“Of course not Leah. Why would you think that? I just felt so guilty I wasn’t here with you when it happened. You were stuck in that car and in so much pain while I was at some dumbass party. I should have been here with you,” he growls out. “I’m sorry. I just….seeing you laying here so frail…just took my breath away. I needed to be here for you and I wasn’t.”
I raise an eyebrow at him, “And is that all?” He runs a hand over his face, “Of course Leah. What else would there be baby?” I struggle to get the right words out and swallow over the rawness of my throat. “I just remember talking to you right before it happened Chase and I heard all of those girls with you. I just couldn’t keep my mind off of what could be happening. And then one of the times I was awake I heard you saying something about what you had been doing when the accident had happened. My mind right away went to you being with another girl.”
“Leah how could you…I would never…” his voice trails off as he looks like he’s trying to compose himself. He takes both of my hands in his and kisses each of my fingers slowly. “You’re the only girl for me Leah. Ever. I see myself spending the rest of my life with you. I don’t even look at other girls Leah. I just felt so bad that I wasn’t here for you when it happened. I told you to depend on me and you couldn’t.”
Well obviously I jumped to conclusions. I couldn’t see Chase doing something like that to me anyways, he just wasn’t that type of guy. “’Kay Chase, I believe you. But you have to understand you can’t be with me all the time. I wish you were but I know that’s not possible. This wasn’t your fault,” I whisper as I rub light circles across his palms.
He stands up and leans down to place a soft kiss on my lips. I feel his warm full lips move slowly against mine before he pulls away. “I should get going babe. You need your rest.”
“No Chase please stay. I need you to be here.”
He grins at me before sitting back down and grabbing onto my hand, “I was hoping you would say that. I just didn’t want to push you. I was just gonna go down to the waiting room and try to catch a quick nap anyways.”
“Come here,” I gently tug on his hand. “You look like you haven’t slept in days,” I pat the small spot beside me. “You sure Leah? I don’t want to bump your leg.”
“Just be gentle.”
He slides down the guard rail and in next to me, lying on his side as he curls his arms gently around me. I turn and bury my head in his chest breathing in his scent and relax in the comfort of Chase.
“Go to sleep baby, you need the rest,” he says as he kisses the top of my head. I feel the rise and fall of his chest and can hear the sound of his light snoring within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. My eyelids feel heavy too after only being awake for a short amount of time. I drift off to sleep feeling safe wrapped in Chases warmth.
I wake up the next morning when a nurse comes into the room, her nametag reads Molly as she checks over me. “Hi sweetie, glad to see you up,” she says in a quiet voice. “You gave everyone quite a scare, especially this one,” she gestures towards the still sleeping Chase who’s wrapped around me, clinging to me like he’s afraid I’ll disappear.
“Well everything looks good. Think you could try eating something this morning?” My stomach loudly growls at the question and I instantly feel how starving I am. “Yeah I think I can start with something small.”
“’Kay sweetie, I’ll call down to the kitchen and have something sent up to you. As long as you can keep that down, you should be out of here around noon. I’ll bring a wheel chair up and help this handsome fella get you situated.”
“Thank you,” I whisper trying to keep my voice down so I won’t wake Chase. A wheelchair? After seeing the cast on my leg I didn’t even stop to think how much it would affect my life. How was I going to work? I don’t think Gino will find much use for his waitress with a broken leg. My final exams for the semester were coming up too. Wait they said I had been here for….four days. I count out on my fingers and flop my head back on the pillow with a groan. I’ve already missed half of the school week. And Caleb. Who could take care of a three year old with a cast on? That one seemed most impossible.
“Stop,” I hear a muffled voice say from my pillow. “Stop, what?”
“I know what you’re doing,” Chase says as he sits up and rubs the back of his neck. I’m sure the position he was sleeping in wasn’t comfortable at all.
“And what exactly am I doing oh wise one,” I ask as I rub my hands over my face trying to figure out how I’m going to get around with a cast.