Katie breezed into the room. “I’ve got it all sorted out. Come to the hotel with Jeff and me. I got you a room.”
The new, way too perky nurse followed behind Katie, slipping papers into a folder with the hospital’s logo emblazoned on the front. “Discharge papers on the left, and these are your prescriptions.”
Lucy vaguely followed along. Her gaze kept falling to the door standing ajar.
No Will.
Expecting him to come back was ridiculous. She’d ended it.
“Let’s get you changed out of that gown.” The nurse clicked the bedrail down.
“On that note, I will see you at work.” Reuben did a little two finger wave and slipped out the door.
He was wrong. She wouldn’t see him at work. A call to her friend in Ohio that morning had confirmed she wouldn’t be returning to Crestone.
The nurse helped Lucy stand, holding her good arm steady as the little rubber grippers on her socks hit the floor.
“That a girl.” The nurse beamed at Lucy.
Lucy forced a fake smile. The knot of fear tightened in her chest. Where the heck did Will go? With everything they’d been through, she never wanted to leave things like this. The bandage strained, and she winced, stopping to take deep breaths in an attempt to control the jagged ache.
“You got this, Lulu.” Katie held the bathroom door open.
Lucy slogged there slowly to change into sweatpants and anIt’s a Confluence ThingT-shirt Katie had shown up with.
“Do you want some help?” the nurse asked.
“No, thanks.” Lucy tried to smile, failed, and closed the door.
One glance in the mirror showed how right her mother had been. Her hair was atrocious. She didn’t normally have a ton of color in her skin, but right now she was straight up washed-out. Some of the medication they’d given her even made her cheeks swollen. The girl looking back at her looked like her old Lulu self.
Do not process, Lucy.
The nurse gave a light tap on the door. “I’ll run and get a wheelchair. Are you okay in there?”
Lucy shook away the thoughts of bullies from her past. “I’m fine.”
“Pull the red cord if you need help,” the nurse said, and the privacy curtain scraped across the track in the hospital room.
Lucy quickly brushed her hair. She rummaged through the cabinet with one hand, but nothing worked as a tie.
“Hey, Katie, do you have a hair tie?” she called.
“Katie’s in the hall. You want me to get her?” Will’s reply was muffled by the door.
Holy crap.
She gazed at herself in the mirror for a moment. Her eyes wide. Her face pale. She dropped the brush and turned to stare at the inside of the closed door.
He came back.
Stiff, she opened the door. “Will…”
He stood near the doorjamb, inches from her. Guilt tightened its hold on her.
“Here’s how it’s going to be.” He enveloped her in his arms and tucked her head against his chest.
She let him, her own hands resting against the denim on his hips.
