“Guess what I found?” she says, smiling. “Tea.”
Olivia moves her hand out of mine and turns to sit up. All I can do is sit here hoping that I’m still standing at the end of this.
Chapter Seven
Olivia
I want nothing more in the whole world than for this mess to go away so I can just be a normal fucking person. Just for once, I want to be the normal person who works, meets a man, and then falls in love. I want the white picket fence, and maybe, one day I’ll get to be a mom.
I mean, it’s not like I had any good role models growing up. My mother was … well, she’s a bitch. She lived through me my whole life. Almost like I was a show monkey that she would parade beside. I shake my head when the tears pinch my nose. The door opens, and the nurse comes in. “Well, don’t you look better.”
“I feel okay,” I tell her. I hear Casey exhale a huge breath beside me, but I don’t look at him. I can’t look at him. I’m afraid the minute I look at him, I’m going to sob like a baby and ask him to hold me. Since I’ve been here, he has given me more hugs than I can count. I feel safe in his arms and know that no matter what happens, I will be okay. He doesn’t give those fake side hugs like everyone else I know. Nope, not with Casey. I’ve been on the runway more times than I care to admit with models who have chiseled faces and perfect bodies, yet this man with a little stubble on his face, his piercing blue eyes, and dirty blond hair … he’s what perfect is.
“Well, it looks like you can go home,” she says. I almost clap my hands, but I’m afraid my head would throb. “How is the head?”
“I have a headache.” I’m honest with her. “At least … it feels like a headache.”
“That’s normal,” she says, and I smile at her. “If it gets worse, or you have trouble keeping your eyes open, you need to come back. Now I need to know that you will have someone with you to help you.”
I’m about to tell her that I’m leaving as soon as I get to Casey’s house and pack my stuff. I’ll go stay in a hotel and hire a nurse if I have to. “She’s with me. I’ll check on her.”
The nurse smiles at me and then turns to Casey. “She should be woken up every two hours. Just make sure she is coherent and stays hydrated.”
He gives the nurse the smirk that I’m sure makes all the girls go crazy. “I can do that.” She walks past him out of the room.
Kallie looks at me, then looks at Casey. “Why don’t you go get the truck?” She hands him the keys and pushes him out.
“Make sure she uses a wheelchair,” he says right before she closes the door on him, shaking her head. But he just knocks, and I have to laugh when I look over and see his face pressed to the little window. “Wheelchair,” he says. Kallie sticks up her middle finger at him. He looks at me, smiling, and just like that, he’s gone.
“Okay, missy,” she says, coming over to the bed and sitting down beside me. “I need you to promise me that you aren’t going to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night.” I look down at my hands.
“I’m not kidding.” When her voice goes low, I look over at her, and she has tears running down her face. She’s been my best friend and as close to a sister as I have ever had. I would do anything for her, and I know she would do anything for me, which is why we’re back in the town she ran away from eight years ago.
“Olivia.” When she presses for an answer, I swear all my words are stuck in my throat. Knowing she put aside her heartache to come back to this town for me is everything, and I could never repay her for it.
She takes my hand in hers. “You know, if we don’t get out of here, Casey is probably going to drive the truck in here.”
I nod at her, getting up, slipping off the hospital gown that they made me change into when I threw up to put my clothes back on. “I don’t think I could ever repay you.”
“What are you talking about now?” Kallie looks at me.
“For all this. I don’t …” The sob comes out, and she comes over to me, holding my face in her hands.
“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have the love of my life back,” she says. “If it wasn’t for you, I would still be existing and not living life.” She wipes my tears away with her thumbs, just like her brother did not too long ago. “I should be the one thanking you.”