by Opal Carew
An explosion of pain tore through her.
Everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-two
Reid glanced at his watch. Fifteen minutes late. Stevie must have been held up with a fare.
Standing below the Empire State Building, on the corner they’d agreed upon, he stepped to the side to avoid the streams of people making their way down the sidewalk. Some had umbrellas while others walked swiftly to escape the misting rain.
Beside him a vendor sold roasted chestnuts, their sweet scent mixing with the smell of wet city streets.
He wiped rain out of his eyes and scanned the faces of passersby, searching for Stevie.
He could hear sirens a few blocks over and an ambulance raced by, lights flashing. He heard some people walking by talking about an accident a block down.
Maybe that was why Stevie was late. Traffic backed up by the accident.
He waited patiently, but after a half hour he texted her. When she still hadn’t shown up or answered his text after an hour, he dialed her number, but got her voice mail. He left a message.
Ten minutes later, he pulled out his phone.
I’m going back to the penthouse. Text me.
Disappointment and anger washed through him. Had she decided to go back to her ex-fiancé without even giving Reid a chance? Without even meeting him face-to-face to tell him?
Breaking her promise.
He grabbed a cab and was soon riding the elevator to the penthouse.
“So how did it go?” Dylan asked as Reid walked into the living room. “You couldn’t talk Stevie into coming back here with you tonight?”
Reid slumped on the couch. “Stevie didn’t show.”
* * *
Over the following week, Reid’s anger grew as Stevie held her silence, not responding to his texts or phone calls. Finally, he called her cab company and asked for her specifically. They told him she wasn’t on duty, which was odd since he knew she worked every day and he’d called right in the middle of her usual shift. He tried again the next day and the next.
Dylan talked to some connections he had and found out that Stevie hadn’t been doing shifts through the company for the whole week. Reid kept trying to call her, but her phone always went to voice mail. Then one day, after several weeks, he found that her cell phone service had lapsed.
God damn, he could think of only one reason for all of this. Stevie must have decided to go back to Sean and they’d returned to Chicago.
* * *
Her brain felt foggy. She heard voices around her but couldn’t make out the words. A hand held hers, but she didn’t know whose and … she drifted off.
* * *
A voice called her name and she drifted through the darkness, wondering who he was. Where he was. It seemed like a friendly voice …
* * *
She was surrounded by darkness, but she could sense someone was near. An ache pounded through her. She didn’t feel like she could move.
But she was tired of the darkness.
With great effort, she forced her eyelids to open.
It was dark in the room. She was lying on a bed. She tried to sit up, but her muscles would not obey.
As things came more into focus, she felt a sharpness in her arm. She glanced at it and saw a needle taped to her skin attached to an IV.
How long had she been here?
Why was she here?
She turned her head, and was hit with a wash of throbbing pain and dizziness. Someone was sitting in the chair beside her bed, near the window. He looked to be asleep.
“Hello,” she tried to say, but her voice came out hoarse and barely audible. She tried again.
“Stevie?”
The man sat upright.
“Oh, my God. You’re awake.”
It was Jon.
He took her hand and the feel of it, although sending a little pain lancing through her arm, anchored her.
She needed this human contact. She tried to squeeze his hand, but she didn’t have the strength.
He stood up and leaned over her, his face, although smiling, filled with concern.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” he said. “You’ve been through a lot.” He stroked her hair from her face and her eyelids fluttered closed.
He continued to hold her hand as she faded into the blackness again.
* * *
Stevie could feel the warm sunlight on her face and she opened her eyes. She was in a hospital room and a nurse was opening the drapes. Outside the glass she could see blue sky and the branches of a tree near the window, leaves fluttering on a soft breeze. A small bird landed on a branch, then hopped along it, twittering, then flew away again.
“You’re awake.” The nurse, a lovely young woman with long sandy-brown hair tied behind her head smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Things hurt,” Stevie managed to say. She hadn’t taken inventory of what, but her body just seemed to be unhappy.
“I’ll have the doctor come and talk to you. She might modify your pain medication.” She rested her hand on Stevie’s arm. “Are you okay or would you like me to get something for you now?”
The pain wasn’t extreme and Stevie hated taking medication.
“No, I’ll be okay.” She tried to sit up and groaned at the sudden shooting pain through her hips.
“Just relax. Let’s try this.” The nurse pressed a button, and with a buzz, the bed tilted upward slowly. She stopped it at a comfortable angle, then adjusted the pillows behind Stevie. “How’s that?”
“Good, thanks.”
The nurse patted her arm. “Okay. I’ll go talk to the doctor. In the meantime, do you feel up to seeing a visitor? There’s a gentleman who’s been here every day since you got here.”
“You mean my friend Jon?” Stevie vaguely remembered seeing him when she’d woken up briefly.
“No, Jon is very nice and he’s been here a lot, too. Often with his friend Derrick. But I mean another gentleman. He’s always dressed in a nice suit and he’s a very take-charge kind of man.”
Stevie’s heart fluttered. Reid was here?
“He comes in every day and talks to the doctor,” the nurse continued, “then sits by your side for hours. Between the three of them, there’s always been someone here watching over you.” She smiled. “The only reason he’s not here now is because he went to get a coffee. He should be back in a minute. Do you want to see him?”
Did she want to see Reid?
God, yes. But, no. She didn’t want him to see her helpless in bed.
“I’d like to sit up,” Stevie said, shifting forward despite the pain. “Maybe you could help me into a chair.” She tried to move her legs to the side of the bed, but …
The nurse rested her hand on Stevie’s chest and pressed her back, her face filled with compassion. “Honey, I’m sorry. You’ll have to stay put.”
Why couldn’t she seem to move her legs?
“Stevie. My God, it’s good to see you awake.”
The deep male voice was familiar, but it wasn’t Reid’s.
Sean continued into the room, a paper coffee cup in his hand. He placed it on her side table and pulled a chair close to the bed, then sat down, his face beaming with a smile. The nurse slipped away quietly.
He took her hand and squeezed lightly.
“You had us all pretty worried. It was touch and go there for a while. The doctors weren’t sure you were going to make it.”
She shook her head, vaguely remembering that night … the car hitting her cab … the pain.
“How long have I been here?”
“You’ve been in a coma for a while, Stevie. It’s been weeks since the accident.”
Shock washed through her.
“How badly am I hurt?” she asked. She tried again to move her legs and anxiety lurched through her when she had no success.
“I’ll let the doctor answer that. She’ll be able to explain all the details.”
She gripped Sean’s arm. “I don’t
need details right now. I just need to know … will I be able to walk again?”
Sean’s mouth compressed into a flat line. “Stevie, the doctor—”
“Sean…”
He drew in a deep breath. “They’re not sure yet.”
Her world came crashing down around her. If she couldn’t walk …
Oh, God, she wouldn’t be able to drive, either.
How would she take care of herself?
She rested her head back against the pillow and consciousness faded.
* * *
“Stevie. Stevie?”
The insistent voice drew her from the darkness. Her eyelids fluttered open to see Sean sitting by her side. Jon stood behind him and smiled as soon as he saw her eyes open.
“Hi, Stevie,” Jon said. “I’m going to go call Derrick so he can come in for a visit. He’ll be so happy to see you awake finally.”
Sean squeezed her hand. “And the doctor will be here in a minute to talk to you.”
She nodded, a little disoriented. A glance at the window told her it was early evening.
“Sean, did…?” Her voice was hoarse and he lifted a cup with a straw to her lips.
“Here, have some water,” he urged.
She sipped, then nodded. “Has Reid been here to see me?”
He frowned. “No.”
Her heart ached.
“Stevie, I thought you weren’t seeing him anymore. Your friend Jon was under the same impression.” He squeezed her hand. “Damn, Stevie, if I had known…” He started to stand. “I’ll call him right now.”
She clung to his hand. “No, don’t do that.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m just disoriented.”
So it wasn’t that Reid didn’t care. It was that he didn’t know.
He must have been worried when she didn’t show up.
But weeks had gone by. Maybe more, because she was sure Sean was downplaying things until the doctor spoke to her. By now, Reid was probably angry. He’d certainly suffered the worst of the pain.
So leaving him in the dark was the best thing.
Because she didn’t want him to see her like this. Helpless. Unable to fend for herself.
Maybe never able to take care of herself again.
She knew that as soon as Reid found out what had happened to her, he’d insist on taking care of her. It was the kind of man he was. But she couldn’t be that kind of burden.
That was no way to start a relationship.
Chapter Twenty-three
After Stevie spoke with the doctor, she started to take stock of how bad things were. The doctor was hopeful Stevie would be able to walk again—which was fabulous news—but not before extensive physiotherapy.
Unfortunately, her cab was totaled. And she didn’t know when, if ever, she’d be able to drive again.
The doctor cautioned her that even if they got her walking, she still might not be able to function at a full-time job for a while, let alone the long shifts she’d done driving the cab. She’d had a bad concussion and it could be over a year before she’d be fully recovered from that.
So she decided to sell the medallion. It had plummeted in value since she’d bought it—bringing in about a third of what she’d paid for it—but the money would help her get by for a while once she got out of the hospital. And it’d help her pay Sean back, since she was sure he’d paid extra to have her in a private room at the hospital. She knew he would refuse her money, but she would insist.
It was important for her to stand on her own two feet. Both figuratively and literally.
* * *
Stevie glanced up from her laptop as Sean opened the door of the apartment and walked into the living room carrying a bag of groceries and a bouquet of fresh flowers. He’d texted her to let her know he was coming over, even though he came by at this time every day.
“I still have the last flowers you brought me,” she said.
“That was a week ago and they’re looking pretty straggly.” He smiled. “Anyway, I like bringing you flowers.”
Sean had been wonderful. Luckily, he’d already been planning to move to New York to start a new branch of his business, so he moved a littler earlier, refusing to leave her. He’d stayed by her side through the physiotherapy, then he’d gotten her set up in the new apartment Derrick had found for her. It was small, but fine for her. And the rent was manageable. For a while.
Sean had stayed with her at first, until he was sure she could manage on her own. It was so odd having him sleep on her couch in this small place when he had a huge luxury apartment of his own. But she refused to stay at his place, and he’d refused to leave her alone.
Which she was happy about, because it had been a rough few months after she’d first moved in. Her walking had still been pretty shaky and it was difficult to do even the simplest things, like making a straightforward meal. She still needed a cane to get around, and hadn’t gone out on her own yet. Sean came by every day to take her out for a walk.
Tomorrow, however, she planned to make her first outing on her own.
She was sitting sideways on the couch leaning against a pillow, but when Sean returned from the kitchen after putting away the groceries, she turned so she was sitting up. He sat down in the chair.
“So how’s the book going?” he asked.
She smiled. “Slowly. But I’m loving every minute of it.”
She’d signed up for an online course, and had even connected with some other writers through a writing group to do critiquing of each other’s work.
She closed the computer and put it on the coffee table.
He smiled. “I see you’ve been cooking.”
“If you call heating up a frozen lasagna cooking, then yeah. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” she said.
“I saw a salad in the fridge, too. Don’t diminish what you’ve accomplished.” His smile widened. “You really have come a long way.”
“And tomorrow I plan to walk all the way to that little diner around the corner on my own.”
“That’s great.”
She saw the concern in his eyes and knew he wanted to suggest coming with her. But they both knew that the main thing she needed to do was gain confidence in going out on her own. And she couldn’t do that if he was acting as her safety net.
“I saw an old friend of yours today,” he said.
The way he stared at his hands made her shift uneasily.
“Who?”
“Dylan Cole. He recognized me from Raphael Allegro’s party.”
Her stomach tightened. “You didn’t tell him about the accident, did you?”
A few weeks after she’d left the hospital, she’d admitted to Sean that she’d been going to meet Reid that day. She’d had little choice when he told her she’d been calling out Reid’s name in her sleep. But she’d explained that she didn’t want to see Reid now. That she didn’t want to be a burden to him. Sean had tried to talk her into letting him contact Reid, but she’d made him swear not to.
“No, of course not. He said that Reid tried to call you for weeks. When he got a message saying your phone service was canceled, he assumed you had come back to me and that we’d returned to Chicago.”
Shortly after she’d woken from the coma, she’d asked Sean to cancel her cell service. The phone had been smashed during the accident and she’d decided to wait a few weeks before getting a new one. And she hadn’t wanted Reid calling her.
“What did you tell him?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I told him we were seeing each other. I kept it vague, but he clearly interpreted it that we’re together.”
She nodded. That was good. Then Reid would give up on her.
Sean’s chocolate-brown eyes turned to her. “Why don’t you let me tell them what happened? Right now Reid’s angry, but once he knows…”
“Yes, once he knows, he’ll feel sorry for me … and he’ll want to take care of me.”
His eyes glowed with compassion. “And what’s wrong wi
th that?”
“I don’t want him to look at me like an invalid. And I certainly don’t want to be a burden to him, which is exactly what I’d be. It’s not fair to him. If he found out he’d feel like he had to swoop in and take care of me. That’s just how he is, but I can’t let him. I need to be able to take care of myself.”
Fear raced through her at the thought. She didn’t know how she would take care of herself. She was physically capable of doing the basics, but she couldn’t hold down a job. Not with the lasting effects of her concussion. And even if that weren’t the case, she couldn’t get a job waiting tables or working in a store. She wouldn’t be able to take being on her feet that long.
The money would run out eventually.
She bit her lip. She’d figure something out. She was strong and smart. There was some way she could do this without relying on others.
All she knew for sure right now was that she did not want Reid Jacobs to see her broken and helpless. And she certainly didn’t want him to feel obligated to pick up the pieces.
* * *
Stevie sat down in the booth at the diner and tucked her cane between herself and the wall below the window, then set her bag in front of it. She was tired, but it was a good tired. She’d walked all the way from her apartment on her own. It had been slow going, but she knew it would get better every day.
The waitress came by and poured her some water from a jug, then took her order. Stevie opted for the soup, salad, and half-sandwich special. She pulled a book from her bag and read until the food arrived. She had thought about bringing her laptop so she could work on her latest writing assignment, but she hadn’t wanted to carry the extra weight. Not this first time out.
After she finished eating, she lingered over a coffee, catching up on her e-mails and texts. She texted back and forth with Jon for a bit, then finally decided it was time to start the trek home.
She signaled the waitress for her check, then fished in her bag for her wallet.
As the waitress approached the table with the check in her hand, someone behind her spoke.
“I’ll get that.”
She froze, then slowly glanced around to see Reid.
Her stomach flopped over and she feared she’d lose her dinner.