2. Alyssa
2
ALYSSA
The sky was barely visible. The trees that lined the street blocked the view. Somehow, they blocked the sound, too. There were voices, but they seemed far away. There was screaming, too. Screaming that started to grow louder.
Me. Oh my god, it was me.
I was the one screaming.
Hands touched my leg and the pain multiplied.
“Sorry.” A face slid into view. The man kneeling over me looked somewhat familiar, but it was hard to think where I had seen him before. “I had to reposition it to restore circulation.”
“W-what?”
“You’re going to be okay.” The man’s expression showed concern, but his voice was firm. Plus his eyes—his eyes were dark pools of molten chocolate.
A siren wailed in the distance, but I couldn’t look away from the man’s face. It was like I could see inside to his soul. “You have really pretty eyes,” I said.
Then blackness overtook me.
My head hurt. My throat was dry. The light seeping through my eyelids was bothering me. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I was too uncomfortable.
I blinked, then tried to cover my eyes with my forearm, but moving it elicited a groan. It hurt. Everything hurt.
“Alyssa?”
I frowned, which was pretty much the only movement I could make that didn’t cause pain. The voice wasn’t familiar.
Squinting to protect my eyes from the overhead light, I took quick peeks at my surroundings. The room around me was clearly part of a hospital. The walls were white, but the sky was dark beyond the window. The man who stood above me didn’t look like a doctor or a nurse, though.
My thoughts were hazy as I tried to figure out how I’d gotten here. What had I done to end up in a hospital? Had I crashed my car on the way home from work? But no, I’d pulled over by that park and?—
“The boy!” My body jerked as I tried to sit up, but then pain washed over me, and I groaned.
“He’s okay.” The man put his hand on my shoulder, gently pushing me back down. “Barely a scratch. You saved him.”
“Oh.” My voice was not much louder than a sigh. Everything in my mind was jumbled and out of order. There’d been a kite, and the boy and girl running. And then I remembered the car. “I got hit?” The man nodded. “But the boy’s really okay?”
“He is, thanks to you.”
I closed my eyes, feeling extremely grateful that he was all right. When I opened them, the man was looking down at me with compassion. His eyes were a deep shade of brown, and all at once I recognized him. There was no mistaking those mesmerizing eyes.
But he looked different than he had kneeling over me in the road. He’d changed clothes. Now he was wearing a white dress shirt open at the neck, plus black dress pants. He’d shaved, too. Before, he’d had a short brown beard.
“You clean up well,” I said. I was focusing on him because it was a lot more pleasant than focusing on the pain.
The man looked confused. “I do?”
“Yeah. Before, you had the beard, and you weren’t dressed like that.” I gestured at his clothing, and then groaned. When was I going to remember that pretty much every movement hurt?
The man’s soulful eyes cleared. “That wasn’t me before; that was my brother.”
“Brother?”
“Yeah. He’s a few years younger than me, but people say we look a little alike.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I’d been sure that incredible eyes like that could only be unique to one man.
He gave a small smile. “Don’t be. It’s not like you met either of us while you were at your best. I’m Spencer Ward. It was my son, Lucas, that you saved.” His voice caught and he looked away for a moment. It made me want to reach out and take his hand, which was ironic since I was the one in the hospital bed.
“I’m Alyssa.”
“I know,” he said, returning his gaze to me. “We found your driver’s license in your purse.”
“We?”
“The hospital staff and me.”
“Are they here?” The man above me looked confused again—probably because I’d asked a very stupid question. “I just mean, I’d like to talk to a doctor or nurse about the pain.”
Spencer looked stricken. “Of course. I should’ve asked that first. I’ll call them, but there’s a button right here you can push to get more pain medicine.”
He handed me the button, and almost immediately after pushing it, drowsiness coursed through me. I needed to find out more, to find out how badly I was injured, but sleep promised a temporary reprieve from the pain. “I just—I need to…”
“Of course.” Spencer's voice was faint, as if far away. “Do whatever feels best, Lyss.”
I didn’t learn much the rest of the night. Each time I woke, it was just long enough to press the button for more pain medicine or to take a small sip of water when someone held a glass with a straw up to my mouth. The nurses woke me a few times, too, taking vitals and asking questions, but I couldn’t focus well enough to say much to them.
No matter when I woke during the night, Spencer was there, sitting by my bed or in the armchair in the corner of the room. Once, I asked him where his son was.
“At home, with family,” he said. “I promise, he’s fine. Sleep more if you can.” Then he pushed my hair back from my face and gave me a quick kiss on my forehead. A feeling of lightness filled me as I drifted off again.
Finally, it was morning. The light streaming through the sides of the closed blinds didn’t bother me as much as the overhead lights had last night. Still, the brightness made me blink, and it took me a few seconds to realize that the dark-haired man sitting in the armchair wasn’t Spencer. He didn’t look like Spencer’s brother from the park, either. His hair was stood up taller at the top of his head, and his complexion was a little lighter than theirs had been.
He appeared to be reading on his phone, but then he looked up and gave me a smile. It was the kind of smile that was impossible to ignore, but before I could return it, I was distracted by the sight of my right leg. It was in a huge cast and was raised a few inches off the bed, hanging from some kind of contraption that came down from the ceiling.
Crap. Had it been like that last night, and I’d been too out of it to notice? I wondered how badly it was broken. The cast went from my ankle to beyond my knee. I couldn’t tell how high it went on my leg because of the covers. I couldn’t feel where the cast stopped, either. My whole leg felt numb and sore as hell.
I wasn’t ready to deal with all this quite yet. Plus, I was still so damn tired. My eyes drifted shut and I welcomed the oblivion of sleep.
When I woke again, Spencer was back. At least I thought it was him. The armchair in the corner was partially blocked by a small floral shop that now lined the room. There were flower arrangements on the windowsill and the little bedside table. They looked to be everywhere.
I located the controls for the bed and raised the head of the bed so I could sit up a little. Moving still hurt, but not as much as yesterday. There was some kind of bandage wrapped around my left wrist, but it didn’t hurt to move it.
For the first time since the accident, I felt truly awake, which was ironic considering that Spencer was asleep. He was wearing a blue button-down dress shirt today, this time with a tie. It was slate with navy stripes. His pants looked to be navy, too.
Though I judged him to be in his early thirties, he kind of looked like a little boy, with his head tilted to the side and his eyes closed. He had his elbow on the armrest with his hand supporting his head. It was kind of nice to be able to take a good look at him.
His hair was closely cropped, which normally wasn’t something I appreciated in men, but on him, it worked. His eyebrows were thick and dramatic over what I knew to be spectacularly piercing brown eyes. He had a thin line of stubble along his jaw and over his top lip.
I tried to contrast him with his brother, but the events of yesterday were still a bit fuzzy in my mind. Probably best not to dwell on the fact that I’d been hit by a car. And that the boy, Spencer’s son, almost had been. Somehow, that scared me more than my own injuries.
But Spencer had assured me he was okay. Still, I wished I could see him for himself. What was his name? Spencer had told me last night. Mark? Luke? No, Lucas. That was it.
A nurse came in. “Nice to see you awake.”
“Hi.” My voice was raspy, and my throat felt dry. She poured me a glass of water and behind her, I saw Spencer get to his feet. He stretched, showcasing his impressive height—and also proving that he had some pretty solid muscles under that dress shirt. I sipped some water and then tried to speak again. “C-can you tell me about my leg?”
“You have a patella fracture,” she said, her attention on the IV bag that hung above my head. “That’s your kneecap. And you broke your tibia and fibula.”
“ She didn’t break them,” Spencer said in his deep, rich voice.
“That’s right, you’re a hero.” She gave my arm a pat.
What? That was something I’d never been called in my twenty-three years. Before I could dwell on that too much, she continued on.
“Your left wrist has a sprain, but it should heal quickly enough. Your ribs are bruised—they said that’s going to hurt for a while.” Spencer winced. “Guess everything will. You also have quite a collection of scrapes and bruises, but those shouldn’t bother you much.”
My hand flew up, but there weren’t any bandages wrapped around my head like I’d seen in the movies. Guess that meant that my head was the only part of me that wasn’t injured. For the first time, I wondered about my appearance. My hair was straight and shoulder-length normally, but it felt frizzy and disordered at the moment. Hopefully there weren’t bits of gravel in it from the road.
The nurse was still talking, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to home in on the details. Medical talk of any sort made me feel squeamish. Besides, I wasn’t ready to deal with the reality of what kind of recovery time I was looking at. My head still ached a bit, and I didn’t want to make it worse.
“Do you think you can eat something?” the nurse asked. “Maybe soup?”
“I guess so.” Truthfully, I didn’t feel hungry at all, but it was probably important to take in some nutrients.
“Would anything else taste good?” Spencer asked, looking prepared to go to the other side of the world if I craved something exotic.
I thought about it. “Maybe lemonade? With crushed ice?”
They both smiled. “I’ll have some sent up,” the nurse said.
Once she left, Spencer’s smile faded. “How do you feel?”
I paused, taking an assessment. “Better than yesterday.”
“You look better.”
His words made me blush. I very much doubted that any part of me looked good now.
“Your color’s better,” Spencer added.
The word color reminded me of the riot of flowers behind him. “Um, where did all these come from?”
He glanced at them and then gave me a wry grin. “Pretty much everyone in town.”
That made no sense. “But how?—?”
“You’re in the paper today.” He plucked a thin newspaper off a nearby table and put it on my lap. I raised the bed higher so that I was almost in a regular sitting position.
Blinking, I peered at the paper. My face looked back at me. I was on the front page? And they’d used my driver’s license photo?
I groaned, and Spencer looked alarmed. “What hurts? Should I get the nurse back here?”
“No, I … it’s just that picture.”
Understanding crossed his face, and he studied the paper on my lap. “I think it looks great.”
I folded the paper in half so that I wouldn’t have to look at that photo. “It must’ve been a slow news day yesterday.”
Spencer didn’t smile at that. “I think it’s pretty big news when someone risks her life to save a child she doesn’t even know.”
Oh. My cheeks reddened, and I searched for something to say. “Who are the lilies from?” They were some of the only flowers I could name, plus the arrangement was the prettiest of the bunch.
“Me.”
My blush deepened. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you. I can’t thank you enough.” His voice caught, and then he looked at the card in the next arrangement. “These are from the mayor’s office.”
“The mayor’s office?”
He smiled at my disbelief. “It’s a small town. This one with the peonies is from the hospital. And this last one is from the staff at Delaune Elementary School.”
“Is that where Lucas goes?”
Spencer nodded. “And it’s where I work. I’m the principal.”
His revelation shocked me. He seemed like such a nice, normal guy. Then again, I was an adult now. I didn’t have to worry about being reprimanded by a principal. But I’d been a student since I was five up until a month ago, and apparently old attitudes die hard.
Spencer was watching me when I looked up. From the amusement on his face, I guessed he was used to my reaction. “I don’t have the power to give you detention, you know.”
A young man in scrubs brought in my lemonade, and Spencer took it from him and placed it on the rolling cart near my bed. “I almost forgot these,” he said, nodding at the rather modern-looking arrangement on the tray. Instead of a vase, the flowers were arranged on top of a little green platform. “Those are from your work. It’s that tech startup over on Philippe Avenue, right?”
Work . I groaned. Today was the day I was supposed to be assigned to my team. To find out what kind of projects I’d be a part of. And now I wouldn’t be doing any work at all, at least not for a while.
Concern filled me. What was I going to do? I couldn’t even move my leg, let alone walk. It was elevated by a little bar that hung from the ceiling. And the fuzziness and ache in my head made it hard to even think, never mind work.
Spencer held out my drink, then put it down when he saw the look on my face. Instead, he took my hand. “It’s going to be okay, Alyssa. They know you won’t be back for quite a while. Your boss said to take as much time as you need.”
“You’ve talked to him?”
“Yes. They called this morning after they saw the article.”
His voice was calming, but I couldn’t stop the stress that filled me. “I was only there for one day.”
“They said your job will be there for you whenever you’re ready.”
Really? When I’d barely even begun? “I think it might take me a while.”
Spencer’s gaze was understanding, but then he grinned. “Do you really think they’re going to fire the young woman who saved the local principal’s son?”
“No, but I was only there one day.” If I owned a company, I’d be doubtful of an employee who bails after nine hours.
“Think of it like taking sick leave.”
God, I hadn’t even thought about benefits. This hospital stay must be costing a fortune. The HR people had gone over everything yesterday, but I didn’t even know when the health insurance started—if it even still applied to me.
“Please, Alyssa, don’t worry about any of this. Your job right now is to rest so that you can heal.”
“But—but I can’t even drive.” For the first time, the significance of breaking my right leg washed over me. Then I moaned again.
“What?” Spencer asked.
Feeling overwhelmed, I shook my head, which immediately made it hurt, and I hissed in pain.
“Here.” Spencer handed me the little button that controlled the pain medicine. I pressed it once, but there wasn’t an immediate effect like yesterday. Probably they’d adjusted the dosage.
“Have some of this.” Spencer handed me the lemonade, but I was no longer interested in it. “Drink. As a father and a principal, I’ve learned that cool, sweet drinks make people happier.”
He had a point. I took the glass and sipped the sweet liquid. I swirled the straw and watched the perfectly crushed ice move around in the cup.
“Better?” Spencer asked with a soft smile.
“It’s a start.” My facial muscles felt stiff as I tried to return his smile. It was like I’d forgotten how. While I took another drink, I glanced up at Spencer. I wished he’d pull a chair up. He was so tall I had to crane my neck to see him.
Then suddenly, I got a mental picture of another dark-haired man in a chair. “There was another man here this morning.”
Spencer nodded. “That was my brother-in-law. I had a meeting I couldn’t skip, so he came instead.”
Brother-in-law. Did that mean his wife’s brother? It must—he was a father, of course he was probably married.
My stomach sank a little, which was stupid. I’d come to Lake Boise for my career, not to meet men. But the two times I’d talked to him, Spencer had looked at me like I was someone special. Someone he cared about.
But he must already have someone like that at home. A man like that, someone kind, caring, and incredibly handsome, would definitely be married.
“His name is Raphael. You’ll see him later.”
“I will?” Confusion filled me, and then I remembered we were talking about his brother-in-law. But why did Spencer think I’d see him again?
“Of course you will. You don't think we’re going to abandon you after you get out of the hospital, do you? Which, by the way, they said will be tomorrow.”
“Abandon me?” Between the pain meds and the ache in my head, I wasn’t following this conversation very well.
“You’re going to need help during your recovery, of course. No one expects you to be cooking meals, doing laundry, or making the bed for a while.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I never made the bed. But then a new thought hit me like a ton of bricks. “My apartment’s on the third floor. And there’s no elevator.”
“Not a problem,” Spencer said.
Huh? It certainly seemed like a hell of a problem to me.
“You’re staying with us while you recover.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“You can’t stay by yourself, obviously. And trust me when I say I owe you one.”
“But—”
“You’re new in town, so I figure you don’t know anyone else who can help you. Unless you want to go back home. Your driver’s license said you’re from Colorado. Do you want to go back there once you’ve healed enough to travel?”
Now that I thought about it, that made a lot of sense. I could convalesce, or whatever you called it, at my parents’ house. They’d help me out—or more likely, pay to have someone help me out. Somehow, it wasn’t a pleasant thought.
Then there were Mason and Kylie. They’d be willing to help, but they had classes. Plus, their relationship was new. They didn’t need a third wheel hanging around.
Oh wait, I’d forgotten about Parker and Jude. I guess that would make me a fifth wheel. But I remembered the mad rush of keeping up with my classes last semester, and I couldn’t do that to them.
Besides … moving here was my fresh start. Finally, I was done being a student. Finally, I was a real adult making my own choices. Starting my career. Meeting new people.
This was my chance, and I wasn’t pleased about the possibility of moving back home. “I’d like to stay in town if I can, but I can’t ask you to?—”
Spencer held his hand up and for the first time, he sat on the edge of my bed. His thigh was warm against my good leg, even through the blankets. “First off, you didn’t ask. Secondly, you sure as hell can ask. You can ask me for anything, Alyssa, and if I can give it to you, it’s yours.”
Wow. That had me blinking back tears. Not for his offer, though it was very kind, but because of the love I heard in his voice. Love for his son whom he’d nearly lost.
When he spoke again, his voice was strong. “So that’s settled. Unless you want to charge me with kidnapping, I’m taking you back to our place when they spring you here.
“Now, just one more thing before I let you get some more rest. Your company provided a lot of information when we spoke, but apparently, they hadn’t yet had you fill out your emergency contact form. Is there someone you’d like to call?”
God, I hadn’t even thought about my phone. Had Mason or Kylie texted last night? Or had one of my new coworkers?
Spencer opened the little drawer under the rolling bedside tray and produced my phone.
“Thanks.” I thought for a minute. Probably I should call my parents, but instead, I pulled up Mason’s number. Then, even though my hair was kind of a nightmare, I chose the video option. My half-brother had gone from being largely absent to being overprotective these past few months, and I figured he’d need to see me to make sure I was all right.
Even though our relationship was so much stronger than it had been, it was a bit of a relief when Kylie answered. She loved me as a friend, but was less likely than Mason to overreact. Still, I heard the phrase “I can be on the next flight out” more than once, especially when Mason joined her.
It was tiring assuring them that I was okay. It was tiring just being awake. This was the longest I’d been awake since the accident. I tried to keep up my end of the conversation, but truthfully, I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep.
Spencer seemed to sense this, and I didn’t object when he took the phone from me. Drowsiness overwhelmed me, and I lowered the head of the bed. After the movement stopped, I heard Spencer say, “Lyss is the most amazing woman in the world, and I’m going to take good care of her.”
Those words, plus the warmth of his leg against mine, were comforting enough to set my mind temporarily at ease and allow me to get some rest.