“I don’t understand…” I croaked, my throat suddenly raw.
Mom was next to me, her slim fingers on my cheek, forcing me to look at her. “You’re going to be okay, I promise.”
The bandages…Open my skull. Jesus Christ. What happened?
“I can’t breathe,” I gasped, that cinder block crushing my bones and compressing my lungs.
“He’s having a panic attack,” Sean said. “Danny? Deep breaths. You’re fine, you just need tobreathe.”
“Danny, look at me,” Jere commanded. He’d never spoken to me with such authority before and I was powerless to disobey. I focused on his stubbled jaw, his perfectly formed lips, those sooty lashes, wishing I could see him clearly. “Breathe. In and out. Come on, do it with me. You’re going to get through this.”
I shook my head, wanting to deny the situation I suddenly found myself in.
CHAPTER FIVE
Jere
I walked into the hospital room to find Danny fussing over Nurse Victoria getting him situated in bed.
“I don’t see why I couldn’t just sit in the tub myself,” he muttered. “Isn’t that why you have those chairs that fit in the stall?”
“If I left you alone and you fell and hurt yourself, who do you think would be in trouble?” Victoria countered and fluffed the pillow for him. “And how do you think I’d feel if I let that happen?”
“I know,” he said as he rested his head against the pillow. “But let me hem and haw about this, okay? It makes me feel better.”
She seemed delighted and pulled the blanket over him. “At least you’ll be rid of us soon. I hear the doctor okayed moving you to a rehabilitation center.”
Danny spotted me and glanced at the grease-stained brown bag in my hands. His vision had gotten marginally better. “Tell me you brought me something. Hospital food is going to kill me before this skull fracture does.”
Victoria smiled at me, her eyes lifting in the corners. I liked her. She took good care of Danny and had a great bedside manner.
“Just go slow with the food.” She looked at Danny and touched his shoulder gently. “Remember, if you experience nausea, let us know. We can fix that too.”
Nausea, I’d discovered, was common with concussions. Three weeks out from the assault, and Danny was doing well, to everyone’s relief. The doctors were still uncertain about the lasting effects, however. His vision still wasn’t working right, and his balance was off. The tremors in his hands were also a problem. Victoria left us, and I pushed the serving table over Danny’s bed.
He rolled his head against the pillow. He was still bandaged to hell, but at least his brain was back in his skull. The bruising around his face had yellowed and the swelling had gone down. He looked much more like the young man I remembered. “I don’t like people bathing me. It makes me feel useless.”
“At least you smell nice now,” I quipped.
“Gee, thanks.” He sniffed. “And you’ve been getting into my soap.”
“Nice stuff.”
“Yeah, it was a gift from my boss, and I never went back.” He took a deep breath as he glanced at the collection of wilting bouquets from friends and the fruit basket I was slowly working my way through which had come from his engineering firm. He winced and slowly let the breath go in a hiss.
“Are you in pain?” I inquired, glancing at the IV pole. Most of the bags were half full.
“When aren’t I? It’s okay, it just hurts when I breathe too deeply, and Victoria says they won’t give me any more of the good stuff. No more opioids for me. It’s all prescription strength Tylenol and codeine now. Did I mention how uncomfortable this bed is? I’m going to have back problems before I’m thirty.”
I recited all the issues he was facing in my mind—skull fracture and concussion, broken orbital bone, several broken ribs, sprained wrist. The list was on repeat in my head like my favorite tune. I wouldn’t let myself forget, because every injury was one I owed to the persons responsible.
“How is Biscuit?” Danny asked. “I miss that furball.”
“That furball misses you. He walks around the house and cries,” I said. “I was thinking, maybe we could do a FaceTime with him or something. Might be good if he hears your voice.”
“I’d like that. He’s a sweet cat. Did I tell you I found him on the street when he was a kitten? I nursed him with a dropper every three hours and when I had to go to work, I carried him in a little bag so I could keep an eye on him. The vet wasn’t sure he was going to make it because he was so small, but he pulled through. I guess he takes after his daddy.”
“You sent me a picture of him dressed in a little Santa outfit for Christmas.” I was glad Danny was in a light mood. It was a good sign as far as I was concerned. “And foryourbirthday, you sent me a picture of him in front of a tuna cupcake wearing a birthday hat.”
