Page 80 of Rejection and Redeemed

“Well we’re better off without him. We have proper friends here we can both actually trust,” Jacob said.

“You do indeed,” Robbie confirmed, walking in with Finn.

“Look at you,” Finn said happily. “You look so much better, and yes, we are proper friends.”

“I feel better. Fran said that my breathing was a bit up but that everything else looked fine.”

Robbie looked at the monitor. “And he would be right. I’ll have your bloods checked today. I want to look at your stomach and all being well, once the shower grab rails and stool areinstalled, you can have a shower, on the understanding you come straight back to bed.”

Jacob grinned. “I can do that. Thanks, Robbie, now how about having bacon and coffee?”

Robbie laughed. “Yes to both, but only a small coffee.”

“Yay.”

“We’ll go and sit over there, with our backs to you Jake, then Robbie can check out your stomach,” Joe said.

“Thanks,” Jacob replied.

“Where’s Fran?” Finn asked, as they moved over to the seats.

“Getting showered and dressed,” Joe told him.

Robbie put some gloves on. “Let’s see what’s going on.”

CHAPTER 35

Jacob was happily munching on his breakfast. Lovely bacon on toast with a coffee and a bowl of hot chicken broth. Sure the coffee was in a cup, not a mug, but it was coffee, lovely hot coffee and sure, there wasn’t much bacon, but it was a start.

Fran laughed at him while eating his own full-on English breakfast.

“You can laugh, but look, I have bacon and coffee,” he said, picking up a piece and waving it at Fran, before biting into it.

“You do,” Fran agreed. “And as soon as James finishes putting in the grab rails and stool into the shower, you can have one.”

“Today is a good day.”

Robbie had checked Jacob over and was surprised to see the stomach injury was almost healed. He had disconnected the heart monitor and taken out the cannula, but warned Jacob to wait an hour after eating before having a shower.

Jacob finished his breakfast and flopped back against his pillows. “Okay, how did eating breakfast wear me out?

“Because you’ve been really ill, babe. It will take a few days to regain your strength.”

“Yeah, but just eating? Now my happy bubble just burst.”

Fran patted his arm. “Poor baby. Now you know why Robbie said to wait an hour or so before you try and shower.”

“Yeah, I can see that. Plus, he said he was waiting for my walker to turn up.”

“Hopefully you won’t need it for long, just until your strength returns.”

“Yep. I just need to be patient.” He paused. “When do you have to go back to work?”

“Whenever I want to. I took a leave of absence for personal reasons, I didn’t give them a time limit. I might pop in later as I’ve a lovely patient who is dying that I’d like to see.”

“You can go now if you want, Joe will be up when he finishes breakfast.”

Fran shook his head. “I’ll wait until after your shower, as you’ll probably fall asleep then.”