One Moment (The Little Hollow Series Book 1) (23 page)

I wasn’t throwing anything away. “That’s not what’s happening, I’m still working as hard as ever and I’m still living my life.”

She looked at me seriously. “But are you? You work all the time and have a handful of friends. I hate to point it out but you’re twenty-five years old and haven’t had a girlfriend since you were in high school. That’s not living your life, Connor. It’s time to start leaving the past in the past and just move on.”

I was too tired for this shit. “It’s not in the past. Because of me, Sammy hasn’t had the chance to grieve properly. She’s closed off and detached from everything and it’s all my fault.”

I didn’t want to cry in front of her so I got up and walked to the sliding doors to look out into the well-kept back yard.

“Tommy died eight years ago, I don’t understand. None of that was your fault.”

I shook my head before turning around. “I left her.” It took every little bit of strength I had left in me to not break down there and then. “I can’t do this right now, I’m exhausted. Would you mind if I got a few hours here?”

She looked away and it broke my heart to know I was hurting her by not opening up more. “I promise we’ll talk later, I just can’t right now.” I gave her a quick hug and she squeezed me tightly.

“No matter how much your mind wants you to believe it was your fault, it wasn’t. By leaving that night, you saved me, Connor, you saved yourself. I will always be insanely proud of you for making such a grown-up decision at only seventeen years old and I won’t for one second let you think that what happened that night could’ve gone down any other way. You did what you had to do, now go get some sleep.”

No matter how many times I heard that, it just didn’t sink in.

I gave her a weak smile before making my way up to one of the guest bedrooms. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I crashed.

I listened to the monitors beeping, as long as that monotone sound kept on going, she was alright. They stopped all the drips keeping her in a coma an hour ago and I hadn’t left her side since, apart from to brush my teeth and change my clothes.

Keeley was on the ball and had brought everything I had hoped she would. “Chicken salad or BLT?” She came into the room with an assortment of sandwiches and two bottles of water.

“I don’t know if I can stomach anything right now.” I just took a bottle of water off her and she shrugged.

“More for me then. Have they said when she’s expected to wake up?”

I shrugged. “Could be anytime I guess, they said for me to press that big red button when she does though.”

Keeley looked at it with wide eyes. “Is it wrong of me to say that I’m really tempted to press it?” I laughed and she smiled.

“I’m really glad you’re here, Kee. I couldn’t have gone through this without you.”

She leaned over and squeezed my hand. “Now that all the mushy stuff is over, are you going to tell me what you and Connor talked about last night?”

I was silent for a minute. “We didn’t. I was asleep when he came in and I woke up just as he was walking out. I thought it was a dream at first so I got up to follow him. That’s when I saw you guys.” She frowned. “What?”

She picked up her bottle of water and started screwing and unscrewing the cap. “He drove back here after you told him to leave, risking you thinking he wasn’t respecting your wishes, then just left anyway without talking to you. I may be a bitch at times but this isn’t how I wanted this to end for you, Sam.”

I looked down at my mom. “Yeah, me neither,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone else, but I knew Kee had heard me by the grin on her face.

Just then, my mom’s hand twitched and I picked it up. “Mom? Mom can you hear me? It’s, Sam. Kee, press the button, she’s waking up.”

Her eyelids fluttered and the machines started beeping in an erratic rhythm. I looked at Kee, panic written all over my face as the tube sticking out her mouth started making a screeching noise.

Two nurses came into the room completely unfazed. “Don’t worry, sweetie, it’s just her trying to breathe on her own. If you step outside while we take this breathing tube out, you can come straight back in.”

I did as I was told and waited anxiously in the hall until one of the nurses popped her head around the door. “You can come back in now; she’s starting to come around.” I walked into the room and took my mom’s hand in mine.

Her eyelids fluttered again before opening slightly. “Mom? It’s me, Sam.” She pulled her hand away and clutched at her throat, I looked to the nurse that had stayed behind and she pointed to the water at her bedside.

“She will be extremely thirsty but only let her take little sips. Her throat will be very sore for a few days but she’ll be right as rain in no time.” I nodded and picked up the cup with the straw in it. “Here, let me prop up her bed a little.” She used a little remote control to make the top end of the bed incline a little more.

“Thank you.” I directed the straw into my mom’s mouth and she took a sip, blanching as she swallowed. She tried to say something but I interjected and said, “Don’t try to talk just yet. Do you know where you are?” She shook her head. “You’re in the hospital, you were in a pretty bad way when you got brought in. You’ve got a concussion and had to have your stomach pumped.”

Her eyes widened and she looked over at the nurse.

“Good morning, Miss Reynolds, it’s good to have you back with us. I’m one of the nurses that’s been looking after you. Would it be alright to do a few checks of your vitals?” I couldn’t blame her for looking bewildered but she nodded anyway. “If you girls could just wait outside again, I promise to have this done as quickly as possible.”

We stepped out into the hallway.

“How do you think she’s going to take the news about rehab?” I leant a shoulder against the wall and thought about it.

“I don’t know. I just hope she doesn’t put up too much of a fight, she needs this.” I rubbed at my stinging eyes.

“Miss Reynolds, may I speak with you privately please?” The nurse came out the room and looked at Kee.

“That’s alright, Kee is like family.” I smiled over at her.

“Okay then. The concussion we found didn’t look too serious so it’s probably nothing but I want to get her a few more tests. When talking to your mom, she didn’t seem very responsive to her name.” She paused there for me to take it in.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Are you saying she’s unresponsive?” I looked between Kee and the nurse who cleared her throat.

“No, she’s plenty responsive. In fact, for what she’s been through, she’s perkier than what we could hope for. For patients that suffer from a concussion, we normally name drop and try to incorporate little everyday questions while doing routine checks just to make sure everything’s fine.” I nodded. “And she didn’t respond to hearing her name.” She hesitated before continuing, “Or yours I’m afraid. She was also hesitant when it came to answering the questions. Now don’t be too worried, it isn’t uncommon for this to happen, she might just need a little head jog but these routine tests should work out what the problem may be.”

All the air rushed out of me and Kee grabbed my hand. “So what you’re saying is, she doesn’t remember who she is or who I am?”

She looked at me before shaking her head.

“I can’t say for definite, honey, but I would encourage you to go on in and talk to her. Maybe try and jog her memory a little bit. I’ll send the doctor down right away for those tests so until then, keep the rehabilitation program out of the conversation please, it may be a little too much to take in right now.”

She squeezed my shoulder before taking off down the hallway.

“Sam?” I kept staring at the floor and hoped it would swallow me up.

“It’s just one thing after another, Kee. When’s my time to get a break?” I slunk down the wall and put my head between my knees. “I can’t have her not know who I am. She won’t be getting an award for ‘mom of the year’ anytime soon but she’s all I’ve got.”

She sat down beside me and I heard her exhale. “I won’t sit here and pretend I don’t know what you’re going through. I do, except my mom
chose
to forget about me. So, if there’s some way you can jog her memory and rekindle your relationship, then you need to.”

This was more information into Kee’s life than she had ever let on before. She wouldn’t look at me and I decided to leave it for another time. I stood up and looked at the door to my mom’s room, I should just go on in there; the sooner the better.

I took in a breath and made my way inside, lowering myself into the same chair I’d just been in and waited for her to look at me. Her eyes were blank. Not the kind of blank they went when she was drinking but a confused blank.

I didn’t miss a beat and asked. “You don’t remember me do you?” I took hold of her hand and she squeezed it while giving me a weak smile.

“I’m sorry, honey, I don’t.” Her voice came out in a rasped whisper. “But the nurse tells me you’re my daughter.” I nodded trying to hold back the tears.

“That’s me,” I choked out as she ran her thumb along the back of my hand.

“Is there anymore of you? That girl?” A lump formed in my throat, now was not the time to bring up Tommy.

“No, there’s just me. That was my best friend Keeley, we own the hairdressing salon in town.” I was trying to jog her memory but she just looked at me with those same blank eyes.

“This must be really hard for you but I promise I will try my best to remember what we had.” She looked sincere but a dread settled within me. What if remembering who she was, remembering everything about her life, would do more damage than good?

“Why don’t you tell me a bit about myself? Well that was strange to say.” She coughed when she tried to laugh so I gave her some more water to stall the conversation. I didn’t know what to say.

“Well, you’re as stubborn as they come, I get that from you.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “And…Erm...You had a job interview that went well, you got called back for a skills test-” I stopped there, the skills test I told her she would be no good at before she went off and drank herself silly. I let go of her hand as if she burnt me. This was my fault, all of this. I started panicking.

“Are you alright? You look a little green.” She tried to touch my hand but I pulled it away. What had I done? I stood up and backed out of the room.

“Sammy?” At that, I stopped.

“What did you just call me?” She looked confused.

“Sammy. Did I get it wrong?” I shook my head furiously.

“No. But I didn’t tell you or the nurse that’s what my nickname was.” Forgetting my wobble, I went to her side. “Do you remember?” She looked more confused than ever.

“I...I thought that’s what the nurse said your name was. It just came out instinctively.” For the first time since I walked in the small hospital room, I had hope.

I pressed the red button on the wall and smiled down at my mom. “You’re going to be alright, I just know it.” A nurse came into the room followed by Doctor Young.

“She just remembered my nickname, she never normally uses it so that’s a good thing, right?” Doctor Young and the nurse looked at each other and back and me with a smile on their faces.

“It could be yes, great time to call us down too, we’re all ready to do some tests. Ms Reynolds, would you like Samantha to be in the room for this? Don’t worry, it’s nothing invasive, just a few routine checks followed by some questions.”

She looked between me and the nurse, then back at me with a sympathetic look on her face. “If it’s okay with, Sammy, I’d like to do this alone.”

I scuttled out of the room feeling hurt but hope still bloomed in my chest. Kee looked at me with an apprehensive expression on her face.

“She called me, Sammy, I guess that’s a start.” She jumped up off the floor and gave me a hug.

“See, that’s something.” Then she started on the barrel of rhetorical questions she’d built up. I tried to ignore them and shut my eyes. I’d had a few hours’ sleep but it still felt like I’d been up all night. Eventually, the doctor came out and I moved to him.

“Good news is, I don’t think there’s any lasting damage. Concussion can bring on a myriad of symptoms; one of them being short term memory loss. At this point, we just encourage you to behave as normally as possible given the circumstances.” He waited for me to say something.