His dad paused and then said to him, “Trish Potter didn’t make it.”
Sully flashed on a dark recollection of Trish lying, laughing, and stomping on the gas pedal. He recalled the rain and grabbing the steering wheel to bring it back into the correct lane. An oncoming car blared its horn. Trish claimed to be trying to scare him with a cruel trick. He remembered her jerking the steering wheel on a curve and fishtailing across the road. She lost control of the car and they had careened toward an embankment. He heard Trish scream and saw her fling her arms across her face. There was a sense of being airborne, and then jarring images and a severe pain along his ribs had melted into silent, merciful blackness.
“I remember most of it,” Sully said. “She was drunk.”
“It wasn’t your fault, and there was nothing you could have done,” Owen added.
“I shouldn’t have gotten into her car,” Sully said, still holding on to Charley’s hand.
“It’s my fault,” Charley told them and tenderly covered Sully’s hand with her other one. “You wouldn’t have gotten into her car if I hadn’t left the party without you.”
“No, that’s not true,” Sully said. “I could have ridden home with Dad.”
Owen nodded.“Right, I was waiting for you. It’s my fault for letting you get into the car of someone under the influence. I’ve kicked myself a hundred times.”
“You couldn’t have known she was intoxicated,” Charley said in Owen’s defense.
Shaking his head, Owen smiled his appreciation at Charley and said to Sully, “I wish I had followed you instead of being ahead of you on the highway.”
“The more she and I argued, the more Trish lost control,” Sully said. “I’m a grown man, and if there’s any blame, it sits squarely on my shoulders.”
“Sully, I’m so happy you’re alive,” Charley said softly, changing the direction of the conversation.
“Me too,” Owen said. “You’re the most important thing I have left in this world, son.”
“I’m happy to be here,” Sully said as a man in a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck, walked into the room with the nurse following close behind him.
“Mr. Sully,” the man said, stopping on the opposite side of the bed from Charley and Owen. With a smile he added, “I’m happy to see you’re back with us. I’m Dr. Asif Sankari.”
“Thank you, Dr. Sankari,” Sully replied. “Can I leave now?”
“No, sir. Not today,” Dr. Sankari said, looking from him to the monitors. Taking his wrist, the doctor felt Sully’s pulse and nodded. “I want to run a couple of tests and draw another set of labs. If those look good, I’ll have you moved out of the ICU to a regular room.”
“Can I go home tomorrow?” Sully asked as the doctor released his wrist.
“You’re on IV pain meds and antibiotics due to the thirty-two internal and external sutures in your left side.”
“A stitch for each year of my life,” Sully muttered as Charley gave him an encouraging smile.
Still on the opposite side of the bed and keeping the sheet in place over Sully, the physician lifted the side of his gown and examined the wound. “Looks good.” He nodded and put the gown back in place. “We’ll decrease the analgesics and see how you do overnight,” Dr. Sankari said in regard to the painkillers.“Your temperature is almost back to normal, and you’ve had your last transfusion of blood. But you just about bled out, young man.”
“I saw proof of that at the crash site,” Charley said to the doctor and then looked at Sully.
“When you run out of blood, you run out of time.” Dr. Sankari said, “I’ve canceled the transfer to Denver. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, hopefully on a discharge floor and we’ll go from there.”
“Thank you,” Sully said.
“Yes, thank you, Dr. Sankari,” Owen said and stood to shake the doctor’s hand.
“You’re welcome,” Dr. Sankari said and exited the room.
“What can I get for you?” the nurse asked him. “Are you thirsty?”
“Yes, and hungry,” Sully said.
“Good, I’ll go ask Dr. Sankari what you can have,” she said and left them.
“I talked to your cousins, and both Roy and Randy said for you not to worry about a thing,” Owen told him. “They have your horses and the store under control.”
