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“Doctor’s orders. Don’t make me send you home,” she said with a warning tone. If there was one thing you learned as an emergency nurse, it was how to issue orders to people who didn’t want to follow them. It was just usually patients or family, not fellow nurses.
“I got this,” said Wendy from my right. “Can you check back with the fracture in four?”
I desperately wanted to stay and handle the burn patient. Instead, I did what my team asked. After checking on the little girl again, I took my seat at the nurses’ station.
I took a quick glance at my phone, a text from Jake catching my eye. He must have sent it after he left the hospital.
JB: Hope the rest of your shift goes well. See you tomorrow!
I smiled at the text and started to reply, then jolted as the call button from room three chimed. I wasn’t supposed to be on my phone at all, and even on my first day back at work, I wasn’t able to resist a little note from Jake.
Had I completely forgotten my responsibility?
Next thing I knew, I’d be texting while driving like so many of the car accident victims we had in here. I couldn’t remember my accident, but people at the QuikStop had said the other driver pulled out in front of me. Had I been looking at my phone?
I answered the call from Room 3, switching the bag on their IV fluids and then heading back to my station. I’d been able to pull some memories out of the void just by reaching for them and digging them out little by little. I tried to do the same with the accident. I remembered leaving the auction, promising Jake I’d be back quickly.
Then nothing. No matter how hard I pressed, there was no memory of the accident at all. Perhaps that was a good thing. The idea of driving again was freaking me out as it was, let alone if I had the vivid memory of getting T-boned by another car.
Maybe that was one memory I’d be okay never getting back.
ChapterTwenty-One
MONICA
This was it. Nearly three months had passed since I had been behind the wheel, but I was going to drive myself to Bloom’s Farm. Krystal had offered to drive me, but I knew she was coming from an errand in Terre Haute and it would be out of the way to come all the way back to Minden. I went back to work yesterday, which was a huge step toward “normal.” Driving again was the next step.
The insurance company had cut a check for the damages several weeks ago, and eventually I would need to go out and buy a new car. For today, I was taking Mom’s.
I exhaled deeply, then pressed the ignition. I could do this. I’d been driving for twelve years without incident. I wouldn’t let the accident impact the rest of my life more than it already had.
Cautiously, I reversed out of my parents’ driveway and onto Oak Street, triple checking that there were no cars. Thankfully, Minden wasn’t exactly a high traffic area. Until I made it to the highway, the only cars I saw were parked on the side of the wide streets. I stopped at the stop sign at the highway intersection and my heart started pounding.
I jabbed at the button for the volume to turn off the radio completely, suddenly feeling like even the soft, gentle music playing on the local Christian station was too distracting. I felt a bit warm, but I kept my eyes on the bend in the highway. Nothing. There were no cars in sight.
But I waited.
And waited.
A car came around the bend and I gripped the steering wheel harder, waiting for it to pass.
Once it had, I checked both directions again and pulled out. I accelerated slowly, feeling my heart rate return to normal.
See? I could do this. I took a deep breath and felt myself relax.
The rest of the drive to Bloom’s Farm felt good, like I was getting my land legs back after a day on the water. I didn’t even tense up when cars came from the opposite direction and passed me.
I grinned when I pulled through the rustic wooden entry gate at Bloom’s Farm, triumphantly parking in front of Storybook Barn and congratulating myself on a successful first drive. I pulled my phone out and texted Jake.
MS: I drove myself to Bloom’s Farm!
I waited a minute, but he didn’t respond. He and Bryce were on shift, so there was no telling what they were up to.
Krystal pulled up and parked next to me, and I got out and greeted her with a hug.
“Are you excited?” I asked. The wedding was just over two weeks away now.
She nodded. “It’s starting to feel so real, you know?” She turned around, surveying the green landscape from the hilltop where Storybook Barn overlooked the rest of the farm. Hay bales dotted the landscape, and the blue summer sky was crystal clear. The barn itself boasted rustic wood and iron accents, and the landscaping held vibrant blooms in a myriad of colors.
