was something I had to get used to. Elliot was a gentleman about the whole living situation, and he wanted me to file for divorce from Anderson and tell him that I had no interest in continuing my marriage with him. Those were his conditions before we could be properly intimate again.
His conditions didn’t extend to kisses and light, innocent touches though – he said was he was only a man, not a saint, which thoroughly amused me.
My time in the hospital had been an experience, one I wanted to put behind me. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about leaving the safety that these walls had provided me over the last few weeks. It was in here that I’d regained control of a life that had got away from me; it was here where Elliot and I had reconnected and I’d found out I had managed to fall even more in love with him. It was here that I re-established my bond and trust with my parents. I had learned to walk again, through hard hours of physical therapy; and in many ways, I had become a new person.
So leaving the hospital had me a little on edge.
My headaches had been more annoying than really painful since I’d collapsed in front of Elliot after he helped me shower, but I was always paranoid that one would suddenly strike me down and that I’d be rendered useless again. Knowing I was going home and away from the nurses and doctors was daunting, but I reminded myself not to think negatively. I had to think of things as they came and stop getting ahead of myself.
It had helped me get this far, and I hoped it would help me get a lot further too.
“Elliot is sad he isn’t here, isn’t he?”
I looked at my mother.
“Yeah,” I said. “But I’m glad he’s gone back to work; he was here so much they may as well have given him a bed.”
Mum chuckled. “How have his first few days been back on watch?”
“As good as can be,” I answered. “A couple of small fires, a minor car accident, and I think he said they had to help get a cat out of a tree yesterday.”
“No!” Mum laughed.
I smiled. “He says he misses me.”
“Of course he does.” Mum rolled her eyes. “And you miss him.”
“Of course I do,” I mimicked her, chuckling. “But he finishes his second night shift at nine a.m. and then he’s off for four days. He says he’s spending them with me.”
“I’m not surprised,” Mum said, winking. “You’re both acting like you did when you first began to date, always wanting to be around one another.”
I felt myself blush. “I love him.”
“I know you do,” she said warmly. “Which is why I made an appointment on Monday morning with a solicitor . . . so you can start the divorce process.”
I felt terrible whenever I thought about Anderson, I truly did, but I had to do what was best for me – and that meant cutting off all ties with him.
“Good.” I exhaled. “I’m ready for that.”
“When will you speak to him?”
“I’ll phone him on Sunday and meet him somewhere in town.” I gnawed on my lip. “I don’t want to do it publicly, but I’m also not going to his home. I lived in that place, and I just feel weird about going there.”
“I don’t blame you.”
We both looked up when Doctor Abara entered the room. I returned his happy smile.
“Ready to go home?”
“Born ready,” I answered.
He laughed. “I’ve a prescription here for you. These tablets are only to be taken as you need them. When you get a headache, take them, Noah. No trying to hold out and hoping it goes away. You take the medication. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.” I saluted him. “I’m not a fan of taking tablets, but I’ll do it. You have my word.”
“Good. You’ll come back in six weeks’ time to outpatients for a check-up, and we’ll decide then when your next check-up should be. But if everything is well with you, I’m thinking six months from that day.”
I bobbed my head. “Sounds good to me.”
“As I said yesterday” – he looked at me and my mother – “any double vision, dizziness or signs that you might be having one of your bad headaches, you come straight into Casualty. No exceptions.”
“She will,” Mum answered. “The three of us will make sure of it.”