let her doctor know that she was awake. He held the straw to her lips and she took a sip. “You have pneumonia. You collapsed and we brought you into the ER.”
Her eyes widened. “What day is it?”
“Wednesday.”
He could see various emotions—confusion, dismay, and worry—flit across her face and then her eyes filled with tears. She closed them, seemingly overwhelmed with everything, and quietly whispered, “Aaron was there.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. A weight dropped on Chris’s chest which made it difficult to breathe.
He knew this. He knew she still loved and mourned over Aaron’s death so this shouldn’t be a surprise. But she’d seen him while she’d been so sick? Did that mean that she’d truly been that close to dying? Or had it all just been a dream because she wanted him alive so badly? Her fever had been really high. There’s no telling how whacked out her subconscious had been.
“We were beginning to think that we were going to have to rename you Sleeping Beauty. We’ve been worried about you,” Pete said softly.
Julie didn’t respond. In fact, it appeared as if she’d drifted back off into sleep. Pete and Chris exchanged a concerned look.
Pete whispered, “Is she asleep?”
“I think so. Where’s that nurse? I called her. You’d think they’d want to know when she was awake.”
“I’ll go find someone.” Pete walked out and Chris took up Julie’s hand again. God, he just wanted her to be healthy again. But she’d woken up. That had to be a good sign. Her color even seemed to be a little better than it had been just thirty minutes before.
Finally, a nurse arrived with Pete trailing behind her. She reawakened Julie and Chris nearly collapsed with relief from the fact that she truly seemed to be mending. The nurse pushed the men out into the hall while she evaluated Julie’s condition.
Standing in the hall with Pete felt awkward. Chris knew he worked with Julie in her Krav Maga classes, but he really didn’t know the guy that well.
“Did she say she saw Aaron?” Pete asked, obviously as stunned by that declaration as Chris.
Chris just nodded. Really, what could he say to that?
Pete asked, “I wonder if she was able to reach him because their souls are bound. Or if she was able to call him to her? That’s really amazing. Does that mean she almost died, or something else?”
Chris didn’t know. All he knew was that he didn’t like discussing Julie’s brush with death like a change in the weather. So instead he excused himself. “I told her sister, Rachel, that I would call her as soon as Julie woke up. I’m gonna go do that now.”
“Don’t you want to wait to hear what the doctor says first?”
Chris shook his head. “I promised Rachel. That’s the only way she’d agree to head home for a couple of days.” Rachel had come down from Oklahoma City when Julie was first checked into the ICU, but as she continued to sleep, Rachel drove everyone crazy. With Oklahoma City being just a few hours away, it just made sense for her to go home and see to her practice and patients until there was something she could do for Julie.
“I’m just going to head outside to give her a call. Will you still be here in case I’m not back when the nurse comes out?”
“Yeah, I’ll stick around.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m not doing it for you.” Pete snorted.
Chris strode off down the hall shaking his head. Something about that guy just rubbed him the wrong way and that tiny green monster reared his head again. But it probably had more to do with Pete and Julie’s close friendship than anything.
When he returned to Julie’s room, Pete left to go back to work.
It was another couple of hours before things calmed down again in Julie’s room. Doctors and nurses had been in and out in a steady stream. The general consensus was that she was improving.
For the moment, they were alone in the room and Julie had fallen back asleep. She remained groggy even when awake and hadn’t mentioned Aaron again. In fact, there hadn’t been a moment for them to talk at all. Quite the opposite, it was almost like she was avoiding any interaction with him, which puzzled him a bit. The only thing that made any sense was that she was angry with him for not being there when she called that night. And he was right there with her on that. He’d never be