the room.
“You’re awake! You look much better,” the nurse said.
“Do I?”
“You do. Do you remember anything about your accident?”
Maggie paused for a moment. “I remember being in cold water and it hurting my ears, and then a young man held my head out of the water and was crying and apologizing. I guess he hit my boat. It was foggy. I tried to stay as close to the shore as I could, but he didn’t see me.”
“Okay, well, this is what I have from the Coast Guard. The fisherman who hit you didn’t know it until parts of your awning flew up on his deck. You were in the water, wrapped in the awning. You don’t have any cuts, just bruises and a broken nose and a bad head injury, like a football player might get. But regardless, you were bashed up, and I’m thinking by tomorrow you’re going to feel like you were hit by a boat.”
“I’m starting to smart now,” Maggie said. “Now my back hurts worse than my head.”
“Show me where.”
The nurse examined Maggie, writing down where the pain was showing up. When she held on to Maggie’s arm, Maggie winced. “Is it this shoulder?”
“Yes, my left is worse than my right. I can’t lift my arm without it hurting.”
“I brought you something for pain,” the nurse said, handing her a pill cup and the glass of water with a straw. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really. Unless you have something really delicious.”
“I brought pie in from Nawlin’s Old Time Café.”
“I’ll take a bite of that. I love pie.”
After the nurse left, Justin pulled his chair over closer to Maggie.
“You already sound better,” he said, threading his arms through the siderails to hold on to her.
“The drugs must be kicking in.”
“Ha! That’s probably it.”
“You don’t have to stay here all night,” Maggie said.
“Yes, I do. Dave took my truck home, so I’m here until someone comes back tomorrow, hopefully with a change of clothes. I’m wearing the same smelly clothes I had on from the preserve.”
“What did you do?”
“Grace and I looked at one of the palominos with a bad foot. It took two hours to catch her.”
“You’re saying you stink?”
“I’m sure I do. But Dave got the call from Gus, and I wasn’t about to go home and change first.”
“Thank you, honey.” She closed her eyes, the pain medication beginning to take effect. “All I wanted was to see you again before I die.”
Maggie wasn’t a big user of endearments, so that meant a lot to Justin, but the comment about death scared him. Gathering her hands up in his, he poured out his heart.
“This morning before I left for the preserve, I said you’d regret it if you didn’t kiss me and I died. That was awful of me.”
She opened her eyes and stared at him. “Justin, it didn’t mean anything. Your comment didn’t cause the accident.”
“I’m not sure,” he said, fear washing over him. “Words are like energy in the universe. I’ve been so negative this week. Seeing you lying here battered is forcing me to realize I need to step it up.”
“Justy Chastain, chill out.”
Decompressing, he folded over like a balloon losing its air, and barked out a laugh. “I’m acting like a kid.”
She took a deep breath. “I want to sleep, and you being here is keeping me from it. You have to try to sleep. And tomorrow I want you to call someone to come get you. You can’t live in my room.”
“But I can,” he said earnestly. “My dad is doing the office hours this week. I’m not leaving.”
“I’m too tired to argue. But you need to let me sleep.”
He kissed her cheek and got into his chair, pulling the blanket up to his chin, and fell right to sleep. And Maggie dug her fingers into the rigid collar around her neck, trying to loosen it up, and that was all it took. She was wide awake.
Chapter 10
Monday morning, the community would jump into high gear on behalf of Maggie. Devastated that her friend had been injured and was an hour away, Annie tried to think of something that would be helpful to her and meaningful. She dialed Kelly’s number. They hadn’t known each other long enough to get particularly close, but after this, after a mutual friend was almost killed, the sisters-in-law bonded and had already talked to each other hourly after it happened.
She sent her a text. Come for coffee if you can.
Kelly sent a return text. I’m just dropping