“See you tonight.” He rushed out of the room before I could throw myself on him again.
I rolled on my back and watched the fan blades spin. This is the part of life when responsibility was supposed to kick in. I got that. Grey was trying to make sure we could afford our rent. He had to keep the Palm from falling to pieces, and all I wanted to do was spend the day in bed. It wasn’t my most mature moment. I had to learn to savor the moments we did have. Like our bodies moving together in perfect unison. I sighed. He was incredible. I shook out my clothes from the pile we had made on the side of the bed.
I needed to focus on a new snowbirds marketing campaign. Grey would be here tonight, and we would be spending it together. I giggled, hopefully naked.
I checked my phone every ten minutes for a text from Grey. He said he would let me know about our dinner plans. It was almost five, and I still hadn’t heard from him since he ran out of the bedroom.
I worried the enormity of the envelope Mason had dropped on him was starting to sink in. No amount of sex could cure that problem. I folded my laptop and placed it in the storage closet. I didn’t like leaving it out on the desk. I switched the AC off and locked the door behind me.
Grey’s truck wasn’t at the house. I jogged up the stairs, and let myself in. I decided to go ahead and take a shower. It always took me three times as long to get ready. I might as well get started.
I checked my phone again after the shower, after my makeup routine, and after I finished drying my hair. It was six o’clock now, and the alarm bells were starting to ring in my head.
Normally, I wasn’t a worrier, but I hadn’t been able to shake this odd feeling all day. I tapped his number and waited for him to answer. The call went straight to voicemail. I was ready to hit redial repeatedly, but my phone started ringing.
“Marin?”
“Hey, Grey’s hurt.”
“What?” I sat at the kitchen table. My hands started to shake.
“He’s at the regency medical center. There was an accident when he was on the roof. Do you need me to come get you, or do you know where it is?”
I grabbed my purse. “No, I’m on my way.” My voice cracked. “How bad is it, Marin?”
“He’s going to be ok. I think it’s just his leg. One of my mom’s friends is a nurse there, and she called her. When they first brought him in, he was knocked out.”
“Oh my God.” I dared the tears to form in my eyes. I had to see to be able to drive. Crying was not an option.
“Are you sure you can drive? I can come pick you up.”
“No, no.” I shook my head, and I cranked the ignition on my car. “I’m headed there right now. Thanks for letting me know.”
“I’ll check on you two later. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will.” I pulled onto the highway and pressed the accelerator fiercely. Grey was hurt and I had to get there.
“Miss, are you next of kin?” The nurse behind the station kept repeating herself, but I wasn’t looking at her. I searched the curtains behind her for some sign of Grey. “Miss?”
I nodded. I would lie and promise my firstborn, too, at this point.
She typed something into the computer and double-checked her findings on a clipboard. “He’s in curtain five.” She pointed around the corner.
I didn’t wait for the play-by-play cues. I took off in the direction of the next set of curtains.
There was a crack in curtain five, and I peered through the slit before slipping inside the makeshift emergency room. Grey was asleep. His foot was wrapped and his leg was suspended in the air.
I wiped a tear that had snuck its way onto my cheek. The curtained cubicle was small, but there was one chair. I pulled it as close to the side of the bed as I could and sat.
Two hours later, Grey’s eyes fluttered open. I smiled and clutched his hand.
“Grey?”
They closed with zero recognition. I sighed and returned to my strained posture. There was an IV dripping something into his arm. Whatever it was, it must have been strong enough to keep him asleep for a while.
My eyes began to burn, but I didn’t dare venture out for coffee.
One of the nurses pulled the curtain to the side. Her name tag said Darlene.
“How’s he doin’, honey?” She retracted a clipboard from the plastic bin over Grey’s head.
“Should he be asleep this long? He hasn’t been awake since I got here.” I looked at the clock. That was now four hours.
“It’s the morphine.” She chuckled. “He’s probably happy to be sleeping through this.” She pointed to the contraption rigged around his leg. “We just got the green light to move him to a room.”
“He has to stay the night?” I didn’t know what was going to happen, but a full hospital stay wasn’t on my radar.
“He needs a day with this leg, and then I think he’ll get discharged tomorrow. Don’t take my word on that.” She returned the clipboard. “Just a guess.”