I nod, thinking the less I talk, the faster it will be. Just then, the curtain jerks open and I see my dad standing there. He’s got on an old T-shirt, faded sweats, and his eyes are red like he’s been crying. He must have gotten woken up out of bed to come here.
“Dad,” I say softly, and there’s a crack in my voice.
“Lo.” He rushes to my side and holds my face as he looks me over. “Are you okay?” He turns to look at the doctor. “Why is my son strapped down?”
“He was attempting to run out of the room before we had a chance to fix him up,” the doctor answers without looking up. “He was a danger to himself at the time, but I believe he’s calm enough now to undo them.”
He loosens the straps and then hits a button for the bed to sit up so that he can adjust the sling and put it in place.
“Son, what happened?”
“Celeste, I need to get to her,” I say, ignoring his question.
“Okay, I’ll take you to her just as soon as they’re finished. What are your injuries?”
The doctor tells him about the cut and my three fractures. As my dad listens, his hand finds mine and squeezes. When he hears the part about being in a sling with minimum mobility for eight weeks, he looks at me, and his eyes are so sad.
“That’s the end of rowing this season,” he says with finality. There’s no disappointment, just regret that he has to be the one to tell me.
It’s strange because a few months ago I would have thought my world was ending, but now it wasn’t even my first—or tenth—thought since the accident.
“It doesn’t matter,” he says, reading my thoughts. “All that matters is that you and Celeste are okay.” He turns to the nurse. “Can you please bring him a wheelchair?”
“Dad, I'm okay, I can walk.”
“You’re my baby boy, and you’ve just been in a horrible car accident that could have taken you from me. If I say you’re getting in a wheelchair, you’re getting in a goddamn wheelchair.”
The nurse ducks her chin as she hides her smile and then turns to leave through the curtains.
“Okay,” I agree, seeing that going along with this is going to make it go faster.
“I love you so much, Lo.” He leans down and places a kiss on my forehead. “I can’t lose you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I reach up with my good arm and hug him close.
There are a lot of things we need to talk about, but seeing him like this reminds me that I’m always first for him. That comes with tangled strings every now and then, but at the end of the day, he’s always in my corner.
Once my arm is wrapped, and they’ve gotten me into a sling, the nurse comes in with the wheelchair. “I’ll take you to her,” she says, and my dad helps me off the bed and into the seat.
We have to take an elevator up a level to where Celeste is being treated. When the doors open, I see her floor is marked Trauma. My stomach twists as she pushes us to the second door on the right, and I see my love in the hospital bed.
“Celeste.” I jump out of the chair before anyone can stop me and go to her side.
“Apollo,” she cries and reaches for me. “I was so scared. When I woke up in the hospital and you were gone, oh god, I thought—”
“Shh, I’m here. I’m right here, beautiful.” On the other side of her bed is her mom, and she wipes away the tears on her cheeks.
“Who is her doctor?” I hear my dad ask, and I turn around to see him talking to Celeste’s mom. She says something, and my dad shakes his head. “No, I’ll take care of it.” Just then, another nurse walks in the room, and my dad takes out his cell. “I want Dr. Yadkin on this, he’s the number one brain surgeon in the country.”
“Rory, it’s not necess—”
He cuts Anna off by holding his hand up. “She’ll have the best. End of discussion.” Someone must answer on the other end of the phone, because he starts barking orders. “Yes, get him here right away.” Then there’s a pause. “Doesn’t matter what it costs, you get him here within the hour or I’ll have this hospital turned into a gas station.”
When he hangs up the phone he comes to the other side of Celeste. He’s quiet as he gently takes her hand. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thank you,” she answers softly before she turns to face me. “Your arm,” she says as she just now notices. “What happened?”
“Nothing, just a few bumps and bruises. I’ll be fine.”
“The doctor on call said Celeste had a grade three concussion and they want to rule out brain injury.” My dad moves to stand beside Anna, and for a moment she looks at him before she bursts into tears and falls into his arms.