“Yep. In and out, no worriesatall.”
“What about the anesthetic? Did he godownokay?”
Glenn nodded. “He was a fucking trooper. You wanna grab some scrubs and meet him inrecovery?”
A damn army wouldn’t have stopped me. I grabbed some scrubs from a nearby nurse’s station and shot down to recovery to cleanmyselfup.
Glenn joined me at the sink a few minutes later. “I like it up here,” he said. “Surgical nurses are less crankythanyou.”
“I’m not cranky,asshole.”
“Not right now. Did Max rub off on you? I forget how to frown when I’m withthatdude.”
Again, despite the stress seizing my nerves, I couldn’t help my smile. “I pretty much fell in love with him, which is just as well, as Jed seems to be the father Ashneverhad.”
Glenn laughed. “Is that why he sent me a photo of him at some weird-ass art exhibition aminuteago?”
I’d forgotten about Ash’s exhibition—it was probably just starting. “Max said he was going with his sister. He must’ve dragged Jedalongtoo.”
“Jed wouldn’t have minded. I think he finds Ash kindafascinating.”
“That a goodthing?”
“What do youthink?”
I turned away from Glenn as the sound of a bed rolling down the corridor reached me. “I think Jed and Max are fucking heroes. We learned so much from them, and I’m glad you brought them into ourlives.”
* * *
Ash
Pete was worried. I sensed his tension before I even opened my eyes, but beyond that, I felt nothing—no pain, discomfort, or any of the synthetic euphoria I’d been so afraid of. Just some mild nausea that had nothing on the sickness that had boiled in my gut before a soft-spoken Texan doctor had put me tosleep.
I opened my eyes to Pete’s anxious gaze. One hand flew to his face, the other to my own. I was surprised to find mine bare. Glenn had warned me that I might wake up with a tube down my throat or a mask on my face, but there wasnothing. “Pete?”
“I’m here, fucker. You’re fine. Everythingwentgood.”
I took in the fact that he was wearing scrubs. “Please tell me you didn’t operate on meyourself?”
Pete snorted, and some of the stress faded from his beautiful face. “Nope. I didn’t even come in the OR. Glenn watched from the observation gallery for most of it while I lost my mind in thewaitingroom.”
I shifted on the bed.Ouch. Bad idea. “You didn’t, though, did you? Lose your mind,Imean?”
“Not as much as I wanted to. Jed talkedmedown.”
“Jed?”
“Yeah, I called him and Max and jabbered at them for a while, and then it was over before I knew it. I’m glad we have such goodfriends.”
“Metoo.”
I didn’t say anything else for a while. The sensation that I’d forgotten something important bugged me, but I was too tired to worry about it much. It was only when I got to wondering where Joe was—he was rarely far from us when something shitty happened—that it clicked. “Did Danni havethebaby?”
Pete smiled and looked at me. “You’reback.”
“I didn’t goanywhere.”
“You’re in adifferentroom.”
