Holly, the redheaded nurse looked up as we came into the reception area. “How was our girl?” she asked.
“She knew who I was for a few minutes,” he said.
Holly’s smile was sympathetic. “That’s good, Yoss.”
“It is. Okay, Holly, I’ll see you soon.” He held the door open for me and we stepped outside.
“I only want to bring her the good stuff,” Yoss said, as if he needed to explain something to me. Something important. Dark clouds billowed along the horizon.
It swallowed everything.
The wind picked up, blowing Yoss’s hair into his face. “You get that, right? All of this shit out here can’t follow me in there.” He looked back at Windy Acres, a wistful expression on his face. “But you…” His eyes softened. “You are the best of everything, Imi.”
I pulled him close, kissing his mouth firmly.
Hard. Deep.
Devouring and taking everything he had to give.
Tears tasted salty on cracked, unforgiving lips. Fingers dug into skin. Nails scrapping flesh.
Heavy breaths. Fractured hearts.
We were healing.
Or trying to.
But can two people like us ever truly mend?
I gathered his broken pieces and I held them tight.
Yoss wasn’t the only one who wouldn’t be able to let go.
Present
“Dr. Howell has been calling for you since eight,” Tess said as soon as I arrived. She accosted me just outside of my office door, her normally frazzled face, just a bit more frazzled.
“Dr. Howell? Why?” I asked, leaning my shoulder into the door as I unlocked it. My hands were full of files.
Tess followed me into my office and stood just inside the door. “He wouldn’t say. But he sounded unhappy. Though it’s sort of hard tell given how monotone he is.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said, picking up the phone on my desk and dialed Dr. Howell’s extension. Tess gave me a finger wave and left me to it.
“Hi, Dr. Howell, it’s Imogen Conner.”
“Imogen. Hello. I’m glad you’re in,” Dr. Howell said from the other end.
“Good morning, Dr. Howell.”
“Have you been up to see Mr. Frazier yet this morning?” he asked, getting straight to the point.
My stomach began to flutter wildly. “No. Not yet.”
“He had a rough night apparently. Carol, the night nurse on duty, left a note saying that he had a nightmare and became incredibly violent. He was at risk of self-injury so staff had to restrain him. When that didn’t calm him down, they resorted to sedation. I checked on him when I arrived this morning and to say he is upset would be an understatement.”
Hearing about his nightmares didn’t surprise me. Yoss had always suffered from them.
Sometimes they had been so intense that he had frightened me.
