Chapter 11
Misty sat by Gabe’s bedside and prayed.Hi, Lord…whoever you are. It’s me, Misty. I’ve spoken to you recently about the possible MS symptoms I’ve been having. It’s funny, but I’m more worried about Gabe than I am about myself. Please help him recover from his recent accident. You know the one I’m talking about, right? Well, of course you do. While he was rescuing my landlady, he was almost blown up and landed headfirst in the snow. How could you miss that? Oh! Please help her recover too. Amen.
Call it coincidence, but at that moment, Gabe opened his eyes. Misty rose quickly and leaned over his hospital bed’s safety railing.
“You’re awake.”
“Where am I?” he asked.
“In Boston General. Do you remember the accident?”
Gabe rubbed his forehead with his free hand; the other one was hooked up to an IV. “Do you mean the gas explosion?”
“Yeah. Thank goodness you got out of there just in time. I was terrified for you.”And terrified for myself. I’d die if I lost you.
“How’s your landlady?”
“Still unconscious last time I checked, but alive, thanks to you.”
He closed his eyes and nodded slowly. “I imagine she’s going to have one hell of a headache when she wakes up. I have one now, and I wasn’t even exposed to the gas that long.”
“Your head hurts because you landed on it.”
“Oh.”
A knock at the door was followed by Jayce entering the room. “Don’t worry about him, Misty. It’s not the first time he’s been dropped on his head.”
“Ha ha,” Gabe said. He reached for Misty’s hand. “How long have you been here?”
She clasped his hand gratefully. “Ever since they brought you in yesterday.”
“Jesus. You’re probably more than ready to go home. Wait a minute. Do you have a home to go to?”
She shook her head. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t worry him. If she had to, she could move in with her friend Julie, out in the ’burbs. Commuting to work would be a bitch, but she could do it.
Jayce looked over at Misty. “I’d offer you a guest room, but Kristine and I don’t have one. We have a couch you can crash on.”
“No, no. I don’t want to put you out.”
A female voice said, “Nonsense. You’re staying with us. We have lots of room.” Gabriella Fierro brought flowers into the room and set them on Gabe’s side table. “Hi, honey. How are you feeling?”
“Hi, Mom. I’m doing okay, I guess. I imagine the doctor will tell us something soon.” He looked at Misty. “Did he say anything to you?”
“Not much. They took some X-rays when you came in and said there weren’t any skull fractures or internal bleeding. No broken bones. And that you probably just have a concussion. You’re lucky.”
“Did you hear that Misty’s been here all night?” Jayce asked his mother.
Gabriella crossed to Misty and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You must be exhausted.”
Misty nodded. “It’s okay. I had to know he was going to be all right. Now that he’s awake and I can see he’s okay, I can go back to work and make the money I need to rent a new place.” She checked the clock on the wall. “I should either get going or call in sick.”
“I told you,” Gabriella said. “You can stay with us—for as long as you like. Call in sick. Your home blew up! You must be traumatized.”
“Thank you. Really. But I don’t want to impose longer that I have to. I really appreciate the offer of a temporary spot to land, though. If I could take you up on that…”
“Absolutely.” Gabriella looked at Gabe and smiled. “Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of her.”
Gabe smiled. “I have no doubt of that. Misty, why don’t you go with my mom and get some sleep? When I get out of here, I’ll take you shopping or something. I imagine you’ll have to replace everything.”
