Luke's Recovery
Page 5
“Thanks, Callie. I don’t know what I would do without y’all.” Lindy said as she sat down to eat.
“We are happy to do anything we can to help you.” Callie said as she grabbed up her baby girl, Lily.
“Where is Grant?” Lindy asked noticing that there was only one high chair out.
“I fed him first while Lily was still sleeping, then Chase took him out to the barn with him.” Callie told her as she bounced Lily on her hip.
“Oh, that makes sense. I’m sure it can be difficult when you try to feed them at the same time.” Lindy told her imagining the mess it would be.
“Yeah, but it’s also fun. We have started them on cereal and oatmeal and its adorable the way they squeal when you feed the other and they don’t want to wait their turn.” Callie said grinning at the thought.
“Hey ladies.” Chase said as he came in going straight to Callie and kissing her. “Lindy, are you about ready to head to the hospital?” He asked turning to her.
“Yeah, I’m ready when you are.” She told him standing and heading to the living room.
“Y’all be careful. Lindy, if you need to stop anywhere while you are out, Chase will be happy to take you. Also, if you need cash till you get to the bank he should have some with him.” Callie told her. Lindy nodded, but she wasn’t going to ask for anything. She owed them enough as it was.
“We will bring home dinner as we come back.” Chase told Callie as he sat Grant in the playpen and kissed her and Lily before he turned to the door.
“Be careful.” Callie called as Chase pulled the door shut.
The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever, but Chase had been pleasant to ride with. He had attempted to make small talk, but neither of them seemed to be in the mood to talk, so they fell into a comfortable silence.
“I will let you go in by yourself. I’m sure the nurses want to talk to you, and Luke will too. I will wait in the waiting room until you come back and say it’s okay for me to come back. If Luke is tired, please don’t tell him I’m here, let him rest and you can give me an update on how he is doing.” Lindy told him before they got out of the truck.
“Alright, if that’s how you want to do this, that’s fine with me.” Chase told her.
The elevator ride up was quick and Chase went straight back leaving her in the waiting room. She knew if anything was wrong Chase would tell her, but Luke needed his family right now.
*****
Luke was already tired of the hospital, but he knew he wasn’t leaving anytime soon. They had said he needed to go to a rehab place so that he would have around the clock care till he could start moving around on his own. He had slept for a while, but woke up wanting to see Lindy. He was worried she needed something and he wasn’t there to make sure she had it. He knew Chase and Callie would check on her, but he also knew she was stubborn and wouldn’t tell them if she needed anything.
“Hey, you look like you are mad at the world.” Chase said as he walked into the room.
“Where is Lindsey?” Luke said trying to look around Chase to see her.
“She is in the waiting room.” Chase told him walking over to sit in the chair by the bed.
“What? Why did you make her wait out there?” Luke asked him furiously.
“Wow, you really need to chill out. She wanted to wait out there in case the nurses needed to talk to me, or you were too tired for company right now.” Chase said.
“I want her in here, go get her.” Luke told his brother.
“I know. I will go get her in a minute. Have they told you anything new about your injuries?” Chase asked him. He knew it was a reasonable question, but he wanted to see her.
“No, they just said I would have to go to a rehab center for a while till I could put weight on my leg again.” Luke told him hating the thought of not going home.
“They told us that too.” Chase said and hung his head.
“Chase, can you please go get Lindy for me?” Luke asked. He knew it wouldn’t be too long till they gave him pain meds. He had refused the last time they came in wanting to be wake when she came.
“Sure, be right back.” Chase said as he walked out.
Luke stared at the ceiling wishing he could just take Tylenol to take away the pain. It was getting bad, but he wanted to be alert for a while longer. Maybe Lindy wouldn’t know the nurses this time and make them shoot him full of meds.
“Are you in pain?” Lindy asked as she walked over to him.
“No, I’m fine. I was just making sure the lines on the ceiling hadn’t changed in the last half hour.” Luke told her with a smile.
“Sure, I will let it slide for now.” Lindy said as she scrutinized his face. He gave her the best smile he could right now, but he knew she saw through it.
“You still look tired.” Luke said trying to redirect her attention.
“I took a nap. I’m fine. How do you feel, other than the pain obviously?” Lindy asked. She still hadn’t moved from the doorway.
“Why don’t you come closer and see.” Luke said and Chase snorted.
“That was a bad pick up line.” Chase said rolling his eyes.
“Shut up, it hasn’t played out yet.” Luke said as he winked at her.
“I can see your sense of humor is still intact.” Lindy told him as she stayed by the door.
“Lindsey, get over here.” Luke narrowed his eyes trying to give her the look that made her listen.
“You are in no position to be a bully right now. The look doesn’t work when you can’t get up and do anything about it.” Lindy told him crossing her arms over her chest and refusing to move.
Luke stared at her as he realized he couldn’t do anything. He was completely at the mercy of other people and no, he couldn’t even go after her when she got stubborn. No matter how hard he tried she could run the other way. He knew she would, she always did. Now that he couldn’t chase her, she would be long gone before he had the chance to win her over. She deserved better than what he was now.
“Luke, what is it? Do you need something?” Lindy asked as she came up to the bed.
“No, I’m actually tired. Maybe you should go.” Luke said and looked away from her. He pushed the nurse button on the bedrail, the medicine would let him sleep and forget that he couldn’t have her.
“May I help you?” A voice called over the speaker in his room.
“I would like to have my pain meds now.” Luke said as he turned to stare at the ceiling again.
“I’ll be right there.”
“You okay?” Chase asked as he stepped over to the bed.
“Yeah, I’m good.” Luke said without looking over at him.
“Hey, Lindy? How are you, girl?” The nurse asked as she walked in with the syringe.
“I’m good.” He heard her reply. “Chase, I will wait for you in the waiting room. Luke, it was good to see you.”
Luke kept his attention on the ceiling as the nurse came over and injected his IV. He could feel Chase’s eyes on him, but he refused to look at him. The medicine burned as it went into his veins.
“Luke, what just happened?” Chase asked him confused.
“She made it clear she thinks I can’t do anything. I didn’t like it being rubbed in my face. If she needs anything, take it out of my checking account, otherwise keep her away.” Luke swallowed hard at how much it hurt to say that.
“You and I both know she didn’t mean it like that. What is wrong with you?” Chase wasn’t going to just let it go.
“Look, I’ve been chasing her for a while, but that is done. She doesn’t need a crippled bothering her. Just keep this between us, and take care of her.” Luke told him as sternly as he could considering the medicine was taking affect.
“Fine, we will talk later.” Chase said before he stormed out of the room.
Luke knew Chase didn’t understand, but he couldn’t explain how he was feeling right now. Maybe if Lindsey wasn’t with someone when he got back on his feet he could go after her
then. He could see himself stumbling after her now, trying to get her to slow down long enough for him to catch up. No, that wouldn’t work, he would just have to be happy with the fact that he had been able to get her out of that fire.
As the meds took full affect, he let his mind wonder. He could picture her with some muscle-bound guy with a little baby in her arms, her eyes bright with the joy she felt. Just the thought had him so mad he wanted to kill someone. When he drifted off his dreams were filled with visions of her with a beautiful baby, but in his dreams, it was his baby she was holding, and she was smiling at him from a blanket he had laid out for them to picnic on.
Chapter 4
It had been two weeks since she had seen Luke. He had made it clear that last day that he didn’t want her to come around. She had asked Chase why Luke was upset that day on the way home, but he had told her he didn’t know anything. She wasn’t crazy enough to believe it. Lindy had finally gotten everything straightened out after the fire. It would be a while before she could get the insurance taken care of though, so she was still at the ranch.
“Hey, can you come down to the kitchen and talk to me and Chase for a second.” Callie said peeking her head in the room she was staying in. She nodded and took a deep breath. They were probably going to ask her to leave.
“I am going to check out a few apartments today in the next town over.” Lindy told them as she sat down at the table. “I am gonna go back to work at the hospital until I can get everything together and the boutique built back.”
“Why do you want to leave here?” Callie asked her.
“I know I have been here a while and I truly appreciate all you have done for me, but y’all need your space back.” Lindy said giving her best fake smile.
“Actually, we need to talk to you about that.” Chase told her as he sat down beside Callie. “We need you to stay around for a while.”
“I will do whatever I can to help you, but it isn’t right for me to stay here without contributing in some way.” She told them squaring her shoulders. They had talked about this before and they refused to let her do anything to help.
“We do need your help as it happens. Luke will be getting out of the hospital tomorrow and we don’t want him to go to a rehab facility, we need a nurse to care for him. You are a nurse and we would be happy to pay you to help.” Chase told her, but she laughed and he didn’t look amused.
“You’re kidding, right?” She asked looking back and forth between them.
“No, we are serious.” Callie said giving her an odd look. “You are the only one we trust to take care of him.”
“Luke has made it very clear he doesn’t want me anywhere near him. Does he know you are asking me to be his care giver? There is a lot that goes into that. He has to let me care for him, and listen to me when it comes to his health and care. With his injuries, he will need full care. That includes bathing, feeding, caring for open wounds. He isn’t going to go along with that.” Lindy told them. She would love to care for him after the way he saved her, but after the last time they saw each other she knew he wouldn’t allow that to happen.
“If he wants to come home, he will let you care for him.” Chase told her. “We wanted to make sure you were willing to do it before we went to him. You do have the option not too, but if not we are taking him to a rehab place.”
“If he will allow it, I would be happy to take care of him.” Lindy told them sure it wouldn’t happen.
“I will talk with him today; can you hold off till tomorrow on your plans?” Chase asked her.
“Yeah, just let me know.” Lindy told them.
“Great, now let’s talk about dinner.” Callie said cheerfully.
Chase left a little while later and she went back to her room. Luke wasn’t going to let her care for him. She was tempted to do it anyway, but she wouldn’t. Until Luke had basically kicked her out of his room that day, she had started to have serious feelings for him. If she were honest with herself she still did, and it broke her heart to know that he had rejected her so easily.
*****
Luke wasn’t looking forward to going to a rehab facility, but as the saying goes “it is what it is”. His buddies had been coming by to visit him. A news crew had even tried to come in and talk with him about how he was a “Hero”, but that wasn’t true. He wasn’t supposed to go into that building. Protocol was to wait until they could tell if the building was stable, but Lindy was in there and he wasn’t willing to wait. It had likely cost him his career as a firefighter, but that was fine. All that really matter was that she was safe.
“What is that look for?” Chase asked as he came into his hospital room.
“Just making sure I have every single detailed of this room committed to memory. Wouldn’t want to forget these stale white walls or the fluorescent lighting.” Luke responded sarcastically.
“With such luxurious accommodations, I don’t know why you would ever want to come back to the ranch.” Chase drawled.
“At least I get to upgrade to the beauty of sharing a room and staring at a shared TV for hours on end, well except for the time I will be enduring the agony of physical therapy. It’s gonna be just swell, the time of my life I’m sure.” Luke said as he huffed out a breath.
“I can do something to make it better.” Chase told him raising an eyebrow.
“Do tell.” Luke replied curiously.
“If you play your cards right, I can spring you from this joint. You can ride out the rest of your recovery and physical therapy at home with a beautiful woman to take care of your every need.” Chase said smugly.
“That sounds great, but Callie has the twins and I know I need around the clock care. She is an amazing woman, but even she can’t clone herself.” Luke told him grateful for the family he had.
“She is perfect, but it isn’t her I’m talking about. They will be releasing you shortly, you need to decide if you want to go home or to the rehab center, so what will it be brother of mine?” Chase asked with a smirk that was telling Luke Chase was up to something, the question was what.
“Look, I don’t know what you are up to, but no one has the training to help care for me. It will take months till I can be left alone.” Luke shook his head as he looked at the blankets that were on him.
“I know, I have been talking to the doctors too. I have a way, all you have to do is say you want to go home.” Chase said still smirking at him.
“Tell me what you have in mind.” Luke said suspiciously.
“No. I have it worked out, all you have to do is tell me where you want to go.” Chase told him.
“What do you have worked out?” Luke asked him.
“No matter how many times or how many ways you ask me that, I’m not gonna tell you. Home or center? That is all you need to tell me. This is your last chance. If you ask again I will take you to the center no more questions.” Chase told him seriously.
“Fine, if there is any way to go home I want to go home.” Luke told him.
“You have to promise to do everything you are told and not fight back no matter what.” Chase narrowed his eyes at him.
“Okay, I will do as I’m told. I just want to go home.” Luke told him honestly.
“Good. I’ll go let the nurses know you are ready and they can help you change so we can get going.” Chase replied walking out of the room.
The nurse came in and helped him dress in the basketball shorts and t-shirt Chase had brought him. He felt weak having to have help to get dressed, but it wasn’t any worse than needing help going to the bathroom. At least his hands had healed enough he could do it all on his on once someone helped him get in there. That had been a very bad experience he never wanted to repeat again.
Once he was dressed another nurse came and helped get him in the wheel chair so that he could be rolled to the car. He hoped his brother had brought Callie’s SUV, it would be easier to get in than Chase’s truck. He would have to get a wheel chair for the house until he was doing good eno
ugh to walk.
“Alright Mr. Collins; it was nice having you stay with us, but you gotta go. My poor nurses are going crazy dealing with your temper lately. Hopefully you’ll be nicer to whoever is going to be caring for you.” The head nurse told him as she helped Chase get him in the SUV.
“I wasn’t that bad.” He grumbled. He hadn’t meant to be, but he heard her huff and knew he really had been.
“So, you have been terrorizing the hospital too? I thought you were just being mean to me and Lindy.” Chase said in the not happy father’s tone he had gotten when the babies were born.
“I didn’t think I was.” Luke said hanging his head.
“Well, you need to get it together. We have all done everything we can to help you. Do you want to talk about what is wrong?” Chase asked in a softer voice.
“Nothing, everything is great as always. Maybe it was just from being locked in that room and the bed all the time.” Luke knew he was lying, but he didn’t want to get into it, he was going home now everything would be fine.
“When we get home, I will be taking you straight to your cabin. Your nurse is there and has been getting everything set up and ready for you. I had a wheel chair brought in, but I thought if I got it motorized that would piss you off, so it is just a normal one. The nurse is making sure you can get around the cabin with ease.” Chase told him as they drove home.
“Thanks man. I really appreciate all the hard work you have put into making sure I could go home. Where did you find a nurse willing to give up her life to care for me for a few months?” Luke was determined to make this as easy for them and his family as he could.
“It wasn’t hard at all, and they were happy to do it.” Chase told him.
“Are you going to tell me her name, or is that part of the no questions clause you gave me?” Luke asked him.
“Oh, she is great. She was happy to be able to help you after everything you’ve done for her.” Chase told him as he stopped at the top of the drive and turned to look at him.