Moments (Breath of Life Book 3) (5 page)

"No problem sweetie," she turned and left.

Jennah felt like she could finally breathe. She was relieved that he would be okay. She sat there for a few moments letting the relief wash over her before deciding it was time for her to leave. Even thought the intake papers proved that they didn't know each other very well, she knew she really stayed for her own piece of mind and not for Chase, no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise. She could tell Chase that his coach would be okay. She wasn't sure how Duke would get home, but he had friends here in the hospital and he could surely call someone he knew. Her job was done. The butterflies that she just now noticed as she sat there thinking about Duke, settled down as she walked away from the waiting room and out to her car.

SEVEN

Duke woke up to bright lights shining above him. There was a throbbing pain in his head, right behind his eye. He tried to raise his hand to touch his temple but he felt weak. The last
thing he remembered was being two runs down at the game. Everything from that point on, he couldn't remember.

Duke found the remote for his bed by his head and looked for the button that would let him sit up. He grimaced as he pressed the incline button. Once in a sitting position, he pressed the button for the nurse. He waited patiently, closing his eyes once more.

"I was just about to come in and wake you," a familiar voice came.

Duke opened his eyes and saw Susie walking to his bedside. "Hey Susie. Long time, no see."

"Yeah, it has been a while. We should stop meeting like this. Call for coffee next time," she joked. Duke let out a small laugh. "How's your pain level?"

"Bitchin', pain is right behind my eye. Why am I at the hospital?"

"You got hit by a line-drive foul ball. One of the player's relatives brought you in. Apparently you passed out in the car on your way over."

Duke tried to remember the line drive but couldn't. He looked over at Susie trying to grab the missing pieces of his memory.

"It's okay Duke. You may not remember anything. Let me grab the doctor and they can check you out."

Duke smiled as she turned and left the room. He looked around still trying to grasp the missing pieces when he wondered who brought him in.

After a few moments, he gave up trying. The pain in his head was distracting him. He closed his eyes realizing the light overhead was too much for him to handle. He wondered if his pain medication wore off and he needed more. Hell, he didn't even know how long he had been in the hospital at this point.

"Hey there Mr. Avery," a male voice filled the room.

Duke raised his head and looked at the doctor. He squinted trying to block out the light.

"I'm Dr. Maclyn," he smiled. "How's your pain level? Scale of one to ten, ten being the worse."

Duke stared at him for a moment, "Probably an 8, my head is throbbing right now. Can we turn out the light?"

The doctor gave a friendly smile and pulled a light pen out of his pocket. Duke scowled at the doctor, not wanting any more light in his eyes.

"We can turn them off in a moment, let's check you out first. Look straight ahead," he paused clicking on the light, checking his pupils. "Earlier one of your pupils was dilated and the other was not." He flicked the penlight from one eye to the other, "It looks like there is some improvement but one is still a little dilated."

"So what does that mean?" Duke closed his eye trying to recover from the bright light.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"No, but Susie said I took one to the head."

"Yes, you were standing by 3rd base from what we were told. You suffered a cerebral contusion. It's affecting your temporal lobe. The MRI showed slight swelling but nothing we are too worried at the moment since you are awake and talking. I didn't see any bleeding either so that's a good sign."

"So what does that mean?" Duke wasn't sure he understood.

"It means your brain is a little swollen from hitting your skull. You said your pain level was high, which doesn't surprise me, you may feel tired, irritable, dizzy at times and of course some memory loss, which we seem to have from the time of the injury. Do you remember the car ride here?"

Duke thought about it. "No, who brought me in?"

Dr. Maclyn looked at the paperwork. "It looks like a Ms. Jennah Carsten."

Duke stared at him. He wondered why out of all the people at the game, Jennah brought him to the Emergency Room.

"So I want to keep you overnight just to monitor you. We will be waking you up every so often to check on you, make sure the swelling isn't getting any worse."

"Okay, so I get to go home in the morning?"

"If all goes well tonight, possibly, more than likely the afternoon so we have a full twenty-four hours."

"Can I get something for my headache?"

"Not at this time. If you have a minor bleed we can't see, it may prevent blood clotting. We don't want you to continue to bleed and cause more pressure and swelling. In fact, you won't be able to take anything for the next couple of days."

Duke sighed and the doctor gave him a tight smile.

"Can I get you anything else?"

"Am I able to use my cell phone? Is it even here?"

"It is here. You may use it if you feel up to it. You still want the lights out?"

"Yes, please." Duke turned his head and closed his eyes.

The doctor handed Duke his phone that he grabbed from the drawer where his personal belongings must be. Duke smiled and the doctor turned and left the room after turning out the lights.

Duke stared at his phone not knowing who to call. He just set it aside and laid back down. His head was too much for him to bear at the moment. He closed his eyes. He hoped sleep would come soon, especially if they are going to be waking him up every so often. He knew with concussions it would be every 15 minutes or so but he prayed it wasn't going to be like that. He would become one grumpy patient.

EIGHT

Duke awoke to a nurse shaking his arm gently. He groaned. This wasn't the first visit of the night.

"What?"

"Sorry sweetheart, just have to check on you."

"I'm in a hospital, my pain is at an 6, I'm tired, it's 2013, what more do you want from me?"

The nurse smiled at his irritation. Duke hated this. He just wanted to sleep.

"Well your vitals seem to be fine. Get some
rest, your ride just went to get some coffee. You should be released within a couple of hours."

Duke groaned. They had the blinds closed so only a soft light filtered through them. He figured it was still early in the morning but apparently not, if they were releasing him already. The doc said it would be the afternoon before he could go.

"The doctor should be in shortly," the nurse smiled and then walked out of the room.

Duke closed his eyes.
So much for having a good night's rest
, he thought. He understood they had a job to do but did they really have to wake him almost every hour, asking the same exact questions? It just irritated him.

His door opened and Duke whipped his head up to see who it was. The pain following caused him to wince.

"Hey there, how you feeling?" Jack asked as he took his seat.

"I've been better, how'd you know I was here?"

"I got a call from Susie. When I brought Paxton in this morning, I thought I would check on you. So we found out what room you were in. I figured you needed a ride, so here I am."

"I see."

"I wasn't sure if you would be up and ready to go or what. I've just been hanging out, watching some TV." Jack nodded towards the TV. Duke didn't even realize it was on, probably because it was muted.

"The doctor should be coming in shortly. The nurse just came in to check on me. It might be a couple more hours," Duke informed him.

"Not too bad then," Jack turned his attention back to television that.

"If you want you can turn it up. I can't get back to sleep anyways."

"You look tired. I guess they kept you up most of the night?"

"You could say that," Duke stared at the TV. He remembered seeing Paxton's ring on her finger. "Why are you here?"

"I told you, Susie called me."

"I know that Jack, but why are you here helping me? Why are you and Paxton trying so hard to help me out? Is she the one that told you to sit here with me? Does she want you to figure out where I stand with her?"

Jack flipped off the TV. Duke knew it wasn't the time to address the issues between them but he just needed to know. Hopefully he would still have a ride home at the end of it. He watched Jack take a moment to form his answer. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands together. He looked Duke in the eye. "What's going on between you and Paxton, that's your business to handle. You two have unresolved issues. I'm sure some, if not all are because of my actions. I regret walking out on Paxton and I'm ever so thankful for you. You took care of her when I didn't. When she got out of the institution, you were still there while I was in New York, running away from her. I ran and it took my father dying for me to realize that grief," he paused staring blanking at the wall. "It takes it toll on a person, it changes them and that's what you're still dealing with. Because you took care of Paxton, you put your own grief on hold. She tore you apart when she told you about the baby. I don't condone you yelling at Paxton and tearing her down like you did the other night, but I understand that you are grieving and I'm going to chalk it up to that. I won't fix what's going on between you two, I have no intention to. I can't force it or I'll lose one of you in the end and I don't want that to happen. So I'm here to be your friend, because you need me. I'm not running or turning my back on you, Duke. You're my best friend."

Duke stared at Jack. He didn't know how to reply to that. He heard the sincerity in Jack's voice. It brought Duke back to the place he was at the bar and grill when he knew he needed to work things out between them. "Congrats, by the way," Duke finally said.

"For what?"

"Your engagement. It hurts man, I'm not going to lie. I fell in love with Paxton. I was falling hard and then you came back. I crashed and burned and everything hurt. She threw me aside for you. After everything I did, she forgot about it, including my love. That's what hurts the most."

Jack didn't say anything but he nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Looks like we are at a crossroads. We stepped over the lines of friendship into dangerous territories. Let's take a few steps back and try to remember why I became friends with you," Duke joked. He had a feeling this was a place they were going to start over at.

"It's going to take some time, especially with you and Paxton at ends but I think it's worth the try. Just don't expect miracles overnight. Paxton is very upset with you and I'm walking a fine line here," Jack looked away.

"I know. I'm going to try, Jack. I still can't believe I was going to be a father. She knew Jack. She knew and she kept quiet."

"I'm not going to say what she did is right, but you have to let that go. Let it go, Duke. Move on. One day at a time, okay?"

There was a knock on the door before Duke could say anything. Dr. Maclyn came in. "Sorry, got caught up with another patient." He set the chart down at the end of the bed.

Duke saw him grab his trusty penlight and click it on. "How's your pain now?" He asked as he checked Duke's eyes.

"About a 7. When can I take an aspirin or something?"

"I would say the day after tomorrow, if you have any pain you can take something then. The dilation is coming down, but still present. Just get lots of rest and have someone check on you a couple times throughout the night tonight and you should be good," he smiled. "But if the pain gets worse, or dizzy spells start, come back and get checked out."

"Sounds good."

"Alright, I will get the papers started, you should be able to leave soon. Any questions before I go?"

"Nope, just ready to get out of here," Duke smiled.

The doctor smiled and left the room.

"Want me to stay at the house tonight?"

"No, I can get someone else to. I'm sure you want to spend time with Paxton."

"She's going to be here for the next 48-hours. So I guess I wasn't really asking, you're stuck with my buddy," he laughed.

Duke couldn't help but laugh with him this time. He ignored the pain it caused in his head. It felt good to laugh with his friend once again.