Page 11 of Reaching Hearts
Chapter Five
Brendan
San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Room 323.
My eyes fly open. I was dreaming about the holdup again. Between the nightmares and the nurses waking me up, I’m getting no rest. I wonder what Annie’s doing. Is she having nightmares, too? Is she thinking of me?
I look over to see a nurse in the room. Big surprise. They’re here every two minutes. She’s probably why I woke up, I bet. Dammit. I need sleep.
I mutter to her back, “How long do I have to stay here?” She doesn’t say anything, so I say a little louder, “I know you guys want me to get better, but I’m not going to do it being woken up every two hours. I need a full night’s sleep.”
She writes her name – Maria Gutierrez – on the board, and looks over her shoulder at me, her long ponytail shifting to the side over flowered scrubs.
“I’ll check with your doctor. I don’t know. I just started my shift.” She puts the cap on the blue dry-erase marker and slides it onto the tray. Turning fully to face me, her manner is kind, yet firm. “I’m Maria.” She points to the board. “It’s there if you forget. If you need anything, I’ll be here again...”
“In two hours. I know.” I fall my head back on the pillow and stare at the ceiling. Her silence pulls my attention back. She’s still looking at me. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I deal with this every day. No one likes to be here but us.”
A pang of guilt pushes in on me. It’s not my style to complain or make hard-working people feel bad, but no sleep can make a person do shitty things. I have to pull it together.
Rising up on my elbows, I offer her my best apologetic smile, hoping for a sexy smirk and knowing I’ve been anything but sexy the past couple days. “Hey, what d’ya say you stay with me for awhile. I’ll tell you all about how mesmerizing those lips of yours are.”
I’m flirting to help her know I’m sorry I was being such a dick. She knows this. She’s no dummy. But still, an embarrassed smile pulls at the corners of her mouth making her heart-shaped face dimple. She says on a laugh, looking away, “Oh sure! I’ll just stay in here with you all morning… forget all about my rounds.”
Now that she’s blushing, I’m having no trouble smiling. “Tell ‘em you’re busy!”
She muffles what wants to be a giggle, but she hasn’t giggled in a long time. Working in a place like this has got to take it out of you. But she succeeds in flashing me a small smile. “Okay, I forgive you.” As she passes my bed, she grabs my toes through the blanket, holding out her other hand for the cold, hard doors well before she gets there.
“Thank you for the toe touch, Maria!”
She chuckles, shakes her head and leaves.
Well, at least I felt human for a second. Where’s Rebecca? Scratching the IV stuck in my arm, I look for evidence of her and come up empty. Would she leave without telling me? Did she leave and I don’t know? Don’t be crazy, Brendan. She wouldn’t do that. You’re just sleep-deprived.
Closing my eyes, I surrender for the thousandth time to where I am and what’s happening. Every time I do this, I’m able to overcome my frustration for no more than fifteen minutes at a time. The antsy need to escape always returns and drags me into hell all over again. It would be easier if I could see Annie. I need to see her face, know that she’s okay. I know I was hard on Rebecca, but fuck man. She has no idea what it’s like to go through what we went through. How’d Annie get away from the gunman? She must have, because I’m here and Rebecca saw her walking around, not shot up to pieces.
Closing my eyes, I push down the questions.