Chapter Seventeen

After three hours, the general surgeon came out to the waiting room.

“I’m sure you all will be glad to know EMT Baker should make a full recovery,” he began, and the room erupted with cheers.

The surgeon smiled and waited a moment before motioning for quiet so he could continue.

“The surgery went well. The knife missed all major organs, thankfully. He did have muscle and ligament damage that required repair, so you all will have to do without him wrestling a gurney for a little while. We’ll keep him for a few days, then send him home.”

“How soon can we see him?” Tim asked.

“Immediate family only until he’s out of ICU,” the doctor replied. “He’s in post-op right now, and we’ll be moving him to ICU within the next two hours.”

“His girlfriend’s right here,” Tim pointed at Karli. “Can she see him in post-op?”

Karli lurched to her feet and came to stand beside Tim with hopeful eyes. Tim put an arm around her.

“Give us ten minutes,” the surgeon said, “and I’ll send my nurse out to come get you, miss.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Karli told him sincerely. “That’s great news.”

Then she broke down, overcome with relief and gratitude.

“Oh, thank God,” she said into Tim’s shoulder as the surgeon walked away. “Thank God.”

After a short time, an older woman appeared.

“I can bring you back for about fifteen minutes,” she told Karli with a kind warm smile. “You’ll be able to stay with him longer once we get him into ICU. Come with me, dear.”

They walked through the double doors and down a narrow corridor, then turned left.

“He’s in bed three, just down and to the left,” the nurse told her. “My name’s Abagail if you need anything. I’ll be around to collect you when it’s time to head back to the waiting room, all right?”

“Thanks, Abagail,” Karli whispered. She took a deep breath, then walked in the direction Abagail had pointed.

When Karli peeked in Jordan’s room, another nurse greeted her.

“Hi. I’m just checking his progress,” she said. “He’s drifting in and out still.”

Karli nodded, moving to the other side of the bed, and clutched his hand in hers.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she murmured as she stroked his hair. “It’s me, Jordan. It’s Karli.”

He moaned a little and turned his head toward her voice. His eyelids fluttered open, and he smiled at her and squeezed her hand before he slid back under.

“You’re going to be all right,” she whispered, and leaned over to kiss his forehead. “And I will be right here with you.”

His eyes opened again, and he croaked, “Hi, honey,” then drifted once more into sleep.

She leaned down again, put her forehead on Jordan’s shoulder, and cried.

***

Abagail came and got her much too quickly; Karli was amazed at how fast her fifteen minutes had gone.

As they walked back toward the waiting room, the nurse patted her hand and said, “Don’t worry, dear, he’s in very good hands, and as soon as they get him settled in upstairs you can see him again, all right? Give me your cell phone number. I can text you when they move him.”

“Thanks for taking care of him,” Karli managed, another tear rolling down as she walked back out toward the waiting room.

When she got there the crowd had begun to dissipate; the surgeon advising that Jordan would be okay was enough reassurance for most. She found Dan, Tim, Sarah, and a handful of others awaiting her return.

“We were thinking you could probably use some food,” Tim suggested. “They probably won’t have him settled in for a while yet. What do you say?”

“I have zero appetite,” Karli admitted, “but yeah, I probably ought to try. I gave the nurse my number, and she’s going to let me know when I can go back up and see him.”

The group rode the elevator to the ground floor and headed for the hospital’s cafeteria. While nothing sounded appetizing, Karli forced herself to grab a small portion of scrambled eggs and toast, smiling wanly when Dan announced, “Nope, put your money away, I got this.”

They sat and ate, making conversation all around her. But Karli was only partially listening. Her mind was on the man in the hospital bed two stories above their heads, and how close she had come to losing him forever.

“You all right?” Sarah murmured.

“Just…so relieved,” Karli murmured back. “So relieved.”

Her best friend gave her an appraising look.

“I can see that you love him, Karli,” Sarah said softly so that no one else at the table could hear her. “And you should tell him, as soon as possible. Trust me on this. When you find the one, you should never, ever let them go.”

Sarah’s face took on a weird expression, but before Karli could react, her phone buzzed.

“They’ve moved him,” she announced after she scanned the text. “I’m going back upstairs.”

***

It was late afternoon before Jordan blinked his eyes rapidly, then opened them and frowned.

“Where the hell am I?” he rasped.

“ICU, but just as a precaution,” came a voice from his right.

He swiveled his head and looked into the sapphire blue eyes that had captivated his heart so many years ago.

“Hi, honey,” he said. “What happened?”

“Jackass stuck you. The one you were working on,” Tim told him from the foot of his bed. “Got you pretty good, but the doctor says you’re gonna be okay.”

“Well, that explains why my gut hurts,” Jordan observed. “They do surgery?”

“Yep, had to,” his partner confirmed. “But you should only be out of commission for about three weeks. I swear, dude, if you wanted a break, you could have just filled out a vacation form, like normal people do.”

Jordan grinned at the words, and nodded at the underlying sentiment coming from Tim.

He is relieved, I can tell.

“Anyway, I’m gonna get out of here, I need to get some sleep,” Tim continued. “Karli, you need a ride?”

“They won’t let me stay past visiting hours,” she explained mournfully to Jordan. “So, I will have to leave here in a bit, too. But I will be back first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll give you guys a moment,” Tim offered, and stepped out.

“Karli,” Jordan said, cupping her cheek. “You’ve been crying.”

“Of course, I have,” Karli managed, leaning into his palm and closing her eyes. “I thought… I thought you…”

“Karli, it’s okay, I’m going to be fine, honey,” he reassured her.

“There’s something I need to tell you before I go,” Karli said. “I didn’t realize it until last night when Tim called me…and…” her voice broke, so she took another deep breath and pressed on.

“Told me you were hurt. And the thought of losing you was like the world ending all around me. I love you, Jordan Baker. I didn’t realize it until last night, but I love you, and I will make sure every single day you know how much.”

His eyes went wide.

“You do?”

She nodded, and the tears that flowed this time were happy ones.

“I really do. With all my heart.”