“He really does look like his father, doesn’t he?”
Mitch looked perplexed, and Megs realized he might not remember that Kurt had just been in the room—or know who Kurt was. He tried to speak, making only unintelligible sounds, his anger with himself heartbreaking to witness.
Megs took his hand once more. “Please don’t be hard on yourself. I can’t imagine how frustrating this is, but your inability to speak isn’t a moral or intellectual failing. You almostdied, and you’re doing the best you can. It won’t be like this forever. Itwillget better. But you should rest now.”
She left his side long enough to close the blinds and retrieve her phone, which she set to play their favorite classical music playlist, the one they often listened to at night before bedtime. Then she sat beside him once again and held his hand while he drifted into an uneasy sleep.
Chapter 19
Megs satin the surgery waiting room, going over different acute rehabilitation facilities with Rain and watching the surgery board. Dr. Schwartz had said the cranioplasty would probably take two hours. So far, an hour had passed.
“I really liked this place.” Rain set a different brochure on the table. She’d spent the past week touring various facilities, asking for information. “It’s in Boulder, which means you’re just down the canyon. It’s got some new weightless technology that assists people in re-learning how to walk. The rooms are nicer and feel more like family suites than hospital rooms. They have pool therapy, private treatment rooms, and an award-winning speech-pathology team.”
“How much does it cost?” Megs was afraid to ask.
“Almost fourteen thousand.”
Megs almost choked. “Permonth? Jesus fried chicken!”
The couple sitting across the room looked up from their phones, disapproving expressions on their faces.
Rain waved off the expense. “Helping Mitch heal is all that matters.”
Megs looked at the photos, liking what she saw. “And you prefer this place over the ones in Lafayette and Aurora?”
“Definitely. The place in Lafayette had small, dark rooms and felt very clinical. The one in Aurora smelled like unemptied bedpans and is a lot farther from home.”
Megs wrinkled her nose. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Thanks for visiting these places. I suppose I should’ve done it, but I didn’t want to leave Mitch.”
“It was no trouble. Your place is here. Sasha wanted to come with me, but the Team got toned out.”
Megs looked at the brochure for the Boulder facility again—the Front Range Rehabilitation Hospital. “I guess I need to fill out an application.”
“It’s available online. You should be able to use Mitch’s tablet for that. How does he like the communication apps?”
Megs had to laugh. “The first thing he made the new program say was, ‘This is stupid.’ Not being able to communicate is really difficult for him.”
“It would be difficult for anyone.” Rain reached into her enormous handbag. “I brought those books of poetry—Walt Whitman and Kahlil Gibran.”
Megs took the books from her. “Thanks so much. Mitch and I have a tradition of reading poetry to each other before we go to sleep. We started doing that back in the dirtbag days in Yosemite, and we never stopped.”
“That’s awesome—or should I sayfar out?”
“Listen, whippersnapper, that expression was cool in its day.” Megs reached over and squeezed Rain’s hand. “You and Joe have gone above and beyond to help us. I don’t even know how to thank you. I will always be grateful.”
“You’re welcome.” Rain squeezed back. “Here’s the thing, Megs—I know you’d do everything you could to help us if our positions were reversed. Remember when we got eight feet of snow in just a few days and my roof caved in?”
“I surely do. That’s what finally got you and Joe together. I think the whole town was grateful.”
Rain laughed. “Well, before Joe and I got together, you had the Team out there clearing snow off people’s roofs so it wouldn’t happen to anyone else. I’ve heard stories about Moretti going from rooftop to rooftop on skis.”
“I think they enjoyed themselves a little too much that night.”
“And then there was the time when Hawke asked you to tone out the Team to clean his cabin before he got there with Vicki. You, Sasha, and Mitch went over and cleaned up his pigsty so that he could make a good impression.”
“We still rib him about that.”
“The point I’m trying to make is that you and Mitch do nothing every day but save people. We’d be a sad town full of petty, little people if we didn’t repay that love. You two are a huge source of pride for Scarlet.”
