Chapter 33 - Callie
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Callie
A low, rhythmic beeping echoes in my ears, pulling me from the warm darkness. My eyelids flutter, and I open them slowly, wincing a little at the brightness in the room. I try to speak, but the words come out in a garbled mumble.
“It’s okay,” a soothing voice says. “You’re alright. You’re in the hospital, and we’re taking very good care of you.”
A woman’s face comes into view. Light brown skin, high cheekbones, and a gentle smile. I’ve never seen her before. “Callie? Can you hear me?”
I try to answer, but my body is heavy and everything is a little hazy.
My eyes move around the room, taking in the details.
The soft knit blanket covering me. The pale blue scrubs the woman is wearing.
The machine in the corner that’s beeping in time with my heartbeat.
My tongue feels like it’s coated in sandpaper, and my throat hurts when I swallow.
“Let’s try a little water.” The kind woman helps me sit a little more upright and places a small plastic cup of water in my hand. I lift it to my lips, and the cool liquid slides down my throat like a balm. I drain the cup.
“Would you like some more?” she asks.
I nod, the fogginess already clearing a little, though there’s a dull ache in my head. I take a few more sips. “I’m in the hospital,” I repeat, my voice raspy from not being used.
“You are.” the woman nods. “My name is Camila. I’m one of the nurses who’ve been taking care of you.”
“What happened?”
“You were injured when the tornado hit. Do you remember it at all?”
Like a key to a door, her words unlock a flurry of color and sound as it all comes rushing back to me. Peaches and the farmhouse. The sirens. Jim Bann’s suspenders. The freight train.
Camila must notice the way my body stiffens. She pats me on the forearm. “You’re safe now, Callie. You suffered a traumatic brain injury, but you’re going to be okay.”
I nod even though a dozen questions flood my thoughts. “How did I—”
“Callie?” Mabel cuts me off, standing in the doorway, with a hand pressed to her chest. “You’re awake?”
I barely have time to blink before she flies across the room and flings herself at me. “Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re okay.” She’s crying now, and even though I don’t fully understand, I’m crying too. I wrap my arms around my cousin, squeezing her tightly.
“I’ll go let the doctor know that you’re awake.” Camila gives me a little wink, shutting the door behind her as she leaves.
“Oh, Callie. I’ve been so worried about you.” Mabel pulls back, giving me a once-over as if she can’t believe I’m sitting in front of her. “Jensen and I both have.”
Jensen . The monitor in the corner dings as my heart rate speeds up. “Where is he?”
“I sent him home a little while ago to take a shower and eat something. He hasn’t left your side in three days, and I thought he needed a little break.”
“Three days? I’ve been out that long?”
Mabel squeezes my hand. “When the tornado hit the farmhouse, you hit your head pretty bad. There was some swelling that the doctors were worried about. They kept you medically sedated for a while to give your brain some time to heal.”
I can tell from the expression on her face that she’s given me the CliffsNotes version. The dark circles under her eyes and her pale skin tell another story entirely. “I’m sorry I scared you, Mabs.”
Tears well up in Mabel’s eyes. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“What about Peaches? Ms. Dorothy? I remember looking for her, worrying that she might be outside. Is she . . . ” I trail off, scared to finish my sentence.
“She’s fine,” Mabel hurries to reassure me. “She wasn’t home when it hit. She’s been by to see you a few times. She brought you those.” She points to a vase of sunflowers sitting on the small table by the bed. “And Peaches is okay, too. Sutton’s been watching her.”
“Oh, thank God.” Relief surges through me. “The farmhouse?”
“It’s gone,” Mabel confirms. “Most of Main Street, too. It’s too early to say definitively, but Sully says it was probably an F-3.”
Bile rises in my throat. An F-3. The Fujita scale only goes up to five. “That bad?”
“Dayton Springs isn’t going to be the same for a while.” Mabel gives me a sad smile. “But the people here are made from tough stuff. We’ll rebuild.”
I swallow, letting the weight of her words settle over me. It’s a lot to take in. “What happened after the tornado hit? How did I get here?”
“Jensen. He got you out before the farmhouse completely collapsed.” Mabel squeezes my forearm. “He dug you out of the rubble with his bare hands.”
“He did?” My throat aches as I process this.
My brain is quick to conjure up an image of Jensen digging through the remnants of the decimated farmhouse to get to me, and it nearly cleaves me in two.
It’s all too easy to imagine the panicked look on his face as he tried to find me, probably thinking the worst. Bile churns in my gut, and for a moment, I think I’m going to be sick.
After everything he’d been through when Kasey died, I can’t imagine what must have been going through his head.
My heart aches for him, for the man I’m so desperately in love with, I can barely stand it. “Oh, Jensen.”
Mabel says something, but I don’t hear her.
The pain in my chest has spread, and the dull throb in my temple from when I woke up is now a mighty pounding.
I have so many questions, but right now the only thing I want is Jensen.
It’s the only thing that can make me feel better, the only thing that can soothe the aching in my chest. I need to see him, need to feel his steady presence next to me.
I rub at my temple and blink away the tears pricking the corners of my eyes.
Relief, worry, shock, pain—all of it washes over me in waves.
The overwhelming reality of what happened hits me with such force, it’s almost hard to breathe.
“Are you okay?” Mabel asks, her brows knitting together. “Are you in pain? Do you want me to track down the nurse?”
I shake my head, even as the tears roll down my cheeks. “No, I’m okay, I just need—”
The door to my room swings open. I expect to see Camila and the doctor, but Jensen limps in, his hair still damp from a shower.
He’s leaning on a single crutch, wearing a light hoodie and a pair of jeans.
His skin is pale, his brow creased with worry, but when his eyes find mine, they spark to life. “Callie?”
The sight of him standing there is such a relief, all I can do is cry as he rushes over to my side, dropping the crutch to reach for me. His arms go around me, crushing me to his chest, and his familiar scent floods my nostrils making me cry even harder.
He holds me for a long time before finally pulling back, his own cheeks wet with tears.
“I was so worried about you.” He cups my cheeks and leans in, pressing a kiss to my forehead, to both of my eyelids, my nose.
When he gets to my mouth, he brushes his lips across mine so gently and tenderly, it makes me want to weep all over again.
I want more, so much more, but Jensen pulls away and takes a step back. I’m confused by the distance he’s put between us. I look to Mabel, but she must have slipped out to give us some privacy.
“What’s wrong?”
Jensen shakes his head, his face lifting with one of the most beautiful smiles I’ve ever seen. “Absolutely nothing. I just needed to make sure this was real and not some trick my mind is playing on me.”
It’s then that I notice the pallor of his complexion, the lines of exhaustion carved into his skin.
“Come here,” I whisper, reaching for him.
He lets me tug him closer and sits down next to me on the bed.
I take his palm and place it against my heart, beating so fast, I’m pretty sure someone is going to come running soon thanks to that stupid monitor I’m still attached to.
“I’m here, and I’m okay. Because of you. Mabel told me you got me out.”
A shadow crosses Jensen’s features. “I blamed myself. I thought it was my fault you got hurt because I asked you to go check on Peaches. The whole time I was looking for you, digging for you underneath all the debris, I thought I’d never find you.
And if I did, I thought you’d . . . ” he trails off, anguish etched in his features.
“It wasn’t your fault.” I slide a hand up to his face. “You got me out, and I’m here. I’m okay.”
“When they told me about your condition, it crushed me. All I could think about was the what ifs, and I knew that if I lost you, I’d never recover.
I couldn’t handle it, so I left.” Jensen lets out a deep and heavy sigh.
“But I realized that I have to stop punishing myself for things outside of my control. I don’t want to spend my life full of guilt and regret.
I don’t want to run from the things that make me happy because I’m scared of losing them. ”
He leans in, pressing his forehead against mine.
“So, I came back, and Callie, I swear to you, I’ll never leave your side again.
I’m so sorry that I left, so sorry that I haven’t always been the man you needed me to be.
If you’ll let me, I promise to spend every day of the rest of my life making it up to you and showing you just how much you mean to me. ”
“You’re already everything to me,” I breathe out, needing him to understand. “I don’t want anything but you. I don’t need you to be anything other than who you are. All the messy, imperfect, but wonderful pieces. I want them all. I want you, Jensen.”