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“A hot patient.” Joan laughed. I rolled my eyes and tried to keep my annoyance in check.
“I should probably go check in on him,” I said.
“Pinch his ass for me,” Joan said, wagging her eyebrows.
I ignored her and hurried out of the room. Anger was boiling inside me as I made my way to Caleb’s floor. I could barely see straight as I replayed Joan’s words in my mind. She was always that way, eager to throw herself at any hot doctor or patient who looked her way. It was exhausting but also entertaining. Until now.
I clenched my fists at my side as I thought about her hitting on Caleb. Shaking myself, I tried to relax. What did it matter if Joan hit on Caleb? I didn’t care who he dated. It wasn’t my business, and it never would be. With that thought in mind, I squared my shoulders and stepped into his room.
I walked quietly toward his bed. He was asleep, tucked deep beneath his blankets. I watched him for a second before I turned my attention to Cathy. She was sitting beside his bed, wearing her nurse’s scrubs.
“Are you working today?” I asked, keeping my voice down.
She nodded. “I wish I wasn’t. I don’t want to leave him.”
“He’ll be okay,” I said, patting her shoulder. “He has a team of doctors.”
“I know.” She sighed. “He’s still in so much pain, though. I worry they won’t take care of him if I’m not here to browbeat them into it.”
I laughed. “I’m sure Caleb can handle himself.”
“I’m glad you decided to keep him as your patient. I can’t think of anyone else who would do a better job. Are you here for his PT already?” Cathy asked.
“Not yet.” I shook my head. “Just making my rounds, checking on my patients.”
Cathy nodded, a knowing look in her eyes. I glanced down at my feet, suddenly unable to hold her gaze. My past relationship with her son wasn’t a secret. My dad and Cathy both knew about us. I always suspected that was why they insisted on sending him to military school ten years ago.
“I should get to work,” Cathy said, sighing and getting to her feet.
“I’ll check in on him in later,” I said, reassuring her. “He’ll be okay.”
Cathy nodded and left. I kept my eyes on Caleb for a few more minutes. I didn’t want him to be alone, but I knew I shouldn’t care. With a sigh, I forced myself to follow Cathy’s lead and get back to work. I had other patients to check on, and I couldn’t spend my entire day dwelling on the boy who once stole my heart and tore it to pieces.
CHAPTER FIVE - CALEB
The sun was high in the sky when I finally woke up on Monday. With a glance at the clock, I saw it was already well into the afternoon. After getting a fresh round of painkillers at about four a.m., I had passed out and slept for hours. My body needed the rest, but I still felt horrible for sleeping all day. My leg was sore, but my back finally felt better. Dr. McGee assured me it wasn’t injured, just sore from my fall. With the painkillers still coursing through my veins, I felt better.
I slowly pushed myself up, adjusting my pillows and leaning back with a groan. Every part of my body felt like lead, but I was just grateful the pain had finally faded. The night before had been harsh. Not only did I spend most of it writhing in unbearable pain, but my mind constantly spun around thoughts of Tara.
Seeing her again felt like something between a dream and a nightmare. When she’d walked into my hospital room the other day, my entire life changed in an instant. It had been ten years since I’d laid eyes on her, and after what I’d done, I was sure, step-siblings or not, I never would again. After I finished to military school, Tara went off to college. By the time I enlisted in the army, she hadn’t been home in months.
I stayed away for a long time, only returning home when I had no choice. During those times, Tara stayed at school, and when she started PT school, I was discharged from the army and became a firefighter. Our lives were always circling around each other, but they never intersected until now.
A part of me wondered if Darren didn’t plan things that way. It was his sole mission to keep me away from his daughter when we were seventeen. He did everything in his power to break us up, and when he couldn’t, he convinced my mother to send me away. It wasn’t entirely his fault. My behavior back then was borderline criminal. I was even on the verge of getting expelled from school, but Darren never would have suggested something as harsh as military school if it hadn’t been for my relationship with Tara.
I couldn’t blame him. No father would want their daughter with a guy like me. Even now I knew Darren would never approve of us being together, but that didn’t stop me from wondering. All night, I switched between cursing my nurses while fighting through my pain and remembering how it felt to hold Tara, to kiss her lips, to hear her whisper my name.
I barely slept that night, so when Dr. McGee finally ordered another round of painkillers, I was grateful. Not only did I get a reprieve from the pain but my thoughts of Tara finally faded while I slipped into oblivion. My dreams were scattered and incoherent. Nothing came into focus except Tara’s face. I dreamed of her pale blue eyes on and off throughout
the day, and when I finally woke, they were the first thing I saw.
I groaned and rolled over, trying to keep myself awake without making the pain return. Five minutes later, a nurse came hurrying into my room.
“Oh!” she said, surprised to see me sitting up. “You’re finally awake.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Those painkillers are no joke.”
“You needed your rest,” she said with a knowing nod. “How’s your pain today?”
