Room for You (35 page)

“Whoa, whoa. You okay?” Brody reached out and grasped my shoulders.

“Yeah, I just feel a little woozy,” I panted.

“Come sit here, by the window,” my mom said, jumping up as JoAnn reached behind them and cranked the window open slightly.

I leaned my arm on the windowsill and rested my head on it, taking slow, deep breaths of the fresh air that blew inside. The conversation behind me turned into mumbles as I blocked it out, concentrating on nothing but breathing.

“You okay?” JoAnn gently rubbed my shoulders.

I looked up at her and cracked a small smile. “I think so. This day has just been … overwhelming.”

“I’m sure it has.” She sat down next to me. “I think we’re gonna get going—if you don’t need anything else?”

“No, I’m good.” I pulled her in for a hug. “Thank you for coming. It means so much to me.”

She squeezed back, tight. “Oh, honey. No problem, I wish there were more we could do.”

“I think we’re gonna go too.” Mom walked up. “I need to get Lucy home to bed, it’s been a long day for her.”

I hugged my mom and scooped Lucy up in my arms, covering her face with kisses. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, Mommy. If Piper wakes up, tell her I’m not mad at her for getting her blood on my floaties.”

I chuckled. “Okay, baby. I’ll tell her.”

Mom, Lucy and JoAnn made their way to the door, Brody walking behind them. “Thanks for all your help today,” I said as I softly rubbed his arm.

He looked surprised. “I’m not going anywhere, I’m just walking them out.”

“Oh,” my eyebrows shot up, “you’re staying for awhile?”

“Or for the night.” He laughed. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

I didn’t argue, I was glad he was staying with me.

The next morning, my back was screaming at me and my neck was sore. Sleeping on a hospital couch was never comfortable. Ever. I cracked my eyes open as soon as the sun filled the room and peeked at Piper who looked the same. I sat up and stretched, a white blanket slipping off my lap. I didn’t even have to think hard about who covered me.

I looked over at Brody, sleeping on a chair with his feet propped up on the end of Piper’s bed. His hands were locked and resting on his stomach, while his mouth hung open. I didn’t even remember falling asleep last night; the last thing I remembered was him asking me if I needed anything to drink.

Slipping quietly into the bathroom, I washed my pale face and pulled a new toothbrush out of the package that was sitting on the counter. I knew who put that there also.

“How’s our girl this morning?”

I hurried out of the room and saw Dr. Wagner standing next to Piper’s bed. Brody was sitting up, rubbing his eyes with his palms.

“Good Morning.” I walked up next to them.

“We’re gonna take our all-star patient for another CT scan, and we’ll make our further decisions based on that, okay?”

I nodded, still in a daze as a nurse came in and swiftly unhooked Piper from her machines before wheeling her out the door.

“That was fast.” Brody yawned.

“Yeah, we need good news on this scan.” I hugged myself, suddenly cold from nerves.

He tilted his head and brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. “Think positive, I have a good feeling about this one.”

I closed my eyes and leaned into his hand slightly.

“You wanna take a shower?” I snapped my head up, trying to keep from making physical contact with him.

He sighed. “Yeah, I’ll go quick.”

I paced the room nervously while Brody showered, praying over and over for Piper’s body to have begun healing itself already.

The door opened a little while later, Piper’s bed rolling through it. The nurse smiled as she pushed her into the room and hooked her back up to her machines.

“It’ll be just a few minutes.” She offered on her way out the door.

I already knew that, but didn’t bother responding.

Brody came out of the bathroom, freshly showered but wearing the same clothes.

He looked down at himself and shrugged. “Sorry, it’s all I got.”

I laughed. “Have you seen
me
? Trust me, I’m not judging you.”

“You look brave,” he said softly. “You look like a woman whose heart has been ripped open and is bleeding out all over the place, but you’re so damn concerned about everyone else, you haven’t even bothered to take care of your own wounds.”

My eyes stung. “My wounds can wait,” I said in a shaky voice.

Dr. Wagner came back in the room. He was a huge man, easily as tall as Brody and quite built. His black hair had gray speckles around the temples and his Polo eyeglasses balanced on the tip of his pointy nose.

“Guess who’s coming off her sleepy meds?”

“Really?” I clapped my hands together as my heart pounded wildly.

“Really, really. Her CT looked good, swelling went down. We’ll probably keep her one more night just to watch her, but we’re going to wean her off her meds in the next hour. Then it’s up to her to pull herself out. Her brain function looks great, no permanent damage.”

Tears rolled down my face as I lunged forward and hugged Dr. Wagner.

“Thank you, thank you
so
much.”

He laughed. “Thank her, she’s a tough little girl.”

I pulled back and looked at Brody who was wiping his own eyes.

“Okay, Mom and Dad, just hang tight and we’ll get this process started in a few minutes.” Dr. Wagner said.

“Oh, we’re not-”

Brody reached out and grabbed my arm. “Thank you, Doctor,” he interrupted, reaching out to shake the doctor’s hand.

Dr. Wagner narrowed his eyes and studied Brody’s face. “You look really familiar. Have you done any acting?”

Brody smirked and shook his head, giving a quick wave as Dr. Wagner turned and left the room.

He looked at me and wiggled his brows up and down. “Except for when I pretend to be the baby daddy.”

I grinned and shook my head, elated that this horrible ordeal was going to turn out okay.

A jolt of pain shot through my neck as I lifted my head to look at my phone and check the time.

Who the hell is banging on my door at 7:15 in the morning?

I pushed myself off the couch and rubbed my eyes as I slowly walked toward the door.

“Open up, Brody,” Andy bellowed from the other side.

I opened the door and almost fell back as he marched past me.

“Since when do you put your deadbolt on? I don’t have a key for that,” he accused.

“Sorry,” I followed him into the living room and lay down on the couch, “my brain is a little fuzzy.”

He sat back on the leather chair across from me. His face was tight and I could tell he was anxious. “Where have you been? I called you all day Sunday and yesterday. You never returned my calls.”

I’d spent the last two days at the hospital with Kacie and barely even looked at my phone.

“I was up north. I got home late last night, really late.” I yawned.

“Oh. I thought you were just dodging my calls.” His tone relaxed slightly. “Up north? You two seeing each other again?”

“No, I don’t know. It was a crazy weekend.”

He frowned and blinked at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

“I went to the charity event with Shae on Saturday, then went up north Sunday to try and talk to Kacie. We barely started talking and there was an accident with one of her daughters.”

His eyes grew wide. “What happened?”

“Some asshole in the lake was driving his WaveRunner around like a dick and came in too close, ran her over.” My heart raced as I thought about that moment all over again … Piper on the ground with blood under her head, the pure fear splayed across Kacie’s face as she stared at her daughter. Lucy curled up in my arms covering her face from the events unfolding around her. I would give anything to be in a room alone with that guy for ten minutes.

“Holy shit.”

“Holy shit is right, it was intense. Beyond intense.” I rubbed my eyes with my palms, trying to force the images out of my head.

“Is she okay?”

“She has a concussion and she looks pretty beat up, but she will be okay. She woke up yesterday and the first thing she asked for was ice cream.” I chuckled. “She’s going home this morning.”

“You didn’t stay up there to take her home?”

My stomach tightened. “I wanted to, but I didn’t want to push Kacie. I’d already been there for two days and she thanked me over and over for it, but I’m trying to give her space, especially now with this stuff with Piper. As bad as I want to force her to talk to me, Piper needs her more.”

Andy sighed and locked his hands on top of his head, looking up at the ceiling. “Listen, about all this Kacie stuff … I just want you to know I don’t blame you for going off on Blaire, or for firing me.”

“I’m glad you understand about Blaire, she deserved it.” I looked him straight in the eye. “And I’m sorry about the firing thing, but I can’t have her interfering with my personal life because
she
thinks I need to concentrate on hockey. I won’t let that happen.”

“I know. I get it.” He sighed. “I’m not worried about the money part, Brody I just hope that we’re okay.”

“You and Blaire?”

He laughed. “I couldn’t give two shits about how Blaire and I are at the moment. She has some major work to do on herself or I’m taking the kids and I’m gone. I told her that.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “You did?”

A sly smile spread across his face as he narrowed his eyes. “Yep, you would’ve loved the look on her face.”

“Hmm, a shocked Blaire? I’d pay a lot of money to see that.”

“That face wasn’t nearly as good as the one she made when I told her we had to put the Vail house on the market to make up the difference in losing your contract.” His head fell back on the chair as another laugh escaped him.

A twinge of guilt rolled around in my stomach. “About that … I know a couple young guys just graduating college who are looking for agents. I’ll send them your way to make up for it.”

“I’m not worried about it, really. I have money stashed that she doesn’t know about. We’re fine, financially.” His eyes darted nervously around the room before settling on mine. “I just hope that
we
are okay.”

“Andy, my boy, we’ve been best friends for almost twenty years. It’s going to take something bigger and badder than Blaire to scare me off.”

Nodding and smiling contently, he looked at his watch. “Shit, I gotta get to work.”

I stood and followed him to the door.

“Please tell Kacie I’m so sorry about what happened. Keep me posted, if you guys need anything.”

“I will, buddy. Thanks.”

He shook my hand and disappeared down the hall.

I worked out with Viper … checked my phone.

I took a shower … checked my phone.

I made myself dinner … checked my phone.

Kacie brought Piper home from the hospital at some point today and I was really hoping she’d call or text and let me know how it went. Was she all settled in? What were they doing right now? Did they need anything? Not knowing what was going on, and not being there to help out was killing me.

I thought about that morning out on the back deck with Sophia when she told me about Kacie’s past and asked me to be patient with her. Patience wasn’t my problem, I was in no rush to move on, there were no other women, nor would there ever be now that I knew Kacie was out there. Patience I could do, but how the hell could I win her over if she kept pushing me away?