Taron nudged me subtly. “How’s it feel to one-up the grandpa?” he asked softly.
I managed to crack a barely-there smile. “Shut up,” I whispered.
“Excuse me?”
The nine of us turned to the entrance, where the nurse from before was standing and looking around the room.
“Myles Reyes?” she asked.
I waved at her. “Here.”
“Ah.” She gave me a smile. “I just wanted to let you know that Carina’s surgery was a success. The doctors are checking her vitals at the moment, just to be sure, and then we’ll move her to the PACU.”
I let go of a relieved breath, and felt my shoulders slump as an invisible pressure lifted off of them.
My Rina was okay.
“Is she awake?” Miguel asked the nurse.
“Yes, but she’s had Propofol, so she’s a bit woozy. It’ll take her a few minutes to get a grip on everything.”
“Can we meet her yet?” he pushed.
She gave him a reassuring smile. “Like I said: the doctors are doing a routine checkup on her at the moment, but once they’re done and everything is up to the mark, I don’t see why not.”
Miguel sighed and slumped onto one of the cushioned chairs. “Thank you.”
The nurse nodded at him, then looked at me. “She asked for you when she woke up just now,” she said, and gave me a faint wink. “I told her you were outside waiting. I’ll come get you once the doctors are done with her, but I thought I’d let you know that the surgery went well, and that she’s going to make a full recovery.” With that, she turned around and walked away.
Greg and Paul sauntered into the room with two trays full of Styrofoam cups brimming with coffee, and as they began passing them around to Taron and the others, I sat back down in the chair and scrubbed my hands over my face for the second time in a span of twenty minutes.
Rina wasokay.
And thankfuckfor that, because I sure would have lost every last shred of myself if she wasn’t.
49. The Fragile Man
There were so many of them crowded around the small, air-conditioned room. I could barely think straight;seestraight.
I was lying on a bed, with a couple of not-so-soft pillows under my head. A couple more were placed beneath my right leg to keep it propped up in order to avoid any sort of swelling.
My mind was a dizzy mess due to the fresh bout of throbbing ache in my ankle, the pain meds I’d been given after the surgery, the beeping monitors on my left, and the suffocating smell of Iodoform clogging my nostrils.
When I’d woken up minutes after being brought to the hospital, the doctor and nurses had checked my vitals, put me on an IV, and informed me of my injuries. The orthopedic assigned to my case had then told me about the ORIF, and how they’d have to perform the procedure due to the severity of my fracture. They’d asked for my consent over the same, made me sign a form, and then whisked me into the OR. I don’t remember much of anything after that, only that I’d been transferred to a PACU room, and my vitals had again been administered before I’d been asked to rest.
I blinked, but still felt a bit out of it.
“Pequena?” cameAvô’svoice.
I blinked a second time, and my vision finally decided to focus on him.
He smiled down at me, but his expression was one full of concern. “Eu estava com tanto medo; tão... apavorado. Eu não sabia o que pensar, ou fazer, ou...” I was so scared; so...terrified. I didn't know what to think, or do, or...
I’m okay now, I signed.
My right arm was slightly numb because of the IV drip that was attached on the forearm, so I had to use my left hand to Sign things. The words that required both my hands for it, though, had to be spelled out instead.
“I wouldn’t say you’re okay,”Avôtold me, then gave me a stern look. “You still have weeks of recovery ahead of you.” He walked closer and sat in the chair next to my bed, then leaned in to place a kiss on my right brow. “The doctor said I can take you home in a couple of hours. I’ve decided to let Remi handle the shop while you get better. I want to be there for you when you need me.”
