Ozzie patted my hand. “You get some rest. Claire and I will come see you tomorrow, sometime.”
“Okay.” Sleep tugged at me again. The pain meds might have backed off a bit, but it wasn’t just that making me tired.
With another quick pat, he left.
I drifted off. Not into a terribly deep sleep, but enough that time passed without my knowledge. It was nearly an hour later, when the nurse unlocked the brake on my bed, that I awakened again.
She smiled at me. “Hey there. We’re taking you upstairs. You can keep sleeping.”
Not about to argue, I let my eyes slide closed once more.
The nurse and a patient care assistant wheeled me through the halls and into an elevator. I barely felt the bump as we arrived on my floor. With a clack of the wheels over the elevator threshold, we were headed down another corridor. Seconds later, they turned into a brightly lit room.
It was impossible to even feign sleep when the ward staff descended on us to take a report.
Fifteen minutes later, my ER escort was gone and the floor nurse left to check on other patients. Blessed quiet enveloped me.
I let out a soft sigh, ready to drop back into dreamland.
The door opened, admitting the chime from someone’s IV down the hall.
Frustration bubbled over in the form of a growl. “No, I don’t need anything, and you literally took my vitals a few minutes ago. I just want to sleep.”
“I can come back.”
My eyes popped open. That wasn’t the nurse.
It was Luke.
“Don’t you dare leave.” Lifting a hand, I crooked a finger. “Get over here.”
In several long strides, he crossed the room to sit on the edge of my bed. Leaning down, he brushed a kiss over my forehead and took my hand. “How are you doing?”
“Better now that you’re here. Ozzie told me about the fire. Are you all right?” His voice held a raspy note that wasn’t normally there.
“I’m okay. I’ll probably be coughing for a couple days and get winded a little easier for a bit, but I’m fine. Your café isn’t, though. I think our timeline for opening is going to have to change.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I heard. I still don’t understand why she wanted to take them there. Why didn’t she just kill them at Claire’s?”
“I asked Ozzie that. Sarah’s not talking, but I guess Miranda is singing like a canary. She said Sarah wanted the poetic justice of killing them where Moira was laid to rest.” He rolled his eyes. “There is something seriously wrong with that woman.”
“That’s no lie. She’s crazy.” I let my body relax into the bed, a sense of rightness taking over me now that Luke was with meand the whole Moira situation had come to a conclusion. “I’m just glad it’s over, and that everyone will be okay.”
“Me, too, honey.” He kissed the side of my head and ran small circles over the back of my hand with his thumb. “I was worried the whole way back to town about how you were. Did you have to walk out?”
“No. The Coast Guard dropped in a rescue team at a clearing not too far away. They debated carrying me in a litter, but it wasn’t far, so I said I would walk. They ended up giving me a low-dose painkiller, then just provided some support for the short trek. A helicopter picked us up from the clearing and brought us to town. I took an ambulance ride to the hospital, and Walter took a cop car ride to the police station along with Pebbles and Betty.”
He let out a soft grunt. “That sounds better than my run. My legs are stiff. I’m going to feel it tomorrow.”
“We all are.” I tipped sideways a fraction, so I could lean into him. This sucked. I wished we were back at my place—or his—cuddled up all warm, cozy, and sated in bed.
I also wished I was a little less fuzzy-headed. There had been several huge revelations between us in the last few days, and we needed to figure out what was next for us.
A tear trickled down my face. Turning my head away, I swiped at it.
“Hey, what’s this?”
Luke put a gentle finger under my chin, turning me to face him again.
