“If you want me to go, I’ll leave and let you get some rest.” The sadness in her voice guts me. She doesn’t want to leave, which makes me happy, but she thinks I want her to go.
“Brit, that is so far from what I want. Stay with me, please.”
Britney contemplates my request before nodding her head. She looks exhausted, but I know that even if she falls asleep, she won’t get a good night’s sleep.
“You can push your button now. I know you’re in pain and didn’t want to fall asleep in the middle of talking to me. Thank you.” Her eyes flutter before closing, and her shallow breathing indicates she’s already asleep. Britney still has the worried crease between her perfectly shaped eyebrows, meaning that even though she is sleeping, her stress hasn’t eased up.
“Anything for you, Britney,” I whisper in her direction, knowing she doesn’t hear me.
“Rise and shine, sleepyheads,” Nurse Aaron sings out in a tone that’s too-chipper. He waltzes over to the window and cracks open the blinds, allowing the early morning sun to shine through. “We gotta get that catheter out, and get you on your feet,” he says, reminding me of what the other nurse said last night.
“What time is it?” I need to know if I need to kill him for waking me up too fucking early.
“It’s seven-fifteen. Now, let’s wake up sleeping beauty.”
Looking over at Britney, who hasn’t budged since Aaron came into the room, I notice her worry line has vanished. She’s still facing me, lying on her left side, but she has her arms wrapped around my bicep, and her right leg is resting on top of mine.
“Can you give us twenty minutes? She hasn’t been sleeping well since the shooting.” I’m trying to appeal to his sympathetic side, but I also understand that if he says ‘no,’ it’s because he has a schedule to keep.
“Normally, I would, but we need to get you up and moving around. So, I’m going to get my cart and your morning medication, and when I return, we’ll get started.”
Aaron doesn’t wait for a response from me before he leaves the room. When he goes, I push the button for my pain medication. One dose shouldn’t affect me or prevent me from getting out of this bed when the time comes.
As I waver between waking Britney now or letting her sleep until the very last second, she begins to stir on her own. First, her left eye opens, followed by her right one. She smiles up at me, but when she fully wakes and notices she’s snuggled into me, she scrambles to get out of the bed, damn near rolling off the edge.
“I’m so sorry. You probably didn’t get any sleep.” Her apology is unnecessary. I actually slept the best I ever have. I’m one-hundred percent sure the meds helped, but I can’t dismiss the fact that Britney’s presence helped ease my mind.
“Stop. I had a good night’s sleep because you were here.” My words sink in as the crease vanishes from between her eyebrows.
“Can I use your bathroom to freshen up?”
“I don’t know. Can you?”
“It’s too early for you to be a smart ass.” Britney’s morning banter is right on cue. She looks at the wall clock. “Case in point,” she adds, signaling with her thumb toward the clock. “I haven’t even had coffee yet.”
Without another word, she strolls the short distance to the bathroom and closes the door behind her.
“I see our beauty has risen,” Nurse Aaron comments upon his return. “Let’s get the catheter out while your girlfriend is out of the room.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” I’ll have to admit, saying those words out loud stings a bit. Lord knows I want her to be mine, but I can’t have her. She’s off-limits thanks to my dumb pre-teen pact with her brother. But in the last few seconds, I made up my mind. Life is too short, and I have every intention to change that stupid fucking rule once my body has recovered from surgery, and Deacon’s mental health isn’t dangling by a thread. I’ve waited this long; I can wait until my best friend is back to his normal mental status.
“Could’ve fooled me. You two seem very comfortable together.” Aaron is now at my bedside, recording my vitals in the chart.
“I’ve known her my whole life. She’s my best friend’s younger sister.”
“Ah-ha. Now I understand. But you two want to be together, right?”
What’s with all of these personal questions? Do I answer him? Do I tell him I don’t want to discuss my love life or lack thereof?
“Right now, it’s not possible.”
“Anything is possible if you want it bad enough,” he counters. “And there. You are now free from the catheter.”
What in the hell just happened?
“I find it easier to remove them while the patient is preoccupied in conversation,” he answers the question I didn’t ask out loud. “And no, I cannot read minds. It’s just that I’ve been doing this for a long time. The most common follow-up question to my tactic is always, once I’ve completed the procedure, how did I do it without the patient feeling it.”
“Ten-four.” Aaron’s like a magician. He got my mind focused on one thing while he made the catheter disappear.
“You police guys and your cop jargon.” He laughs. “Your breakfast should be here soon, and then your physical therapist will follow. Do you need to use the restroom once Britney returns?”
“I would like to try to get up to brush my teeth. I don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”
“Once she’s out, press the call button. I’ll come to help you.”
“Ten-four—I mean, okay. Thanks.”
The bathroom door opens, and Britney steps out, looking livelier than she did yesterday. Before I can ask her how she’s doing, my breakfast arrives. I guess I can eat first and brush my teeth after.
“I’m going to grab some coffee and see if I can get an update on Deacon,” she tells me.
“And food.”
“I’m—”
“You need to eat,” I add, cutting her off before she argues with me. “And so I know you actually eat, you need to eat in here.”
“Kade, I’m not a child.”
“Believe me, I know. Humor a man who is recovering from a gunshot wound.”
“That’s a low blow, Beaumont.”
“Hey, whatever will get you to come back and eat.”
“Fine.” The eye roll she gives me is her way of letting me know I’m pushing her buttons, but I don’t give a fuck. I want her to take care of herself. She will be of no use to anyone if she’s irritable, starving, and sleep-deprived. “I’ll come back to eat, and then I’ll check on Deacon.”
“Thank you.”
“Mmhmm.”
Britney’s pissed, but right now, I don’t give a fuck. If the only way to make sure she’s taking care of herself is by laying on a guilt trip, it’s not beneath me to do so. Her well-being is just as important as mine or Deacon’s. She just doesn’t realize it yet.
18
Britney