"I promise I’ll bring stuff next time,” she says. “How are you feeling?"
"Okay,” I say and then look at Quinn. “He hounds me a lot." I hope that maybe if I tell his mother, she will make him leave. “I told him to leave."
"Oh, honey." She shakes her head. “Wild hogs couldn’t keep this one away."
Quinn laughs and shakes his head. “Wild dogs, Mom,” he says. “My mother is a city girl trying to pretend she’s a country girl."
"You can take the girl out of Louboutins, but you can’t take the Louboutins out of the girl." She shrugs. “I’ve been a country girl for a long time." She looks at me. “I miss the city sometimes." She looks at Quinn. “Okay, never. I never miss it." I just look at her. “I am so happy you are going to be okay,” she says softly, squeezing my hand. “And when you get out of here, we’ll take a drive to the city." I don’t tell her anything else because there is nothing to say to that except I’m not going to be here for any of that. The minute I’m free to go, I’ll be just a memory.
Chapter 15
Quinn
I turn off the truck, grabbing the brown bag from the passenger seat, along with the bouquet of fresh flowers I picked up. The hot sun hits me as soon as I step out of my truck.
I walk down the concrete sidewalk to the front of the hospital. The flower pots on either side of the entrance are bright pink. Pushing the revolving door, I walk into the hospital. The cold air hits me right away. The smell of cleaning supplies will forever remind me of my time here.
Stepping inside, I press the button for the sixth floor. My foot taps with anticipation of seeing her. It’s been ten days since she told us her side of the story. Ten days since she started to heal, both inside and outside. Ten days since I’ve seen her in a whole different way.
Three days ago, they convinced me to leave every single day for an hour while she does her testing or works on things with Shirley. So every day at three o’clock, I leave to go home where I take a quick shower and then head to my grandmother’s house where she has food waiting for us. Everyone is itching to go meet her, but Chelsea told them it has to be done slowly.
The elevator dings, and I walk out, turning right. I see her right away as she walks down the hallway with Shirley by her side. Every day, she takes more and more steps. I watch her without her knowing and see that the bandage is off and her hair is tied on the top of her head. The circles around her eyes are slowly fading, and the bruises have all but healed.
"Hey there,” I say when I get close enough, and I can see that her hair is a touch wet.
“Hi,” she says, looking up at me and then back down. “We were seeing how many steps I can take without being tired.”
"Did you shower?" I ask, knowing she did but then seeing that she is still wearing a hospital gown.
"I did." She smiles shyly.
"Okay, if you take five more steps," Shirley says, “you will pass yesterday by ten percent." I turn and walk with them back to her room. We walk at her pace, which is slow, but every day, she tries to outdo the day before. “And you did it," Shirley says when we get to her room. "I’ll come back and check on you before I leave."
I wait for Willow to walk into her room, and she goes straight to her bed, slipping inside it. She puts her head back and closes her eyes. “Tired?"
"Just a bit,” she says to me. For the past ten days, I’ve been trying to bring her out of her shell. I know it’s not going to be easy, but one day, she won’t be so guarded.
“I brought you flowers,” I say, holding up the flowers to show her. “I thought it would brighten your day.” I smile at her, and she stares at me, her mouth hanging open.
“What?” She leans in and closes her eyes as she smells the daisies.
“Why?” I bring the vase to her, and her eyes light up. “Those are beautiful.”
I sit on the side of the bed, holding the vase in my hand and watching her smell the flowers. Her face looks angelic with the sun streaming in the windows. “Not as beautiful as you,” I whisper, and I hold my breath with the flowers in the middle of us. I want to lean in and kiss her lips softly like I’ve been doing in my dreams. I fall asleep watching her and wanting to lie down beside her and take her into my arms.