So obviously, he was my new best friend.
“How’re you doing today?”
“Alright, but it’s hurting a lot. It’s aching constantly.”
He pulled on some gloves and started removing the loose dressing. “Yeah it will do, because the strength of your pain meds has been lowered and you were moving about yesterday, so the swelling will have increased, but it’ll go down. You just gotta keep moving.”
I watched as he started cleaning the incisions and stitches with antiseptic wipes. “Yeah, I know, it’s just fucking frustrating.”
“Hmmm, and I can’t imagine you’re the most patient individual,” he muttered.
I laughed dryly, because it was true. “You got that right. Speaking of, please can you get Molly in here?”
“Have you still not seen her? She has been in; her name is on the chart.”
I don’t know why, but that only put me in a worse mood. That she’d been in, but I hadn’t seen her.
“Nope.”
I looked up as the door opened and another male nurse walked in with my breakfast, followed closely by Drew, dressed in team sweats and a thick winter parka, Dodgers ball cap pulled down low on his head. He’d been here every single day with me for as long as he could, and I’d never been so fucking happy to see someone.
“Hey, what’re you doing here so early?”
“I have to get to practice in a bit, but thought I’d stop in on the way.” He held up a bag. “Brought you some more Milk Duds and some breakfast. And a coffee. Oh, and my mom made you some shortbread.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, stopping the burning tears of gratitude from spilling over. “Oh bae. This is why you’re my forever person.”
Marco chuckled as the other nurse put the tray down on the portable table near my bed. “I’ll leave it here for when you’re ready for it.”
I turned to him before he walked out. “Thank you.”
Marco finished replacing my dressings, and put my sheet back over me. “There you go, man. They’re looking good, healing well. Let me know if you need anything though, I’m around all day.”
“Thanks, I will.”
He gathered all the dirty bandages up, throwing them in the hazardous waste disposal, and walked out. Drew moved over to sit on my bed, pulling the table with him as he did, so it was overmy lap. He opened the bag he’d brought, handing me a bagel and cream cheese.
“You know, you have a lot of male nurses on your service.”
I bit into my bagel. Now he’d mentioned it, I don’t think I’d even seen one female nurse. Or doctor. Apart from the night I first came in. “Yeah I guess. Is that weird?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. You just seem to have only male nurses helping you out, is all I’m saying.”
Maybe I hadn’t noticed because every time my door opened, I was hoping it was Molly. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“So, the game last night? Could have been worse.”
I’d watched it on the screen in my room and managed to stay awake until the end. We’d had Buffalo at home and lost four-nil. Without Drew and me, Carter and Dante had needed to move up to first line with Coop and had taken a battering. But they were never going to have the connection in one night that the three of us had spent the better part of a decade working on.
He threw his head back, laughing. “Yeah? How?”
“Come on. You know it could have.”
He finished his bagel and screwed up the wax paper, throwing it across the room straight into the trash. Rubbing his hands together, he looked at me. “Yeah, I guess. It’s just fucking frustrating. Wish I hadn’t got suspended, even though I’d do it all over again. It’s just bad timing with you being off too.”
He grinned at me.
“I know, man, but we’ve got nine months to get through. We’ll figure it out. Once I get the fuck out of here, we can work with them; give them some line coaching, because you’re going to be playing with them for the rest of the season. And I’m going to need something to keep me occupied.”
