called her. When they first brought him in, he was knocked out.”

“Oh my God.” I dared the tears to form in my eyes. I had to see to be able to drive. Crying was not an option.

“Are you sure you can drive? I can come pick you up.”

“No, no.” I shook my head, and I cranked the ignition on my car. “I’m headed there right now. Thanks for letting me know.”

“I’ll check on you two later. Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” I pulled onto the highway and pressed the accelerator fiercely. Grey was hurt and I had to get there.

“Miss, are you next of kin?” The nurse behind the station kept repeating herself, but I wasn’t looking at her. I searched the curtains behind her for some sign of Grey. “Miss?”

I nodded. I would lie and promise my firstborn, too, at this point.

She typed something into the computer and double-checked her findings on a clipboard. “He’s in curtain five.” She pointed around the corner.

I didn’t wait for the play-by-play cues. I took off in the direction of the next set of curtains.

There was a crack in curtain five, and I peered through the slit before slipping inside the makeshift emergency room. Grey was asleep. His foot was wrapped and his leg was suspended in the air.

I wiped a tear that had snuck its way onto my cheek. The curtained cubicle was small, but there was one chair. I pulled it as close to the side of the bed as I could and sat.

Two hours later, Grey’s eyes fluttered open. I smiled and clutched his hand.

“Grey?”

They closed with zero recognition. I sighed and returned to my strained posture. There was an IV dripping something into his arm. Whatever it was, it must have been strong enough to keep him asleep for a while.

My eyes began to burn, but I didn’t dare venture out for coffee.

One of the nurses pulled the curtain to the side. Her name tag said Darlene.

“How’s he doin’, honey?” She retracted a clipboard from the plastic bin over Grey’s head.

“Should he be asleep this long? He hasn’t been awake since I got here.” I looked at the clock. That was now four hours.

“It’s the morphine.” She chuckled. “He’s probably happy to be sleeping through this.” She pointed to the contraption rigged around his leg. “We just got the green light to move him to a room.”

“He has to stay the night?” I didn’t know what was going to happen, but a full hospital stay wasn’t on my radar.

“He needs a day with this leg, and then I think he’ll get discharged tomorrow. Don’t take my word on that.” She returned the clipboard. “Just a guess.”

“Can I stay with him?” I didn’t want him to wake up alone, if he did wake up tonight.

“There’s a recliner in his regular room that folds out to a small bed. It’s not comfortable, sugar, but you can stay if you want to.”

I watched as she started unhooking cords and wrapping the IV tubes around the cart.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say.

A team of two other nurses appeared. They loosened the breaks on the wheels, folded the sides of the bed, and took off with Grey. I grabbed my purse and followed them.

The hospital was a maze. I would need all the exit signs to find my way back out.

A few minutes later, Grey was stationery again, and his bed on lockdown and plugged into all the appropriate wall sockets.

Darlene opened the cupboard at the end of the bed and handed me a set of blankets and a pillow. “Here you go. These are for you. Don’t feel bad if you feel like you need to go home. You wouldn’t be the first to be defeated by the chair.” She smiled warmly before closing the door behind her.

It wasn’t much, but it would make the recliner bearable. I kicked off my sandals, extended the chair, and nestled in for the night. I wasn’t going to leave Grey’s side.

If I thought sleeping on the hard living room floor was rough, it was nothing compared to wrestling sleeping positions in a hospital recliner. I opened my eyes, remembering where I had spent the night.

“Good morning,” Grey whispered.

“You’re awake.” I hopped out of the chair faster than I should have. My shoulder and leg had both fallen asleep.

“I’ve been watching you sleep. What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t leave you here all night by yourself. Are you ok? What happened?” I still had no idea what led to Grey being admitted.

He motioned for the water cup on the rolling cart. I picked it up and handed it to him.

A few seconds later, he cleared his throat. “I was coming down off the roof, and my foot slipped. I got hung up in the ladder. It twisted my knee before I finally landed on the ground. That’s the last thing I remember.”

He examined his leg.

“The good news is that you didn’t sustain a concussion.” Darlene had told me that much.

“Yeah, good thing.” He reached for my hand. “Thank you for staying.”

I moved closer to the bed. A metal side rail separated us. “I would do anything for you, Grey. What can I do now? How can I help?”

The door opened and a doctor hurried into the room. “Good morning, Mr. Lachlan.” He didn’t look up from his charts. “How’s the pain level? We’ve cut back your pain meds.”

Grey grimaced. “It’s bearable.”

I could tell from the sweat on his forehead he didn’t mean a word he said.

“Good. That’s impressive progress considering it’s been less than twenty-four hours since your accident.” The doctor scribbled something on the chart. “You’re going to have to stay off that leg for at least a week. I’ll have the nurse schedule an appointment with Brownsville Orthopedic in seven days. They’ll check you out and let you know about your rehab schedule.”

“Rehab?” The word was out before I knew I was butting in.

He turned to me, shoving a pen in the top pocket of his white coat. “Yes, there was a pretty severe sprain to the knee and ankle. The x-rays came back negative for a break, but the sprains are both serious enough that it may take physical therapy to get things back to normal.” He faced Grey. “I’ll sign your discharge paperwork, get a set of crutches assigned to you, and you’ll be on your way. No walking for a week though.” He wagged his finger.

Grey nodded. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t challenging the doctor or asking for a second opinion. A week with no walking was going to kill him.

“Easy, guys. Easy.” I held my breath as Pick and Connor maneuvered Grey through the kitchen door of the beach cottage. They had managed to carry him all the way up the stairs without so much as banging his little toe on the railing. I was impressed.

They looked around the bare living room.

“He’ll have to go on the bed.” I pointed to the hallway that led to our bedroom.

A couch would have been nice, but we still hadn’t had time to look for anything. I knew that was now postponed at least another week. I couldn’t imagine dragging Grey and his crutches to a furniture store.

Grey hadn’t said much since he had been discharged from the medical center. I thought it was partly the exhaustion of the entire experience combined with the pain meds’ side effects.

“Call if you need anything else, you two.” Pick slung an arm around my shoulder.

“We will. Thank you, both.” I smiled at Pick and Connor.

“Marin said she’s bringing over some kind of casserole or something, so you don’t have to make dinner.”

“Aww, that’s sweet of her.” It was almost time for lunch. Dinner wasn’t on my radar.

“Holler at us, girl.” Connor walked past me and shuffled down the deck stairs.

I walked into the bedroom where Grey was propped on a pile of pillows. His eyes half-open.

“Can I get you anything?”

He smiled weakly. “I think I’m just going to take a nap.”

“Ok. I’ll let you rest.” I turned off the light and closed the door.

Once, in college, Brett had the flu. I had dropped off chicken soup and some Nyquil. Other than that, I had zero nursing experience. I didn’t know if I was really the warm, nurturing type, but for Grey, I was going to try.

With Grey asleep, I decided to head over to the Palm for a few hours. I crept into the room and placed his phone next to him on the bed. That way, if he woke, he could give me a call. I left a note letting him know I’d be back soon.

I turned on the window unit and retrieved my computer from the storage closet. I wasn’t in the mood to work, but what else was there at this point? Grey was out of commission, and I needed to get some reservations booked.

I almost jumped out of my seat when I saw a reply email from the senior living catalog. This is the break we needed. I scanned the response. It would cost five hundred dollars, but I could place an ad in a senior vacation magazine that would be distributed nationally. It was one of those publications you see at the grocery store in the stacks by the sliding doors. Five hundred was more than I had budgeted for advertising, but success didn’t come without taking risks, right?