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I felt a light kiss on the temple of my head, and all of a sudden, a pair of fingers interlaced with mine. I felt someone take my other hand, but the poking and the prodding had stopped, and the beeping I had heard in the distance was just a slow, rhythmic dot in the barrage of sounds that were slowly disappearing.
“You remember Oreo?” Flynn asked, and all I did was nod against his lips.
“Do you remember the pasture?”
And again, I nodded into his touch.
“Good girl. Do you… remember th-”
He couldn’t say it. For as strong and stubborn as Flynn had always been, there were times when his words alluded him. Flynn played up a strong and unwavering facade, but deep down he cared with a burning passion about anyone who wriggled their way into his heart and soul. He’d open his doors for anyone who needed a place to stay, and he’d give his own shirt off his back if it meant someone else would be better off.
Hearing the catch in his voice scared me while bits and pieces of the accident slowly came flooding back to the forefront of my mind. I felt small circles being drawn on my other hand by someone while a hand descended onto my leg, and when my searing headache ricocheted across my vision, that’s when I remembered.
The snake.
“Snake…” I whispered.
“Yes,” Flynn managed to choke out, “there was a snake. You, uh… fell off Oreo when he began to buck because-”
“-he was spooked by the snake,” I croaked.
“The snake bit you while you were lying on the ground, and the shock of the bite paralyzed you long enough for Oreo’s hoof to come down onto your shoulder.”
Holy god, I could’ve been killed. By all accounts, I honestly should be dead.
“Oh God. Bradley,” I groaned.
“He got to you just as Oreo came down onto your shoulder. I guess the pain caused you to black out, and he threw you across his lap and was the one that got you to the hospital.”
And then, everything else started rushing back. The reservations for dinner, how I’d gotten his phone number, the confessions I was going to make…
“Oh, god. Flynn. I-I-I… I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” he said lowly.
“I need you to call that steak restaurant in town and cancel our reservations.”
When he didn’t say anything, I slowly lobbed my head over and opened my aching eyes again. He was staring at me darkly, but I knew Flynn well enough to detect the hint of confusion wafting behind his eyes. I could see so many unsaid things that he wanted to blurt out at that moment, but my Flynn was calculating what to say.
And that made me nervous.
“Chelsea… you-”
I felt my heart began to race and it timed itself with the erratic beeping in the background. I felt someone clamp down onto my foot and start massaging it while the person drawing circles on top of my hand slowly brought it to their lips to kiss.
“Flynn?” I urged.
“You’ve been out for three days, Chelsea. Whatever reservations you had…”
Three days? I’d… been unconscious for three days!? My heart began to flutter, and I felt my hands begin to shake. There were so many things I had to do: I had to call the restaurant and apologize and explain to Flynn why I had them. I had to call work and tell them why I hadn’t come back yet. Jesus Chri-... I was due back to work yesterday!
“Calm down. Calm down. I’ll call the restaurant and explain to them what happened. No one will be mad at you there,” Flynn soothed.
And then? I felt his lips by my ear again.
“You’ve been in a medically-induced coma so your body could use the anti-venom the hospital had to filter out the venom from your brain. The snake, it bit you in your neck and seeped pretty quickly into that intelligent brain of yours.”
I snickered, and a light smile bloomed across my cheeks. Even in the most desolate moments, Flynn could always seem to make me smile.
