Discomfort nestles deeper into my chest. I didn’t want him to go, but he had to. I did us both a favor by forcing him to get on that plane without telling him I was being released today. “He did. The team needs him.Heneeded to go. It’s an exhibition weekend, but they have scouts in Ireland too.” Gesturing at the vase of flowers next to me, I smile. “He brought me flowers.”
“Still. I can’t believe he flew to Ireland to play the Blizzard when you’re...” She waves a hand toward me.
I can’t help but defend him. “He didn’t want to leave. I made him.”
She snorts again. “Babe, no one makes those de la Peñas do anything they don’t want to do. He could have stayed.”
I dunno, maybe. I’m not convinced. I was pretty mean to him when I told him to get out of here and chase his dreams. “He left the day after the rest of the team. He stayed for as long as he could.”
The team left on New Year’s Day, but he followed behind on his father’s private plane on the second, landing this morning. I can’t imagine how he’s going to play—jetlag is going to kick his ass—and he’ll be dragging on the ice, but when I pointed that out to him he told me that was his problem.
“Has he fully recovered?”
I nod, but I’m not sure I’d know if he hadn’t. He’s been keeping his own complaints away from me. I guess he thinks he can’t grumble about his aches when I’m so banged up.
If I’m honest with myself, it was my bitterness, my jealousy, that kicked him out of my hospital room and onto that plane. It didn’t come from a place of kindness or because it was best for him. I couldn’t stand to watch both our futures circle the drain.
Yeah. I don’t like myself very much right now.
“Did he organize a nurse to go home with you?”
My cheeks burn.
“Edie?”
I pinch my lip between my teeth, refusing to meet her probing stare.
“Apollo said he’d get you a nurse for the apartment. Is that set up?”
I shake my head. “I told him I’d be fine, that I don’t need a nurse.”
She opens her mouth, from the creases furrowing her forehead she’s about to scold me. But the door opens again, and Simon—the guy I went on one date with—steps in. What the hell is he doing here?
He twists his hands in front of him as the door swings closed. “Hey, Edith. I... I, uh, hope you don’t mind me stopping by.” He casts his stare to the floor. “I know we just had that one date before your accident, but when I heard...”
He meets my eyes again. “I wanted to come see you, to see if you needed anything.” His gaze flicks to Penelope, which must be how he knew where I was and how to find me. “I figured you might need some help getting home.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. This guy... he’s adorable really. Blond hair, cheek dimples, bright sparkly blue eyes, and a heart that’s clearly bigger than Iowa, but he doesn’t set my heart racing. I need to tell him thanks but no thanks, but when I open my mouth to do just that, he stops me.
“Please let me help get you home. Please?”
The nurse comes in next, papers in her hand, and I’m hoping they’re my escape route out of this place. Twenty minutes and a behemoth effort from Pen, Simon, and the nurse later, I’m stretched out in the back seat of Simon’s car. Penelope’s classic VW Beatle isn’t big enough to accommodate my immobile leg.
By the time I unlock my front door and get settled on the couch, my back is drenched with sweat, and I’m ready for a nap. Penelope had to take off for class, so it’s only Simon, me, and the vase of fresh flowers sitting on my coffee table.
De la intruder strikes again. I’d threaten to take my “in case of emergency” key back from him, but I fucking love fresh cut flowers, and he knows it. I read in a book once that the hero made a “pick a vase and always keep it full” pledge. Every week when the previous flowers died, he’d replace them for her.
How Apollo remembered such a throw away detail from a million years ago is anyone’s guess, but seeing the brightly colored Gerber daisies ignites a bubble of warmth in my chest. It’s such a little thing, but it makes me glow. Both the fact that he remembered, and the burst of vibrant color in the room.
I have to say, I didn’t appreciate the freedom I had to decorate my own space until I spent a week in a bland, beige hospital room. I’m getting a bucket of bright paint and coating some of the walls in here as soon as I get this fucking cast off. These casts.
“Nice flowers.” Simon jerks his chin at the vase like I might not know what he’s referring to as he places the flowers from my hospital room next to them.
“Yeah.”
“From someone special?”
I almost choke on my saliva. He thinks an admirer left flowers for me? As if. I can’t stop myself from coughing, and by the time Simon hands me a glass of water and some pain meds, my chest burns and my eyes sting.
