blue eyes said a hundred things before she was gone. And I don’t mean like picking up and just leaving me. I mean the life that was in those eyes—that spark—it was gone. I saw confusion, denial, sadness, anger, and then… nothing—all within a matter of seconds. It was like she wasn’t in there anymore. I would gladly hand over my own life if it meant she’d give me any one of those emotions. Shit, give me pissed off at the world, want to go blow something up, castrate me anger. Anything!
I didn’t go far that night. I walked out of her hospital room and set up camp in the waiting room down the hall. I’d told her I would be there for her, and I would be. Whatever it took. Sitting in the most obnoxiously lumpy chairs, I cursed the administrative staff that thought these were acceptable accommodations. Granted, they probably didn’t expect someone to try to sleep in them for two days straight. Either way, I was still sending some hate mail to somebody.
I was sat, leaning forwards with my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands when Kyler and Harper came in together. Harper stopped when I looked up at her and she cursed under her breath. Ky leaned down and whispered in her ear. She nodded and then turned to head down the hall to Em’s room. Ky came over to sit next to me.
“Has she let you in to see her?”
“No.” My voice sounded odd to my own ears.
“Has the doctor told you when she can come home?”
“He told her parents that she could go home this evening. Her Dad relayed the message to me when he was here earlier. Apparently Em told Dr. Monroe that I wasn’t to be given any more information.”
He sucked in a breath. “Ouch man. I’m sorry.”
I just nodded in response and dipped my head back down.
“Did she tell Richard if she was coming back home to your place?”
I shook my head. “No.”
We sat in silence for five minutes before Ky slapped my back and stood up. “When was the last time you had something to eat, or got any sleep?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Two days ago I guess, but I’ve dozed off now and then.”
“Well there’s not a whole lot going on right now, so why don’t you take a walk with me down to the cafeteria and we’ll get a coffee and a bite to eat.”
I was going to say I was fine, but Ky gave me a look that said he would toss my raggedy ass over his shoulder and march me down there if he had to. I didn’t have it in me to argue with him. Getting up from my chair, I stretched. My muscles ached worse than if I’d just done a hardcore workout.
“Good boy.” He patted me on the head like a puppy.
I shook him off. “Ass.” He chuckled.
Walking past the nurses’ station I overheard a man asking for Emilyn and I stopped dead in my tracks. Turning around, I took him in. He was a tall, brown haired man, dressed in a suit and expensive shoes. The nurse asked who he was and he told them that his name was Weston and he was her husband. The nurse said that Ms. Tucker hadn’t listed a husband on her medical chart, but she’d gladly call down to her room to see if she was available for any visitors. When she hung up the phone she told him the room number and pointed in the direction of Em’s room. He walked past Kyler and me, tipping his head in a nod as he walked by.
I saw red.
What the fuck was that little pencil-dick doing here? He wasn’t her husband anymore. Better yet, if the nurse called down to Em, why had she said that it was okay for him to see her, when she wouldn’t even let me in the room? I followed him down the hall. Ky wasn’t too far behind me. Weston reached Em’s room, stopped and knocked. I heard her voice through the door telling him to come in. Swallowing hard and wondering what was going to happen I crept closer to the door that he’d left slightly ajar, but stayed off to the side and out of view.
“Hello Emilyn.” His voice was cool—probably his lawyer voice that he used with his clients.
“What are you doing here West?” She didn’t even sound like herself.
“That’s a good fucking question.