An hour—it took them another fucking hour to bring her up. As soon as they rolled her in, I rushed to her side. I was having trouble keeping my distance as they transferred her onto the bed.
Her eyes were barely open, she had a white tampon-looking thing in her nose, and she had slight bruising under her right eye. I moved my gaze over every inch of her face and her body, but other than that, I couldn’t see anything wrong with her. She looked tired and worn out, but she seemed to be okay.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as soon as the guys who had brought her in left the room.
She reached for my hand, and my goddamn heart skipped a fucking beat. I grabbed it with both hands and held on tight.
Her eyes were suspiciously wet. “I feel really tired. My head hurts and my stomach is stinging, but I think I’m fine. How did it go? What time is it?” she croaked, her voice barely audible.
I brushed her messy bangs out of her face and leaned down to press a lingering kiss on her forehead.
“You took ten years off of my life, Rose,” I whispered right next to her ear, resting my temple against hers. “I don’t know how you’re going to pay me back for this, but you better think of something.”
She tried to frown, but even that she couldn’t manage fully. “What? What are you talking about?”
“You’ve been in surgery for seven, almost eight hours.”
“Oh. It’s been that long? I didn’t realize.”
She slowly lifted her hand, which still had a little needle taped to it, and gingerly touched the side of her nose.
“There is a tampon in there, I think,” I commented unnecessarily.
Her eyes darted around the room and spotted Raymond a moment later. “Oh, Ray. Hi.” She paused as if waiting for the right words to come to her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.”
Ray.
I gripped the bedrail, wondering what the hell was wrong with me that all of a sudden I was acting very unreasonable, especially since it wasn’t the first time she had called him Ray.
He stepped forward with the damn balloons, and Rose’s smile got wider.
“You brought me balloons? Thank you so much.” She looked up at me. “Jack, he brought me balloons.”
I hadn’t brought her shit. I gave Raymond another murderous look.
“They’re not from me, I’m afraid,” Raymond started. “I dropped by your shop before I came here, and Sally wanted me to get them to you so you could see them when you woke up. How are you doing, kiddo?”
I relaxed further at Raymond’s nickname for Rose and watched as her smile got all wobbly. “I’m okay, I think…a little dizzy, and I feel a little off. My head hurts…did I say that? Still better than what I expected. I must look like hell,” she mumbled and tried to chuckle, the sound nothing like her warm laughter.
I squeezed her hand, and her eyes came to me as I softly said, “You look beautiful.”
She groaned, trying to sit up a little straighter. “Uh oh, I really must look like hell.” She looked back at Raymond. “Jack’s usual compliments are more like You look awful, You look tired, You look like hell, or You look like a mess.” I scowled at her and she flashed me a small and tired smile. “Did I miss any?”
“I’ll give you new compliments you can add to your list as soon as you’re out of here. Don’t worry.”
“Thank you for trying to make me feel better.”
Raymond’s suppressed laughter got my attention, and I looked up from Rose.
He patted her leg, two gentle thumps. “He isn’t lying. For someone who just came out of a seven-hour surgery, you look great. I’m going to leave you two alone. I just wanted to say hi and see how you’re doing.” His eyes met mine. “If you need anything, I’ll be waiting close by.”
I nodded and, after another look at Rose, he left.
Her eyes were starting to close on their own, but when I gave her hand a gentle squeeze, she turned her head toward me.
“Jack—”
“How are we doing?” An older red-haired nurse named Kelly walked in, and she started checking Rose’s blood pressure. “Everything okay?” she asked with a generous smile.
“I think so,” Rose replied.
“Your blood pressure looks good. Let’s see if you have any fever.”
“Is the doctor coming?” I asked, and she turned her smile toward me.
“He’ll be here soon enough. We need to start another IV on you, so you can just sit back and relax now. If you have pain, I’ll get you a painkiller after you have your dinner. Sound good?”
“Okay.”
“You don’t have a fever, so that’s great. I’ll come back and check everything every hour. Okay?”
The nurse walked out, and Rose’s head rolled toward me on the pillow. “Hi, Jack.”