Forty-Three
Ameila
B eep. Beep. Beep.
Why won’t anyone turn that alarm off . . .
“I love you, sweetness. I need you to wake up.”
Why does Luke sound so sad? Why does my body hurt?
“You heard the doctor, man. Give her some time. She’ll wake up soon.”
“I know.”
I try to open my eyes, but nothing happens. Maybe after a nap . . .
When I try to wake up the next time, my eyes are still heavy, and I can’t tell if I can move my fingers and toes.
Why am I so cold?
“You said you found her in one of her tanks?”
Wait . . . Who is that?
“Yeah, Dad. It was the spare one she took the fish out of when she put them back in the other tanks. She just didn’t drain it yet. She used a piece of wood to kind of half prop herself up. It was smart as fuck.”
“Sam just told me he’s on his way. You need to go home, son, so you can shower and sleep. You don’t want her to wake up and see you not taking care of yourself.”
“I’ll shower here. I don’t want to leave until she wakes up.”
I feel Luke’s warm hand in my cold one, and I want to tell him I’m okay.
“She will. You just have to give her time. She’s strong, but you have to take care of yourself to help take care of her.”
Without opening my eyes, I find the energy to say, “You should listen to your dad because you kind of smell.” My voice sounds scratchy.
His chuckle is music to my ears. “If you open your pretty eyes, I’ll go home and take a shower.”
I open one eye slightly but quickly slam it back shut. “It’s too bright. Where am I?”
“I’ll go get the doctor. It’s good to see you awake, Amelia,” his father says as he dims the light before walking out the door.
“Doctor? Why do I need a doctor?” I ask, confused when something touches my lip.
“Take a sip. Do you remember what happened?” he asks, and I shake my head. “There was a fire at the farm. You were hurt, and you’ve been unconscious for four days.”
He leans over and kisses my forehead, and a lightness takes over my body.
Wait, four days?
“What happened? And who was that?”
“That’s my dad. But what’s the last thing you remember?” he asks.
Before I can answer, the doctor walks in.
“Good afternoon, Amelia. Glad to see you up. My name is Liz, and I’m the doctor on duty today. How are you feeling?”
“My throat and arm hurt, the light is bothering me, and I kind of feel like I got hit by a truck, but I’m alive,” I say honestly.
She goes through her exam and asks questions along the way. “Well, you’re looking really good, considering. I’ll keep you one more night because of the smoke inhalation and the concussion. Someone will be back in a few to check in on you. Do you have any questions?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Perfect. Well, I’m here if you think of anything.” She pats my arm and walks out.
Even though I just woke up, I’m already ready for a nap.
“Sleep, sweetness. I have a feeling the whole crew will be ready to knock down the door tomorrow once you get home.”
“Yeah, right. Pam will be here before visiting hours are over. Wait, who has the animals?” I say with a yawn.
“My mom is at the house with the animals. I’m pretty sure Penny loves my mom more than me. Sleep, baby.”
The machines start beeping faster as my heart rate increases. “What do you mean your mom is at my house? The house isn’t clean enough for your mom to stay there! You have to go home right now!”
“Hey, I need you to take a breath, sweetness. Everything is okay. Pam knew you would freak out, so she cleaned before they came in. I promise everything is taken care of. Now go to sleep so I can shower.”
He gets up to go shower, and I squeeze his hand to hold him in place. “Fine. Hey, Luke?”
“Yeah, sweetness?”
“I love you. I know I don’t remember everything yet, but one thing I remember clearly was that other than leaving the animals, my one regret would be that I never told you how I feel.”
The nerves kick in as he stares at me.
Shit, does he not feel the same?
“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same, I just wanted—”
His mouth is on mine, swallowing the rest of what I was going to say. Slowly he starts to pull away and rests his forehead on mine.
“I love you too, sweetness. Now go to sleep before Pam gets here.” He kisses my forehead before moving back toward the bathroom.
Happiness fills my chest hearing him say those words.
“Okay,” I say through a yawn.
I don’t remember everything that happened, but I’m alive, and I can piece together everything else after I rest my eyes for a little bit.
I don’t know how much time has passed when I hear Pam in the hallway.
“Luke, I will kick you in the nuts if you don’t let me in there. I waited an hour, and I’m not waiting any longer.”
I snicker at the attitude in her voice. To be honest, I’m shocked she waited at all.
“I know . . . I just don’t want to wake her up just yet.”
“She has a concussion. She needs to be woken up anyway. I’m a nurse, I know these things. Don’t make me not like you anymore.”
“Fine.” I can hear the smile in his voice, and I love that he isn’t mad that she didn’t wait. He knows he can’t stop her from coming in here.
“Bitch, I can tell you’re awake. I don’t know who you think you’re fooling,” she says with a hitch in her voice.
When I open my eyes, tears are welling in hers.
“No tears. I’m fine,” I tell her and adjust the bed to a sitting position.
“You can’t tell me not to cry! I knew something was wrong, and I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out sooner. I think Noah is on his way to get your official statement, so I won’t make you tell me now. But I’m glad you didn’t die. You know I wouldn’t have let you rest in peace, and I know how much you like to rest, so you wouldn’t have been happy if I had to do that.”
I chuckle at the thought. “I’m fine. Although I’m already over this cast,” I tell her as I lift my arm. “I can’t get comfortable.” Something catches my eye on the cast, and I can’t stop the snort that comes out with a cough close behind it. “Did you and Sam do that?” I say, pointing to the penis with the words You a Ho next to it.
“It must have been Sam. I would have never done that,” she says as the corner of her mouth turns up into a smile.
“Knock, knock.”
We both look to see Noah and Luke standing at the door.
“Sorry to barge in, I know you’re tired, but I need to see if you can tell us what happened if you feel up to it. Before visiting hours are over,” Noah asks.
I look at Pam because I can feel her staring at me. She tilts her head, asking me if I’m okay with it. I shake my head slightly and shrug, letting her know I couldn’t care less when it happens. She narrows her eyes like she thinks I’m lying, and I smirk.
“Why do I feel like we’re missing something?” Noah asks Luke.
“Sam says they have silent conversations . . . I’m guessing that must be what we’re witnessing.”
“They aren’t twins, right?”
“No, we’re not,” we say at the same time and laugh.
I slide over as Pam sits in the bed next to me, and Luke takes my hand as best as he can with the cast on.
“I’m really glad you’re okay, Am,” Noah says as he runs a hand through his hair. “You had us worried for a minute. Can you tell us what happened?”
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. While I napped, bits and pieces started to come back to me. I’m trying to figure out what was real and what I think I dreamed.
Leo’s wild look and Brian’s bloody body just lying there. With those two images, everything starts flooding back.
“I need to know. Are they alive?” I look at each of them, but I can’t read their expressions.
Noah speaks up first. “Leo didn’t make it, but Brian did. He won’t be able to talk himself out of this one.”
I have mixed feelings about hearing that news.
“Don’t you dare feel bad. Those fuckers are lucky Sam and Luke even helped them out of the building,” Pam says, and I look at Luke because I’m kind of shocked they helped him.
He just shrugs one shoulder. “Leo was awake. Legally, we had to. I just sent two guys in to grab Brian while I carried you out.”
“Makes sense. Well, you guys know I went to Farmer Joe and Ann’s house for dinner. As I was leaving, I got a couple of alerts back-to-back that the door for the new section was opening and closing. So I texted Pam to go let Penny out and feed the animals and that we would walk Penny when I got back.” I pause as I remember how scared I was, and Luke squeezes my fingers.
“Take your time, Am,” Noah says.
“I remember getting out of the car, leaning into the back seat, and putting my hoodie on. Then I went inside and checked the alarm and doors. The next thing I knew, I woke up to Leo looking at me. He had completely lost it, he said it was my fault he lost his job. He told me I could stop playing around and move back to DC with him. He admitted to being the one messing with the water at the farm. Then Brian showed up and told me the plan was that Leo was going to destroy my life, and he was going to come in and save me. That was his plan to win me over in his mind. Then they fought, and Leo shot him. After that, I played along, and when I saw an opening, I fought back. I was able to make it to the main section of the farm and push the panic button. He caught up to me and told me that if I wasn’t going to go back with him, I could burn with him.” I shiver at the thought of what happened next. “He dragged me back to the construction area and cuffed me to the chair. When he blocked the last door, I hit him with the chair and knocked him out. I started to panic because I didn’t know how to get out, but then I ran into the spare tank I had set up when the water levels were an issue. I climbed in, and that’s the last thing I can remember until I woke up.”
“That was smart climbing in there, baby. It wouldn’t have saved you from the smoke inhalation, but it would have protected you from the flames.”
I look at Luke and smile.
“He’s right. You did what you could. I wish we could have gotten to you sooner, but I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t want you to worry about it, but I’ll have this typed up and sent over to your insurance company for the claim. I think I heard Wayne say he won’t charge you for the labor for the repairs.”
I close my eyes, thinking about everything that still needs to be done because I hate paperwork, and this whole thing screams paperwork.
Knowing exactly what I’m thinking, Pam says, “Hey, Abby and I have already started the process with the paperwork, and Luna and Kristen have started cleaning what they can to take stock of everything to speed up the process. Don’t worry about anything just yet, we got your back.”
I don’t have words to express my gratitude for everyone. I’m so lucky to have them in my life, and I don’t know how I’ll ever pay them back for this.
“Well, visiting hours are just about over. So I’m going to head out. I’ll swing by in a day or two to check in,” Noah says as he stands to walk out the door.
Pam turns to Luke. “Do you want me to stay tonight so you can go home and hang with your parents?”
“No, they know I’m here as long as Am is.”
“Ugh, fine, I’ll go since Luke hogs you.” She rolls her eyes but laughs. “I’m really glad you’re okay. You aren’t allowed to die before me,” she whispers in my ear.
I give her a half hug and whisper, “Love you.”
“Love you more,” she whispers back. “Now press the medication button because I can tell your head is bothering you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll see you tomorrow though?”
“You bet your sweet ass you will. You’re stuck with me forever.”
As they both leave, I look at Luke and ask, “What did they leave out?” Because I know I didn’t get the full story.
“Not much. We discovered that Leo and Brian were the ones setting the fires around town, and one of them set a fire at my and Sam’s rental, which is what delayed our response to the fire at your farm.”
I just blink at him. “It was them the whole time? What the actual fuck?”
“Yeah, that’s what we were able to piece together from Brian’s statements.”
“I’m so sorry, Luke. All your stuff—”
He brings a finger to my mouth to cut me off.
“Is just that . . . stuff, sweetness. I mean, I had everything of importance over at your house already. Guess this just means you’re stuck with me longer.”
“Darn,” I say and then laugh with a grimace.
“Go to sleep, sweetness. We can figure everything else out later.”
“Okay, bossy.”
He stands and goes to turn off the light.
“Luke?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Can you sleep in the bed with me?”
He smirks. “Try to keep me out. Scoot over.”
I scoot to the other side of the bed as he carefully slides in so he doesn’t touch my wires. I know I’ll be woken up in a couple of hours because of the concussion, but I feel more at ease than since I woke up.
“Love you.”
“Love you too, sweetness. Now go to sleep,” he tells me.
I rest my head on his chest and fall asleep to the beat of his heart and him playing with my hair.