I smiled. “Sounds like Sam is getting the tube out.”
“We’ve got to go,” she exclaimed, grimacing as she rose to her feet.
“Give me five minutes,” I said. “I’ve got to throw these dishes in the dishwasher and load up Bradley Cooper. I texted Derek, and he’s going to pick him up from the hospital and let him spend the day with him.”
“I’ll go grab my purse,” she said, ambling out of the kitchen.
I pulled up Cash’s text and sent one back.
Ella: We’re leaving in 5. Any updates on the biopsy yet?
The little bubbles appeared to indicate that he was typing, but then abruptly stopped. I waited another moment, but a message never came.
* * *
“And here Ithought the bloody nodes were my greatest concern.” Sam’s signature British accent was hoarse, and he sounded exhausted, but he was awake, albeit a little confused. “Are spleens even that important?”
Grace had been catching him up to speed on everything that happened since right before the accident. Cash had greeted us, but left the room to get a coffee once we’d gotten there. He’d kissed me and hugged Grace, yet something still felt… off. I tried to remind myself that he was worn out and on emotional overload—we all were.Don’t be so sensitive, Ella. If he didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t.
“It turns out the spleen is important, but you can live without it. I honestly had no idea,” I said, “but when I consulted Dr. Google, it told me it’s sort of like a coffee filter for your blood.”
Sam chuckled and winced.
“It hurts when I laugh too.” Grace reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers.
I watched as he brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them gently. My mama heart was both happy and a little sad watching the intimate gesture. It was obvious from the way he looked at her that he was absolutely captivated by her. It melted my heart to see her being adored the way she deserved, but it was yet another reminder that my little girl wasn’t so little anymore.
“I guess we won’t be taking you kids to any comedy clubs for a while,” I teased.
“Afraid not,” Sam replied.
“When do we get to bust you out of this joint anyway?” I asked.
“They said I should be able to be discharged within the week,” Sam answered. “He didn’t nail down an exact date, but he seemed to feel good about it. I’m a little nervous because he said I’d still need to take it easy, and my house has quite a lot of stairs.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I assured him. “We’ll sort something out. Maybe you could stay with Cash or even with us while you get back on your feet.”
“What was that?” Cash asked, returning to the room with a caddy of takeaway cups in his hands. He handed one to each of us, keeping the last for himself. “I got some ice chips for you, Sam.”
Sam gave a weak smile. “Thanks.”
“We were just talking about what to do after Sam is released,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee, prepared exactly the way I liked it. “He was saying that he was a little concerned about staying at his house because of the stairs. I said that perhaps he could stay with one of us.”
“Right.” Cash’s smile was tight as a pair of jeans that were a size too small. “I’m sure we can figure something out. By the way, Antoni called to check on you while I was headed down to the cafeteria. He was visiting Nate’s family and saw it on the news this morning.”
“Bloody hell.” Sam grimaced. “My spleen made the news?”
“Apparently,” Cash said. “I had a message from someone at the office saying they’d been fielding calls since late last night.”
“Shit,” I cursed. “I didn’t even think to call him.”
“I didn’t either,” Cash admitted. “Everything happened so fast. He didn’t know that Grace was the other person in the vehicle so you can imagine he was even more shocked when I told him that part.”
“I’ll give him a call today,” I said. “Why don’t we give these two a minute?” I gestured toward Grace and Sam. While I did want them to have some time together, the truth was, I really wanted a moment alone with Cash.
Cash nodded. “Yeah, we can do that.” He opened the door and held it for me.
“We’ll be right outside,” I said, and Grace glanced back at me gratefully. Once the door closed, I took his coffee from his hand and placed our cups on the ledge of the window outside Sam’s room, wrapping my arms around Cash. He seemed almost tense at first but then sank into my embrace, resting his chin on top of my head.
