Chapter 41 – RHETT
RHETT
Ipeel out of the lot and wind my way through the back way they have for us that avoids all the postgame traffic. I go to her hospital when I don’t actually know if she’s there. I’m going based on an assumption and praying to god that I’m right.
I park nearby and jog into the ER because I have no clue where else to go. “Hi, I’m here to see Dr. Quinn Reyes. She was in an accident.”
The woman behind the desk blinks at me. “Are you family?”
“Um—”
“He’s with me,” someone calls out from the open double doors. I glance up to find a nurse with curly brown hair up in a ponytail and warm brown eyes. “Rhett, you can come with me. I have to bring this patient in, but it’s okay.”
I don’t ask questions, and she clearly knows who I am. She called me Rhett. Not Coach or Jones or anything else. Does she know about Quinn and me?
I follow her inside the patient area of the ER, which is bustling. She’s pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair. I hate it here. My parents died in the ER after a car accident so to say I’m not functioning well with being here after my girl was in an accident is an understatement.
“Mrs. Hart, how are you feeling?”
The woman glances up and over her shoulder at the nurse with a dour expression. “Oh, not so good, dear.”
“What’s bothering you today?”
“It’s my foot.”
“Your foot?” the nurse questions. “Which foot?”
“Well, my toe.” She holds up her left leg that’s encased in a tan compression sock and a white sneaker.
“Did you hurt it?”
She shrugs and clutches her bag that’s sitting on her lap tighter. “I can’t remember, dear. At my age, I’m lucky if I remember to put on underwear.”
I hold in my snicker, and the nurse throws me a grin and a wink.
“We’ll get you all fixed up.” She wheels her into a curtained area and helps her up onto the bed. “The doctor you saw yesterday is here, and he’ll be in with you in a bit. Another nurse is going to come over and check your vitals, and then we’ll get you registered.”
The woman pats the nurse’s hand. “Thank you so much. You always take such good care of me.”
“Of course.” She pulls the curtain closed around the gurney and nods her head for me to follow. “I swear, she’s here more than I am. Anyway, I’m Braelyn. I’m one of Quinn’s best friends.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Braelyn. Quinn’s told me about you.”
I get a cheeky grin. “And she’s told me about you. Come on.” She waves her hand over her shoulder, then points to the elevator by the nurse’s station. “I’ll take you up to her, but you should know her family is there too.”
I swallow and nod as we step onto the elevator. “How is she?” I swallow thickly. “Can you tell me? Please,” I tack on, unable to hide my desperation.
“Not technically, but I will because Quinn would want you to know.”
I nod my head but I’m barely holding it together and something about how she said that has me even more afraid than I was moments ago.
“They have her sedated,” she starts as we ride up. “She came in after the accident with a bad concussion and some internal bleeding. It was touch and go for a bit, but we got her up to the OR.” She pauses. “They had to remove her spleen.”
I gasp and cover my face with my hands, shaking in a way I never have before. “Can she live without that?”
“Yes,” she tells me gently. “Many people do. The surgery was successful, and from that standpoint, she’s doing very well.”
My hands drop to my sides, and I stare at her. “What does that mean? From what standpoint is she not doing well?”
Her lips twist ruefully. “We’re watching her head injury closely. Her intracranial pressure or ICP as we call it, went up when she was under anesthesia. It’s not uncommon for that to happen, but that's why we have her sedated. We’re giving her medication to bring it down.”
My hands go to the top of my head. “Intracranial? As in her brain? The pressure in her brain?”
“Yes.”
Jesus fucking Christ. I can’t even…
The elevator doors open, and I charge out, needing to move, unable to breathe in the elevator where the walls were closing in on me. I pace to the wall and kick it before I drop my arms to it and bury my head.
“You love her, don’t you?” she says from behind me.
I twist my head and peer down at her. I haven’t even told Quinn yet. Not really. I’ve told her that I was falling for her, but it’s not the same. Still, right now, there’s no holding anything back.
“Yes. I love her.”
She smiles softly. “Good. I think she loves you too. She has a glow.”
A glow?
“Sky?” Braelyn calls out, and a blonde woman who looks familiar walks out of a patient room. “This is Rhett. He’s in love with Quinn. He just told me.”
Great. She’d better not hear it from them before she hears it from me.
Her eyes brighten as she takes me in. “Yes, we’ve met. I was at training camp.”
I blink. “Right. Oh, you’re the one who had the baby. Valentine, isn’t it?”
She beams. “Yes. You’re good. I like you.” She juts a thumb at me and talks to Braelyn. “I definitely like him. His son sucks, but he’s a keeper.”
“Totally,” Braelyn agrees.
Jesus. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone.
“What’s the family status?” Braelyn continues.
“They’re in the waiting room,” Skylar supplies.
“They had to do some stuff in her room, and they kicked the family out for it, but I made them let me stay because I can be scary when I want, and my mother works here. Anyway, I told the family I’d get them when she was ready, so I can give you a few minutes before I do that. ”
“Really?”
“Yep. Go on in. It’ll be good for her.”
“Thank you,” I say to both of them, oozing gratitude. I go straight into her room and practically collapse when I see her. “Quinn, baby.” My voice catches, and I choke on tears.
She’s whiter than the blanket covering her. She’s in a gown but has tubes and wires coming out of her, including from her mouth and neck area.
She’s not breathing on her own. Is that normal?
I go over to her, unsure where to touch her or even if I can. I settle for her hand, which is like ice. I hold it in mine, trying to warm her up.
“You have to get better, okay? You have to wake up and sass me when I tell you what a fucking mess I was.” I wipe a tear from my cheek. “I’m not going to say it. I told your friend, but I’m not going to tell you until you wake up. That’s how this works.”
A noise behind me stirs me away, and I see Skylar there. Right. The family is waiting to come back.
“Will she wake up?” I ask and wipe more tears.
“We don’t know anything for sure yet, but she has good reflexes. They’ll try to lower the sedation a bit tomorrow, depending on her ICP, and then we’ll know more.”
“Okay.” I don’t know what else to say. I can’t take my eyes off her. And I sure as hell don’t want to leave her. I want to climb in bed with her and hold her all night.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “The family needs to come back in. They’re anxious to get back to her.”
“I understand. I would be too.” I kiss her cheek beside the vent and reluctantly let her go. I feel like I’m dying. Like every step away from her is a herculean effort.
“You can come with me,” she instructs and leads me out a different door than the one I came into the ICU through. “Are you going home?”
I emit a humorless laugh. “No.” I can’t. She’s not in my bed, and I can’t be in it without her. “I’ll… I don’t know. I guess I can’t go to the waiting room.”
This sucks. This sucks so fucking badly.
“There’s a group of us, of her people, who are camped out in an empty patient room down the hall in the step-down unit. It’s a big floor over there. There’s another room I can put you in.”
“Do you work here?”
She smirks as if I don’t get it. “No. But I’m Skylar Fritz Davenport Hughes, my mother is Rina Fritz, and she more or less owns and runs this floor, and anyone who messes with me—or any of us for that matter—would be the stupidest person on the planet.
Even if we are breaking about ten thousand hospital rules and regulations. ”
I grin at her. “Now I know why you and Quinn are so close. Thank you, Skylar. I would really appreciate that.”
“No problem. Just don’t hurt her or I’ll hurt you.”
I step into a sterile room with a made bed, a rolling cart, and a bathroom, feeling so out of sorts that I hardly know what to do with myself. I spin back around and meet her eyes. “I’ll never hurt her. Not ever. Thank you for this.”
“Give me your number. I’ll text you so you’ll have mine, and I’ll give you Brae’s too because she’s staying the night.
I have to leave in a bit. Valentine is too little to be here, so I have to go home and be with her, but feel free to text Brae for updates, and she’ll let you know when you can sneak back in. ”
Sneak. Great.
We exchange numbers, then she leaves, and I’m all alone in a hospital room when the only place I want to be right now is down the hall with my girl.