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When I tried leaning forward to get my cell, level-ten pain shot through me. I hit the button that delivered morphine once and then figured, as much as they were pestering me to use it, I’d do it again. Seconds later, the nurse came back in.
“Bad this morning?” she asked.
“I tried to get my phone.”
“You know what this is for, right?” She set the combination television remote, bed adjuster, call button in my hand before moving my cell within reach.
“I’m not very good at asking for help.” The door opened, and Cope walked in, carrying a beverage tray and a bag.
“Coffee delivery?” the nurse asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
Cope picked up the silver dome covering my chicken broth and set it back down. “Yuck.”
The nurse nodded her head at his bag. “Whatever is in there, she can’t eat. Not yet. Maybe after the doctor sees her.”
“What about me?” asked the doctor I recognized from the emergency room.
I rested my head against the pillow and closed my eyes. After not sleeping last night, it was all I wanted to do now. Given the pain was subsiding, I assumed the morphine had something to do with my drowsiness. I wished all these people would leave, so I could rest.
I felt Cope’s fingers brush the hair from my forehead. It was something I was growing accustomed to, and that was just weird. I opened my eyes and looked into his.
“Chloe said you had a hard night.”
“Couldn’t sleep,” I murmured.
“I would say you have to stay on a liquid diet and confiscate whatever goodness is in this bag,” said the doctor, “but that would just be cruel.” He took a look at the monitors and checked my pulse. “I will need you to step out, young man,” he said to Cope.
“You can head out if you need to,” I told him, garnering raised eyebrows from him and the nurse. “Thanks for the coffee.”
Cope stood where he was, staring at me as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. Was it my imagination, or did he look hurt?
“I’ll come back in when the doctor’s finished.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind him.
“Trouble in paradise?” the doctor asked. “Take a deep breath,” he said, not waiting for me to answer his question.
“I don’t even know him,” I mumbled when he moved the stethoscope away from my chest.
“Have you remembered anything about the accident?”
“Bits and pieces.” It was part of the reason I couldn’t sleep. Every time I drifted off, I could see the car barreling toward me.
“If that’s the case, I don’t see any reason you can’t go home today.” The doctor typed something on the keyboard of a laptop and motioned with his head toward the door. “If he’s your ride, I can speed up your release.”
Was he? Would it be silly—not to mention, rude—if I called Chloe and asked her to come all the way back here, especially since she’d spent the night with me? “That would be great. Thanks,” I said when the doctor walked out.
Before Cope came back in, I needed to call Jessica and let her know I was being released from the hospital. When we spoke briefly last night, she hadn’t yet decided how she wanted me to proceed; however, she found Cope’s constant attention a win.
“Can I get you anything else right now?” the nurse asked.
My ringing cell startled me. “Um, actually, if the guy who was in here earlier is still out there, could you ask him to wait a few more minutes before coming in?”
She gave me the thumbs up and walked out.
“How are you feeling this morning?” Jessica asked when I answered.
“The doctor just left. He said I can go home today.”
