Chapter 43 – QUINN
QUINN
“Quinn? Can you hear me?”
“You’re shouting in my face, Katy. Of course I can hear you.”
She laughs. “Welcome back. Are you in any pain?”
I lick my lips, which are dry and cracked. My throat is straight fire and extremely raw. My head hurts. That’s for sure. I’m achy. And weak. God, I’m so weak.
Slowly, I blink my eyes open. “What happened? There was an accident.”
That’s about all I remember. I got hit from behind. That’s all I remember though. After that, it’s nothing.
Katy’s face comes into focus, and I blink a few more times to adjust to the light though it isn’t sunlight. It’s dark and cloudy outside, but I can’t tell what time of day it is because of that. “You were in a car accident on Sunday. You came in with a concussion and a splenic laceration.”
I frown at two of those things. One, the way she said Sunday as in past tense. Two, splenic laceration.
“Did you do a splenectomy?”
She nods, her expression clinical yet slightly apologetic. “Had to. I did a laparotomy. Sorry. You were crashing, and we had to get in fast. No time for a laparoscope.”
“Awesome,” I deadpan. Though I suppose it could be a lot worse.
“Your scar is healing well with no signs of infection. We have Penicillin VK for now, but you’ll have to follow up with your doctor after discharge to discuss a daily course of them because, as you know, your risk of infection goes up in the first few years after splenectomy.
” She sits on the bed beside me and takes my hand.
“Your ICP also went up in the OR. We gave you hypertonic saline, and it helped, but we kept you sedated for twenty-four hours before we lowered it. It took you a while to wake up from that.”
I close my eyes, not even attempting to move yet. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday at six thirty a.m.”
Okay. So I lost almost two days. Again, could be worse. I half-smile. “Are you just coming on or coming off?”
“Coming on. I came in early to check on you because your nurse texted me that you were moving and following commands. She thought you were going to wake up at any second and she was right.”
“You’re a good cousin.”
“You scared the shit out of us. Thankfully you’re not my cousin by blood so I was able to do the surgery. I wasn’t letting anyone else in that room. We kept your privacy as much as we could.”
“Thank you for that. I appreciate it more than you know.”
I get a wan smile. “I’ve been there, so I do know. Your family has been in and out.” She pauses. “And someone else has been here.”
I look at her. “Who?”
I get a you’ve been holding out on me eyebrow. “A certain seriously hot coach. I’m not supposed to know he’s been here. The hot older guy from the bar.”
I frown slightly. “Does my family know?”
“Only that he stopped by to check on you, your brothers, and dad. He sat in the waiting room with them for a bit and pretended to leave.”
I release a heavy breath and wish I hadn’t. Fuck that hurts.
“Yeah, I bet that doesn’t feel good. I’m going to examine you, but press this.” She hands me a clicker with a red button on the end, and I hit it, giving myself a bolus of whatever pain medicine they have me on. Bring on the drugs. “Neuro will be in during rounds to look at you.”
“Joy. Nothing like being part of rounds as a patient instead of the doctor.”
She smirks. “I think it’s safe to say you’re neurologically intact, as is your sarcasm.” She stands and pulls her stethoscope off her neck. “Ready?”
Katy examines me, which is no walk in the park. I have a gnarly scar that she looked at beneath the dressing, but it appears to be healing well.
“I guess I won’t be wearing any two-pieces for a bit.” That makes me frown as if I’ve already heard someone say that, but I can’t place it.
“Why? Fuck them,” she tells me. “I had a C-section that wasn’t so pretty, and I plan to wear my bikini next summer.”
I love that, and I smile. She’s right. Fuck them.
She tells me she’s going to have my nurse get me up today, and I can already say I’m not looking forward to that, but I do want to get up and not only get rid of the catheter in my bladder but get out of here.
It’s going to be a long recovery, and I’m not looking forward to all the mothering my mother will do. Not to mention everyone else.
But I’m lucky to be alive.
My family has been here. And so has Rhett.
Neuro rounds on me, and I receive a lot of residents' pitying glances and show-off responses. But the attending deems my ICP stable enough for me to get up and declares my cognitive function intact after doing a full neuro workup. Thanks for that.
Finally, they remove my catheter, and the nurse works to get me up.
“Do you want to sit in your chair?”
“Sounds thrilling.”
She laughs lightly. “Sit like this for a minute with your legs dangling over the edge of the bed. Your heart rate went up a little, but your BP is holding firm. Let’s give it another minute so you don’t get dizzy.”
“This sucks.”
“I know,” she says gently. “Today will be hard. Tonight you’ll feel worse. By tomorrow afternoon, you’ll be feeling stronger, and we’ll have PT and OT come in and work with you. Hopefully by Thursday or Friday we can get you home.”
“That would be lovely.”
“Any dizziness?”
“A little,” I admit sheepishly. “But I still want to try.”
Knock, knock. Both of our heads swivel toward the doorway, and Rhett is standing there too handsome for words, despite the fact that he looks absolutely wrecked.
I scowl. “When was the last time you slept, Coach?”
He chuckles and runs a hand through his hair. “Glad to see you’re back to your old self of sassing me.”
“You look rough.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “You do too. But beautiful. May I come in?”
“Sure.” My stupid heart rate is going up on the monitor, and I sigh, glaring balefully at it. “Traitor,” I murmur, making both him and my nurse laugh.
“They don’t allow flowers in the ICU,” he says apologetically even as he eyes the nurse.
“Nope. It’s a clean environment here.”
“I’ll have to wait till you’re home to get you some then. Can I do this?” Rhett questions.
The nurse looks unsure, but I give her a nod. “I know what I’m doing,” I reassure her. “I can guide him, and he has no problems lifting me if I get into trouble.” Though the thought of him picking me up and the subsequent pain that would come with that almost have me in sympathetic tears.
“Hit the button if you need anything.” She leaves us, and Rhett sits beside me on the bed.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” I reply and slowly—because just lifting my arm requires way more strength than it should—I touch the purple skin beneath his glasses. “Seriously. When was the last time you slept?”
“I’ve gotten a little. I’ve also gotten used to sleeping beside you so…” He clears his throat. “I heard you were awake from one of the nurses. Your family isn’t here yet, but I’m sure they will be soon. How are you?”
I put my head on his shoulder. “I’m better now.”
His hand comes to my back, which is exposed from my open gown. Oops.
“Is my ass showing?”
He chuckles. “Not really.” His hand glides down to the top of it, but instead of doing anything inappropriate, he moves the fabric to cover me up. “Quinn…”
“Yeah?”
“I…” He sighs. “I’m so happy you’re awake.”
“I know.”
“No, baby girl, you don’t.” He releases a tense breath. I can tell he has a million things on his mind. A million things he wants to say. Finally, he sags and says, “Let me help get you up. That’s what she was doing, right?”
“She was going to help me to the chair.”
“Let’s do it. How do I help? Coach me.”
He gives me a dimpled smile, and I smirk at him when my heart rate goes up on the monitor.
“You have such a thing for me.”
I laugh only to wince. “Don’t make me laugh. That hurts.”
“I’m sorry.” He kisses my forehead. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
“Stand sideways beside me and hold out your left arm. I’m going to use it to help myself up, but I can already tell I’ll need help, so your right arm will need to band around me. Don’t pull me up. Just support me and help if I need it. We’ll need to go slow.”
“Got it.”
“I might make noises of pain because I’m positive this will hurt despite the medication. Don’t freak out and don’t release me.”
“Shit. Okay, I won’t.”
“Good. On three.”
His arm comes out and I grasp it to pull myself up, but it’s a total motherfucker of an event. He ends up gripping my right hip from behind my back to help me stand. I hold onto him for a minute, neither of us moving. My head is spinning, and a wave of nausea takes hold.
Panic strikes him. “You okay? Do I need to get the nurse?”
“No. Just give me a minute. It’ll pass.”
“You sure because your blood pressure and heart rate are flashing on the monitor?”
“I’m orthostatic. It’s not uncommon right now.”
“Ortho—what?”
“Never mind. Just keep holding me for another minute.”
“Baby, I’ll hold you for a lifetime. Forever even.”
Despite the pain and the nausea and the dizziness, butterflies set flight in my stomach. “Don’t sweet-talk me when my ass is showing.”
He kisses the top of my head, amusement dancing in his voice. “I’m holding your gown closed. No one can see what’s only for my eyes.”
“This sucks.”
His lips plant into my hair, and he holds me closer.
“I know. But you’re alive. God, Quinn, the things that were going through my head.
Your friends, Braelyn and Skylar gave me an empty patient room, and I’ve pretty much camped out there other than when I had to go to the field.
They were kind enough to put up with my constant texts requesting updates.
I was so scared you weren’t going to wake up. ”
I kiss his chest since that’s where my face is. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“It made me realize…”
“What?” I force my head up to see his face.
He stares into my eyes, but instead of speaking, he inches in, and his lips brush mine. “We can talk about it later when you’re all healed up.”
“Probably smart. I’m not sure how much more I have in me.”
He grimaces. “I’m sorry. Let’s get you into the chair.”
With his help, I shuffle four steps, pivot, and slide down onto the large recliner. My eyes close, and my head leans heavily back.
“Can I get you anything before I have to leave? Your family will be here any second.”
“I’d marry you if you got me ice chips.”
He grins against my lips. “I’ll bring you a fucking ice maker then.”
“Sounds—”
“What the hell is this?!”