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“I’m Dr. Walsh. He’s stable and came to pretty quickly. His heart rate isn’t where I’d like it to be, but I think with fluids we’ll get there. I’m going to get a few tests. Make sure we don’t need a neuro or cardiac consult.”
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.
She smiled, a red curl falling from a loose bun on top of her head. She pushed her black-framed glasses up the bridge of her nose. “We’ll know more soon.”
“His accident was almost two months ago,” I said. “Does this have anything to do with that?”
She kept smiling, staring at me as if she were waiting for something.
“What?” I asked.
She tapped her tablet a few times, and then looked up at a screen on the wall. It brightened with the images of Trenton’s first and last X-Rays. Her nose wrinkled. “Those are pretty gnarly breaks, Mr. Maddox. It’s amazing you didn’t need surgery.”
“He wouldn’t leave his girlfriend’s room long enough to have surgery,” I said.
“Right, she was in the wreck, too. He carried her with that arm, didn’t he?” Dr. Walsh asked. She was still smiling, and the possibility as to why finally struck. The hospital staff were probably still romanticizing the story. We were a novelty to them.
“Yeah. Is he going to be okay?” I asked, annoyed.
Dr. Walsh reached down to touch my hand, and I frowned at her. She pulled me closer to the door, glanced over her shoulder at my dad and brother, and then leaned in, keeping her voice barely above a whisper. “My little sister goes to Eastern. You probably don’t remember her.”
My stomach knotted.Did I bag this doctor’s sister and she’s going to bring it up here? Now?
She smiled. “She liked this boy. She’s hopeless,” she said, shaking her head. “Once she falls for a guy, she follows him everywhere. She followed him to Keaton Hall the night of your last fight.”
I swallowed.
Her smile changed, and her eyes lost focus. “Once the fire broke out, he left her. He bolted. She wasn’t familiar with the building. There was a lot of smoke. She got turned around. She ran straight into you.” Dr. Walsh’s gaze met mine.
I grimaced, confused.
“Do you remember?” she asked. “She was terrified. She thought she was going to die. You pushed her toward the guy who ran the fights … Adam? You pushed her toward him because you knew he knew the way out, and you told him to help her. And you know what? He did. He helped her and sixteen more people to safety when all he wanted to do was run. It was just a few seconds, but you, Travis Mad Dog Maddox, saved my baby sister’s life.”
I glanced back at my dad. “I …”
“The cops and federal agents have already spoken to my sister.” The doctor’s smile returned. “She never saw you. Adam said you never showed. The sixteen students Adam saved said the same, and your brother’s hospital stay is on the house.”
She grabbed the handle on the door and opened it.
“W-what?” I asked, stunned.
“I can’t tell everyone what you did like you deserve, so I’m going to thank you in my own way.” She closed the door behind her, and I looked at Dad, trying to keep the tears from my eyes.
“Am I gonna die?” Trenton asked.
I chuckled and looked down, pulling my cell phone from my pocket to text Abby. “No, circle jerk. You’re gonna live.”
“Did she say what it is?” Dad asked.
“They won’t know until they do more tests, Dad, but he’ll be fine.”
I tapped out a short message to my wife, and then another to Camille. I cringed when I sent it, knowing they would both be blowing up my phone any second.
Trenton’s pillow crackled when he leaned back against it. He sighed dramatically. “I’m gonna die.”
A nurse pushed through the door, carrying a container with tape, gauze and other supplies. “Hi, I’m Lana. I’m going to be poking around on you for a second.” She checked Trenton’s wrist band, and then her small info sheet. “Can you tell me your name and date of birth?”
Just as Trenton began giving Lana his information, my phone buzzed. I held the receiver to my ear. “Hey, Pidge.”
