The hand engulfing hers tensed perceptibly and Lola turned her head so that she could look at Jacob. His green eyes were detached, and for a moment, she felt panicked by the expression on his face. When Sarah let out a choked sob and slapped her hand over her mouth before quickly leaving the room, Lola felt her heart stop in her chest, then pick up again, beating double time.
“I’ll just go see if she’s alright.” Zac walked over to her and leaned down to give her a quick hug. “We’re glad that you’re okay.” With one last smile, he left the room in search of Sarah.
Alone with Jacob, she turned back to face him. “What’s wrong, Jake? Am…Am I okay?”
She saw his jaw clench and knew that tears were welling in her eyes. When he glanced at her, she saw his eyes soften perceptibly. “They need to run some tests on your memory and cognition now that you’re awake but internally…everything seems fine.”
“Then why…” She trailed off, glancing at the door that Sarah and Zac had disappeared through.
“Are you kidding?” he asked, a small smile on his lips. A smile which, she noticed, rapidly disappeared. He shook his head, deep in thought. “You were…dead, Lola. You had no pulse when I found you.”
“What?” she croaked out, afraid by the look in his eyes. The last thing she remembered was…thinking I was never going to marry Jacob.
“I came in, and…Barrowman was on top of you. There was so much blood. Yours. His. I…couldn’t get you to breathe.”
She felt his hand crushing hers and managed to squeeze his gently in return, reminding him that he still held her in place. His grip loosened immediately. “But, I’m okay,” she said.
He shook his head firmly, alternately clenching and unclenching his jaw. “I should never have let you out of my sight in the first place.”
She could see by the way that he couldn’t meet her eyes that he was struggling, and she deliberately gripped his hand until hard, green eyes turned to look at her. “Jacob,” she paused as the memories came drifting back, “I just went to go and pee.” The thought made her giggle, and Jake’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowed on her face. “I feel…”
The thought that she felt like death warmed up crossed her mind, but she didn’t say that aloud. Jacob was struggling enough as it was. Focusing on her movements, she wiggled her toes, felt small tweaks and pulls through her spine, up to her shoulders, but…everything moved. She clasped her fingers, cringed when she felt a restrictive weight on her right arm. Glancing down, she took in the short arm cast that spread from her hand to her elbow. Oh, no!
“What is it? Are you hurting?” Pushing to his feet, Jacob paced to the door. “My sister was supposed to get a nurse. Where the hell are they?”
“No, it’s…it’s fine. I just…God, the Mojave Desert scene is due in a week! Oh, shit!” she croaked.
Jacob’s head whipped around to look at her. “You’re…worried about work?” he asked, the first signs of a grin tugging at his mouth.
“Don’t laugh. It’s so close to done! What am I going to do?” She slapped her left hand to her head, took to rubbing her temple as she tried to figure out the logistics. The client will understand. He has too.
A deep rumbling laugh coming from the corner of the room had her head whipping up to look at Jacob. He was grinning, his eyes laughing, his dimple flashing.
“What?” she asked, frustrated that he didn’t see the seriousness of the situation. She had never been late on a commission. Not once. “Maybe I can paint left-handed?” she mumbled to herself.
Another laugh came from the corner of the room. This time when she glanced up at him, exasperated by what he found so amusing, he just shook his head and walked back to the bed, leaned down, and touched his mouth to hers.
Lola felt her head whirl, felt her toes curl under as her belly tightened. His tongue dipped into her mouth, drawing an equally frantic response from her as she returned the kiss. When his hands came up to gently frame her face, she sighed.
“Well, clearly I pulled this nurse away from an eighty-year-old heart surgery patient for nothing.”
Lola pulled away from Jacob, blushing deeply as she glanced up to see Maggie Simmone and a nurse looking at them with equally matched amusement. “Maggie…you’re here too?” she said lamely.
“Duh. The whole family was here for the first twenty-four hours, but the nurses muscled them out to go and get some sleep about…” she checked her watch, “eight hours ago.”
“What?” Lola asked, confused. A stream of thoughts washed through her mind. I’ve been here for thirty hours? But that’s…impossible. And why would they come to the hospital? They don’t even know me. They’ve met me once.
“Oh, girl,” Maggie said as the nurse moved forward to check her chart, “you have no idea what you’ve stumbled into.”
She looked at Jacob. He shrugged, but she had the distinct impression that he was laughing at her. “I’m so confused,” she whispered.
“Well, you did practically die, so we’re assuming that your brain might take a while to catch up.”
“Maggie.” Jacob’s tone was one that Lola hadn’t heard before. It was quiet but angry. It sounded like he was warning her.
Maggie appeared completely unphased. She shrugged and, grinning, added, “I have to run home and check on Grace.” She glanced at her watch. “But Mom and Dad should be here in the next hour or so.” Walking over to the bed, she leaned down and gave Lola a big hug. “We’re really glad that you’re okay, Lola.” Quietly, she whispered, “Don’t be intimidated by the family. They’re just happy that Jake’s happy again. Finally.”
Because she didn’t know quite what to say, Lola nodded and patted Maggie’s back with her uninjured arm.
When she stepped back, the nurse took her place by Lola’s bedside. “The doctor is going to be in shortly. But, judging by the way you’re communicating, I’d say that things look good.”
Lola smiled up into kind, brown eyes. “I promise, other than the pounding in my head, I feel…fine.”
“We ran a CT scan, and the results showed some swelling with no hemorrhaging. All good signs so far.”
Lola nodded, feeling quite overwhelmed by the nurse’s attention. “So…can I go home?”
The nurse raised her eyebrows. “You realize that you just woke up from a thirty-hour coma, right?”
Lola nodded.
“Yeah, you’re staying put for at least another seventy-two.”
Sinking back into the pillow that cradled her head, Lola sighed, resigned to the fact that she’d be stuck for three days.
When the nurse quietly stepped out, she let her eyes wander to where Jacob stood by the foot of her bed. “I text Zac,” he said. “Matt came and offered to take Sarah home now that you’re awake. But they’re going to be back as soon as you’ve rested.”
Nodding silently, she closed her eyes. “How can I be tired after thirty hours of sleep?” When Jacob’s hand encircled hers again, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. “Did your whole family really come to the hospital?”