Page 71

JEN

I DID EVERYTHINGI could to keep the nurse from leaving my room. I didn’t want to be alone. I think she figured it out, and so she busied herself with adjusting the blinds, fluffing my pillow, making sure my water pitcher was full, and pausing to make idle chitchat. Where was Tyler?

“Don’t worry, Jen. He’s on his way. I know someone went to tell him which room you were in since they wouldn’t allow him to follow you to radiology. Do you want me to help you wash up or brush your hair?” She seemed nice, but she wasn’t who I wanted right now.

I shook my head. I didn’t want anyone to touch me just now. I felt dirty, inside and out, but I didn’t think I could handle the touching.

Except from Tyler. Where was he?

I rolled to my side and drew my feet up to my chest under the white covers.

“How about another blanket? It’s a bit chilly in here, don’t you think? The linen closet is just next door.”

“No!” I almost shouted. “I mean,” I stumbled, “I’m fine. I . . . I, um, do you think you could close the blinds? The sun is sort of putting a glare on the TV.”

She moved to do as I asked. The poor woman must have been blessed with the patience of Job considering I had just asked her two minutes ago to open them to let in more light.

“Knock, knock,” a voice called. Tyler walked into the room.

The sight of his handsome face, the concern in his brown eyes, and his tender smile had me sitting up and reaching for him. I’d had too much time to reflect on what happened during the time it took to take the x-ray and get settled in a room. I was barely able to hold back the hysterics as he hurried to me. The nurse slipped quickly out the door.

I’m not sure who held on to whom tighter. I absorbed every last drop of his comfort, sometimes crying silently, sometimes not so quietly, but eventually I got it out of my system. He whispered over and over how much he loved me. We stayed curled up together on the narrow hospital bed for several minutes before I sat up a bit and asked him to help me wash. I craved being clean as I remembered how Mark’s hands felt on my body, not to mention other parts of him.

There was a shower in the bathroom, and some nurses had brought me some samples of shampoo and a bar of soap. Tyler gently helped me wash since my hand was bandaged. It smelled a bit antiseptic, but at least it was clean. I watched as he moved the soap carefully over my body. I supposed I was lucky; there weren’t many marks on the rest of my body except some faint bruising near my ribs where I had been shoved roughly against the kitchen counter.

We returned to curl up on the bed, using up every inch. I was still shaken by the events, but I was surprised how much calmer I felt after a good cry and the shower. Was that normal after such an event? I wasn’t sure how I should be feeling right now. Wrapped in Tyler’s arms, I felt safe. Perhaps I wouldn’t later, I didn’t know.

Tyler hadn’t spoken much, other than to soothe me with words of love or to tell me random bits about staff members who sent their well-wishes while I was getting x-rayed. I knew he was being considerate, but the elephant in the room wasn’t going to go away by ignoring it. “You can ask me about it, Tyler. I won’t break, not with you here with me. And I need to know what happened to . . . to him. Did the police arrest him?” I shivered. Maybe I wasn’t as calm as I had thought.

Strong arms tightened around me. “Don’t worry about him, baby. He can’t hurt you. He’s in surgery right now,” Tyler answered tersely. “That’s all I know. I didn’t bother to ask about him.”

“Oh.”

Tyler’s chin dropped onto my shoulder as I rested my back against his chest. “What are you thinking?”

My thoughts and memories were moving at such high speed I was thinking of everything and nothing all at once. “I don’t know. I feel sort of numb at the moment.”

At that moment, a quiet knock sounded, and Alex poked his head around the partially closed door. “Can we come in?”

A dark head pushed past him and hurried to my side. “Jennifer Marie Mitchell, I’ve been so worried about you! Are you really okay?” Her sympathetic eyes matched her tone as she pulled me in for a long hug.

“I will be,” I answered. “But I have a lot I need to tell you.” I couldn’t meet her eyes as she pulled back.

She grabbed both of my hands. “Listen, when you’re ready, you can tell me anything. I’m always here for you. But for now you only need to know how much I love you.”

Alex set a vase full of pink roses on the table next to my bed. He reached around his wife and framed my face in his large hands. “That goes double for me. You’re family now, and we’ve always got your back.” He kissed the top of my head.

I couldn’t find the right words to say to them. I had underestimated everyone who had ever cared about me. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I love you both, too.”

Tyler never stopped touching me the entire time our friends were there, and now he used his hand at my waist to pull me back into his embrace.

Alex looked between the two of us and took his wife’s hand. “We’re going to head home now that we know you’re in good hands here and will be okay. But you call us if your needanything, no matter what or when.” He squeezed Tyler’s shoulder while Kayla blew us both a kiss and they left.

Only a minute had passed when a uniformed figure stepped into the room. “I’m sorry to intrude Miss Mitchell, but I need to ask you some questions.” He glanced at Tyler. “I need to speak to you again, too, Dr. Cranston.”

“I’ve already given my statement, and I think she’s too tired—”

I rested a hand on his arm. “It’s fine. I’d rather get it over with so I can start to put it behind me.”