I don’t realize how long I sit there watching him until the door opens softly behind me and a nurse steps inside to check his monitors. She’s offering me a small sympathetic smile that suggests she has seen people like me sitting beside hospital beds many times before.
“You stayed all night?” she asks quietly while checking his chart.
“Yes,” I answer automatically.
“That’s a good thing,” she says gently.
“For him?”
“For both of you,” she replies before leaving again.
The words stay with me longer than I expect them to.
When Blake finally wakes up, it happens slowly enough that I notice the change before he actually opens his eyes. His fingers tighten slightly around mine like his body remembered I was there before his mind caught up.
“Morning,” I say softly.
He squints at me. Then at the chair. Then back at me again.
“I didn’t think our first night sleeping next to each other would go like this,” he says hoarsely.
I stare at him for half a second. Then I laugh before I can stop myself.
“You are unbelievable,” I tell him, leaning forward slightly so I can see whether the movement hurts him.“Most people wake up from surgery and say something dramatic or romantic. You make jokes about hospital furniture.”
“I’m romantic,” he protests weakly.“This is a bonding experience.”
“This is not a bonding experience,” I reply.“This is a spinal alignment disaster.”
“I liked it,” he says.
“You weren’t the one sleeping in the chair.”
“I was the one getting surgery,” he reminds me.
“That’s fair,” I admit.
He shifts slightly, then immediately regrets it. I see the tension move through his shoulder before he even says anything.
“Don’t move,” I say quickly.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” he answers.
“You were.”
“Ok, maybe a little.”
For a few seconds, neither of us speaks. Not because there’s nothing to say. Because there’s too much, I reach forward and adjust the blanket, which has slipped slightly off his arm.
“How does it feel?” I ask quietly.
“Like someone replaced my shoulder with a brick,” he replies.
“That sounds medically concerning.”
“They said I should avoid lifting heavy objects,” he adds.
“You mean like hockey sticks?”
