Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
B rielle stared at the landline sitting on the rollable table next to her bed, willing it to ring. Her family had finally gone home, but now rather than just being annoyed, Brielle was growing restless and worried.
Ryan hadn’t come back. It was Wednesday, and Ryan had never come back. She knew he had work. She knew he needed to take care of himself, but surely he could have at least called.
“Does he even know my room number?” Brielle slumped against the pillows without an answer. If he wanted to talk to me…he would find a way.
Those words had been parading through her head a little too smugly, and it was killing Brielle to not be able to push them away completely. She’d tried standing up to her sister, which had mercifully sent Aurora into a huff and driven her from the room yesterday.
But Brielle’s mother had been harder to push away. The woman had hovered and pretended to care, all while warning Brielle that her faith in a man who flirted with someone like Aurora was only bound to bring her heartache .
“Fully aware, thanks, Mom,” Brielle muttered to herself sarcastically.
“Fully aware of what?”
Brielle cracked one eye open. “Nothing.”
“Muttering under your breath isn’t ladylike,” Mrs. Underwood snapped. She threw the magazine on the tiny couch. “How much longer did they say they were keeping you here?”
“They said she can go home tomorrow,” Brielle’s dad mumbled, his eyes on his phone. “They’ll put her foot in a cast and let her go, provided she has help.”
Her mother sighed. “I suppose that means you’re going to have to move back in with us.”
Panic hit Brielle so hard she thought she might throw up then and there. “Uh, no,” she rasped. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be just fine.”
Her dad managed to glance up from whatever sporting event he was watching. “Doctor’s orders.”
“But-”
“Tell me you missed me!”
All heads swiveled to the door, and Brielle’s jaw dropped.
“Aspen?”
Aspen stood in the doorway with a cake box in her hands and Austin just behind her shoulder. When Maeve poked her head over Austin’s shoulder, Brielle’s open mouth turned into a wide smile.
Aspen sauntered in. “We heard you’d been locked up.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “I’ve heard sugar will fix everything.”
“Aspen,” Mrs. Underwood said with a tight tone. “You know Brielle shouldn’t eat that…garbage. She struggles with her weight as it is.”
“Which is exactly why I brought it,” Aspen said with a wide grin. “Cake should never be viewed as a necessity. It’s a luxury, pure and simple.”
Maeve darted to Brielle’s bed, grabbing her hand. “I’m so sorry we didn’t know,” Maeve said softly, her eyes filled with tears.
“No, no, no,” Brielle hurried to say. “You’re so busy with Antony. I get it.”
Maeve winced when Brielle’s mom screeched in anger, then gave a sheepish grin. “Aspen and I came to play decoy.”
Brielle frowned. “Decoy? What do you mean?”
“What’s going on in here?”
“Crap,” Brielle said before she could think better of it. This was all they needed. Why couldn’t Aurora have stayed gone?
Maeve rolled her eyes. “Your sister is horrid.”
“I know.”
“Aurora!” Aspen cried. “You’re just in time!”
“If you think I’m putting one inch on my hips with that disaster you call food, you can think again,” Aurora declared, putting her hands on her hips.
“I’m not worried about your hips,” Aspen said saucily. “Sugar, however, does wonder for bratty personalities. I really think you need a dump truck full.” Austin choked on a laugh.
“Hey, now,” Brielle’s dad stood and finally decided to make a stand. “I think maybe things have gotten out of hand.”
“Did someone call fire?”
Brielle pinched her lips between her teeth to keep from laughing. She had no idea what her friends were up to, but Gavin, a friend and firefighter, standing in the doorway with arms folded over his massive chest was an intimidating picture, if a person didn’t realize he was a big softie.
“Definitely not!” Brielle’s mom shouted. “What are you all doing here?”
Gavin grinned and stepped to the side. Felicity, Gavin’s wife, waved with a handful of balloons. “We heard our friend was hurt.” Ignoring Brielle’s parents, Felicity came in and tied the balloons to the bed railing. “Thought we might brighten up the space a little.”
“This is all too much,” Brielle said, her voice breaking. “How did you guys even know I was here?”
Felicity smiled. “Just wait. We’re only wave one. ”
Brielle sank back into the pillow, exhausted, and confused, but feeling happier than she had in days.
“You have no right!” Aurora shouted.
“And you do?” Aspen shot back.
“What’s going on in here?” A nurse stood in the doorway, glaring at the loud group. “Why are there so many people here? We don’t tolerate fighting around our patients.”
Aspen quickly pointed at Aurora. “She started it.”
“What?” Aurora screeched. “You’re insane! I’m family. I belong here.”
“Yeah?” Aspen challenged. “If you’re family, then why are you keeping Ryan from talking to Brielle?”
Brielle jerked upright. “What do you mean she’s keeping him from talking to me?”
Aurora tossed her hair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The nurse pointed to the door. “I think you all need to leave. You’re upsetting my patient, in fact you’re upsetting the entire floor. Everybody out.”
“I’m her mother,” Mrs. Underwood declared. “You can’t kick me out.”
The nurse looked at Brielle. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven.”
The woman nodded firmly. “Do you want your mother to stay?”
Brielle bit the inside of her cheek. The whole room seemed to be holding their breath.
“Really?” Her mother declared. “After all I’ve done for you?”
Brielle looked at her dad who was shifting his weight and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, her sister who appeared ready to spit, and her mother who acted like the world owed her a living. None of them brought love or happiness into this room, yet thirty seconds of her friends had brought smiles and joy to Brielle that she hadn’t experienced in days. “I’d like my family to leave.”
For one split second, a pin drop could have been heard, but then Aspen whooped loud enough to wake the dead, and Brielle slammed her hands over her ears.
“Sorry,” Aspen whispered, covering her mouth and laughing.
Brielle laughed back. “It’s fine,” she said. “I kinda liked it.”
Ryan poked his head around the corner, then jumped back. Mr. and Mrs. Underwood, followed by an irate Aurora, were leaving the hospital room, their squawks being ignored by a tough nurse who shut the door and stayed put so they couldn’t go back inside.
Ryan grinned, chuckling a little to himself when the Underwoods then began to argue at the information desk about going back in. He shook his head. Why they pretended to care, he couldn’t guess, but it didn’t matter. Brielle’s friends had obviously done their job, and in a moment, he’d head inside.
His fingers twitched against the vase of flowers he was holding and his feet shifted, desperate to go inside and see her again. Pursuing Brielle meant that he’d end up dealing with the family for a long time, but he was willing to do anything to get back to her.
The last few days had been miserable, and he couldn’t do it again. Their relationship might have started off rocky, but they’d been working to figure all that out. Geez, he’d spent the night twice with her. There was no choice now, but to move forward.
Yeah…maybe don’t tell the mother that.
“Let’s go folks!” Gavin’s voice boomed. He was in his firefighter clothes and looked official as he ushered the Underwoods out of the area. “She’s an adult,” he explained several times. “She has control here.”
Ryan waited to the count of twenty after they left before moving from his hiding spot. He nodded politely to the nursing staff who were watching him with wide eyes as he headed to Brielle’s door.
His stomach was dancing a jig, and his heart was picking up speed as he thought about seeing her, about kissing her again. He should have come right away. He should never have let it get this far.
He adjusted his hold on the flowers, then pushed down the lever. “Knock, knock.”
He heard a gasp, followed by some quiet giggling as he walked in, flowers first. Poking his head around the bouquet, he grinned at Brielle.
“Ryan?” Her face was flushed, and her eyes were full of tears. “You came.”
He swore right then and there that he would never let this much time go between visits ever again. “I came.”
She sniffed and scrubbed at her face. “Ugh. I hate crying.”
Ryan walked over and set the flowers on the rolling stand by the bed, grabbing a tissue. “You’ve been through a lot in a very short amount of time,” he reassured her. “I think a few tears are perfectly normal.”
Brielle snorted and wiped her face with the tissue. “I’ve cried enough.” She glanced up from under her wet lashes. “I was beginning to think you’d abandoned me.”
Ryan clenched his jaw, gripping the bed railing. “Never.”
She shrugged. “Well, what’s a girl to think when you leave and never come back?”
“Brielle…” Maeve said wryly, rolling her eyes.
Ryan jerked a little, forgetting that the whole team was watching his reunion. Heat crept up his neck, and he rubbed at it uncomfortably.
Brielle laughed a little. “Actually, I heard that maybe my family had something to do with it.” Her face blushed again. “I’m so sorry.”
“Nope. Absolutely not!” Aspen all but growled. “You will not apologize for those ninnies.”
“Ninnies? Really?” Austin drawled, he grinned when his wife smacked him.
“What I haven’t figured out,” Brielle said, clearing her throat. “Is how you got everyone here?”
Ryan made a face. “Yeah…that was a bit tricky. But I tracked down Aspen at the cafe.”
Aspen smirked. “And I took it from there.”
Ryan shrugged. “She’s kind of like you. A force to be reckoned with.”
Brielle laughed. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”
“Hey!”
Brielle smiled at her friend. “You know I love ya, Aspen.”
Aspen blew Brielle a kiss, then clasped her hands. “Okay, folks. I know I’m the one who started this big ole party, but our work here is done. We should head on out and let these two have some alone time.”
“I heard they might have had too much alone time,” a deep voice came from the doorway.
Ryan tried not to squirm under Gavin’s glare. The guy was huge and a first responder. He hadn’t been there when Brielle had been rescued, but Ryan discovered the guy had heard about it through the grapevine.
Gavin raised an eyebrow and looked at Brielle. “Do I need to grab my shotgun?”
Brielle dropped her head back. “Gav…seriously?”
“Come on, Brute Squad,” Felicity declared. “You’ve tortured enough victims today.”
“Someone has to watch out for her,” Gavin muttered, letting his tiny wife push him to the door. “Her dad sure doesn’t.”
Ryan grabbed Brielle’s hand when he saw her deflate. They might have been joking about her family earlier, but there was no way it didn’t hurt to have them be such jerks. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Ryan would have never understood just what she’d been through all these years.
Maeve gave a shy wave from the doorway.
“Wait.” Brielle reached out, and Maeve walked back, her eyebrows raised. “Is Antony still here?” Brielle asked softly .
Maeve gave Brielle a sad smile. “Yeah. He’s only one hallway over, actually. This is the recovery wing, so you aren’t too far apart.”
Brielle nodded sadly. “Will you tell him I said hi? Not that it’ll mean much, but maybe…”
Ryan squeezed harder.
Maeve nodded. “Sure. I know he remembers you, so I’m sure it’ll be great.” Sniffing a little, Maeve spun and walked quickly after the rest of the group, disappearing quietly through the doorway.
Brielle laid her head back against her pillow, looking exhausted. Slowly, she turned to Ryan. They stared at each other for several long moments. “Hi,” she whispered.
Ryan smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. “Hi.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “I missed you.”
She laughed softly. “I missed you too.”
“I’m sorry it took me a bit to figure out how to get in here.”
She shrugged and adjusted herself in the bed a little. “It’s fine. I’m sure you were busy.”
Ryan shook his mouth and started to respond, but the stupid door opened yet again and a very unwelcome voice pierced their momentary peace.
“I knew it!” Aurora’s lip curled in disdain, and she put her hands on her hips. “I knew that whole thing with the stupid ape guy was all a ruse.”
“Aurora,” Brielle groaned. “I told you to leave.”
Aurora raised an imperious eyebrow. “Since your supposed friends are more concerned about giving you bigger hips than your health, I decided it was up to me to save you.”
Ryan saw red, but Brielle beat him to the punch.
“Oh? And what were you planning to save me from?”
Aurora grinned. “A two-timing jerk, of course.”