Chapter 29
29
TESSA
Everything was so bright. I blinked, but the world was blurry, and I was tired. Mom was there, talking, hovering over me. I wished she would back up. “Mom,” I said, my words gravelly and dry.
“Rest, sweetheart. We’re so glad you’re okay.” She was crying. “Your sisters are here. They’ll want to come up and see you. And Grant is here. And he’s been calling Val and keeping her up-to-date.”
“Grant?” The word came out like a question, but I wanted him here. In my room. With me.
“Yes, he came down here to check on you. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he had a little crush on you.”
I frowned at the words, but they didn’t matter right now. “I want to see him.”
“Grant?” Mom asked, looking puzzled. “Claire and Nora and Emily are here. They all want to take a turn seeing you.”
I was supposed to agree. I always agreed, but I was so fucking tired and my body hurt and dammit, I wanted Grant. “Grant first,” I said firmly.
“Okay, of course, sweetheart. I’ll go get him.”
“Just him,” I snapped.
Mom nodded and left. My dad took my hand. “I'm glad you’re okay, kiddo. You had us scared there for a little while.”
“I don’t remember what happened,” I said.
“From what we know, you were getting out of your car and Miles Cosset hit you. He says you got out very suddenly and when he hit the brakes he slid into you anyway. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this.”
I didn’t remember any of it. “And I had surgery?” I tried to look down at my body, but it hurt to try and sit up enough to do that.
“Don’t try to move, Tess.” I looked up at the sound of Grant’s voice.
“I’ll give you a minute to talk privately,” Dad said, slipping out the door.
“I’m so tired, Grant. Am I gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, Tess,” he said gently, running his hand along my cheek.
“If I sleep, will you stay here?”
“I’ll do anything you want, but your sister will probably stab me with a stray scalpel if she doesn’t get to come in soon.”
The door swung open and I blinked hard, trying to make my eyes stay open so I could talk to the nurse coming in.
Pain like I was being torn open woke me, and my eyes popped open, a gasp on my lips. “Tessa?” Next to me, Grant’s head sprung up.
“It felt like…something ripped,” I said, anxiety crashing over me like a wave.
“Is she okay? I can get the nurse,” Mom said frantically, jumping up. Grant shifted my gown, revealing bandages over my stomach.
“ What are you doing?” a voice snapped, and I looked toward the door, where the nurse was coming back into the room.
“I’m checking for post-surgical bleeding—” Grant began.
“You’re not her doctor, Grant,” the nurse replied curtly, crossing to the bed and covering my stomach again. “For good reason. When it’s someone you care about, you lose your head,” she grumbled. “You forget things like it’s time for her medications, and of course she’s feeling pain.”
Grant sighed next to me.
“But she’s okay? Should we get the doctor? Grant?” Mom said all in a rush.
Grant shook his head. “Janelle’s right,” he said.
“Thank you,” Janelle said as she scanned my hospital bracelet and a bag of fluid. “That’s why I always liked him. ‘Cause he can admit when he’s wrong. Doesn’t assume he knows more than every nurse.”
“Do you know each other?” I asked.
The nurse—evidently Janelle—smiled. “Course we do. I’ve been at Pine Valley for twenty-two years—probably longer than this one has wanted to be a doctor.”
It was the first moment I realized I may not be at the local hospital. “Pine Valley?”
“It’s a bigger hospital than the one in Cranberry Falls,” Grant explained, referring to the tiny hospital one town over where everyone in Bridgeport went for births and broken bones.
“They flew you here,” Mom added. I looked down at my body, realizing I must be badly injured.
“But you’re okay,” Grant added quickly.
I looked to Janelle for confirmation of this assessment, and she grinned. “You’re doing great, and you’re going to feel much better now,” she said, adjusting the bags that hung above me.
“I should get your sisters,” Mom said. “Everyone will be so happy you’re up.”
“I want to talk to Grant first,” I said.
“Again?” Mom asked.
“Again? Did we—” I looked at Grant. “Did we talk already?”
“You fell asleep last time,” he replied.
“I’ll go,” Mom said with a weary sigh. “Grant, can you come get me when Tessa is ready?”
“Of course, Juliet,” he said, and we watched as she slipped out the door.
“I didn’t tell them anything, Tessa, if you’re worried.”
“I don’t care,” I replied, the words coming out before I had the time to evaluate them. But they were true.
“You don’t care?” he repeated back, clearly unsure of what to make of my words.
“I almost died, didn’t I?”
Grant swallowed hard. “Your injuries were…significant,” he said.
“What happened to me?”
Grant sighed. “Best we can figure, you got out of your car just as Miles Cosset was coming down the road—Val said you needed to move it to the other side of the street? Miles tried to break but he lost control and hit you…” Grant trailed off as if realizing he was sharing too much.
“Did they bring me here in a helicopter?” I threw one hand over my eyes as a realization hit me. “I’ve always wanted to take a helicopter ride and I don’t even remember it.” My nose curled thoughtfully. “Do you think this counts as a helicopter ride? It doesn’t matter. Am I on drugs?” I asked.
Grant blinked twice over his wide blue eyes, then his lips curled into a small smile. He looked down at his watch. “It’s been about four hours, so it’s normal to still be feeling some effects of the anesthesia, and, of course, you’re on painkillers.” His eyes traveled up over my head to where the nurse had fiddled with my IV bags. “Why? What are you feeling?”
I thought through the question a moment. I wasn’t in much pain right this second, though I hadn’t forgotten the terror of that last tearing, burning sensation. My body felt foreign, like someone had sewed a new one onto me while I slept, but, still, I was happy Grant was there. “I think I’m in love,” I replied.
Grant's brow lowered in thought as he shook his head. “That’s not a side effect.”
“Seriously? That’s what you have to say?” I laughed, and pain ripped through my stomach, making me cry out.
“Tess,” he exclaimed, lurching toward me anxiously before catching himself. “You’re fine, it’s normal,” he said, sounding more like he intended to remind himself than me. Still, the words soothed me. I trusted Grant.
“I was saying something.”
“Tessa.” It sounded like a plea.
“I love you,” I said, because I would’ve bet anything I ever had Grant felt the same.
“Of course I love you. Of course.” He clutched my hand, leaning closer as he said the words.
“Mom said I asked for you, but I don’t remember the first time I woke up. Will I remember this?”
“Possibly. The first time you woke up was only about an hour or so post-op.”
I felt so sleepy again. “Have you been sitting out there waiting for me to wake up again for six hours?”
“No. I’ve been sitting here. You asked me to stay with you, so I did.”
“Did you sleep?” He looked unbearably handsome, but also tired as hell, like he’d been wrung out.
“You were in and out, so I mostly stayed awake. I talked to your doctor for a while. His name is Colin Burns. He was my mentor. He’s absolutely brilliant.”
“Is it hard to be here?” I asked.
Grant’s brow knit, making that deep crease he so often wore. “It was only hard because I was afraid I wouldn’t get to talk to you again.” His voice caught, and I squeezed his hand.
“I’m here. Whatever you wanted to tell me, you can say it now.”
He shook his head. “You misunderstand, Tess. I didn’t need to talk to you today, I need to talk to you everyday. I need you.”
I choked on the joke that sat poised on my tongue once more— Did that sound romantic to you? Because this time it did. They were the most romantic words anyone had ever said to me.