“We’re still looking into it. Unfortunately, like all the other notes in evidence, there were no prints. Is there anything else?”
Neither James nor I said anything.
“Very well. Your doctor wanted to have a word with you. I’ll let her know I’m done questioning you. Thanks for your patience with this. We’re doing everything we can to sort all of this out.”
I found his statement ironic. Because I wasn’t being patient at all. And I was furious with the way they were handling this. When he left the room I turned to James. “What if they let her go? What if…”
“Penny. It’s going to be okay. We have to let them do their job.”
“Since when do you trust them?”
“I don’t have the energy to not trust them right now.”
It broke my heart to see him in his hospital bed. It broke my heart that I couldn’t fix this. “But you have enough energy to have sex?” I wanted him to laugh. I wanted him to not worry about anything. I needed to step up and handle this.
He gave me a small smile. “That’s different.”
I shook my head. “How about we focus on getting you out of here, okay?”
“That sounds like a great idea,” the doctor said as she walked into the room. “How are you feeling today, James?”
“Great.” He sat up and kept a level face, not showing his pain at all. But I could see it in his eyes. “Much better. When can I get out of here?”
She picked up his chart and looked at it.
“His birthday is on Sunday,” I said. “Is there any way he could be home for that?”
“I think we can arrange that. Even though you were unconscious, your body has been healing for two weeks.”
“What about Rob? Will he be able to get out of here soon too?” James asked
She smiled. “I’ve already agreed to discharge your brother tomorrow morning. He won’t stop pestering me to come see you, but I told him I’d change my mind if he refused to rest. But the injuries you sustained were much more serious than your brother’s.”
“How is he doing?”
“He’s acting like he’s perfectly fine. The bullet in his shoulder had a clean exit and the break in his leg was also fairly clean, but it’s pretty miraculous how quickly he’s recovering. I’m sure he’ll be stopping by first thing tomorrow morning.”
James nodded.
“I’m going to have the nurse come in and give you a few vaccines. And according to your chart you’re also behind on some of your regular immunizations. We’ll have her administer those too. It’s important that you stay on top of those from now on. After a splenectomny, it’s much more likely to contract infections. You’re at a much greater risk now.”
James nodded again.
“And we need to discuss your blood pressure.”
“What about it?”
“I have your most recent checkup information from your primary care physician. Which was from six years ago. Your blood pressure was already borderline then. And he had recommended you come in the next year for a follow up. Which you did not.”
“It’s hard for me to get time off work.”
The doctor gave him a stern stare. “Well, James, it’s not borderline anymore. You have stage 1 hypertension. Although it is not proven that stress causes long-term high blood pressure, before you woke up, your blood pressure was fine. As soon as you came out of your coma it skyrocketed again. So in this case, I feel like it is related. If you don’t make active changes, this is going to become an issue.”
“This situation has been stressful. That’s all.”
“And six years ago? Most people in your physical condition in their early twenties don’t have this problem.”
James pressed his lips together.
“There are medications we can prescribe to lower…”
“No,” he said. “I don’t want any medication.”
“Then you need to actively pursue a less stressful lifestyle. I’m recommending that you take at least the next two weeks off to fully recover from your splenectomy anyway. And we’ll continue to monitor the healing of your lung. Take things slowly. You’ll be able to tell when your body can resume normal physical activity. You’ll be running again in no time, I’m sure.”
“And what about intercourse?” James said without a hint of embarrassment in his voice.
I was mortified.
“As newlyweds, I don’t think anything I could say would dissuade you from that,” she said and smiled. “But maybe keep it to positions where you exert less effort, though.”
Oh my God.
“I’ll send the nurse in.”
As soon as she walked out I lightly slapped James’ shin.
He smiled and slowly put his hands behind his head. “I think reverse cowgirl counts, don’t you?”
“What is wrong with you?”
“I’m pretty sure she just said we could do that.”
“She also said the nurse was about to come in.”
“I stopped listening after that. But maybe that would be good. You always have been excited by the thought of people watching…”
I ignored his last comment. “Well, she also said your blood pressure is too high. That you’re too stressed out. I think we need to talk about that.”
“I was thinking we should do something besides talk.”
I laughed as he pulled me down into his arms.
“I was stressed out when you left me. And I was worried when I woke up. That’s it.” He put his hand on my cheek. “I’m not stressed out now. I’m sure if she took my blood pressure right now it would be excellent.”
“Excellent, huh?”
He pulled my face toward his. “Excellent.” His lips gently brushed against mine.
I immediately scooted off the bed when the nurse walked in. I held his hand and looked into his eyes. He didn’t even flinch when the nurse started to give him his first shot. For a second I wondered if he had ever taken drugs that way. But I didn’t really want to know the answer. That was who he used to be. The man in front of me right now is who he truly is. I was optimistic that nothing would get in the way of our future again. I was still worried about how he’d react to hearing about the baby. But I knew he’d eventually be excited. He had to want it.
***
James had fallen asleep early. When he was in his coma, it had been agonizing to watch him. But it wasn’t like this. Now he looked peaceful and happy. Whenever I woke up before him, I always asked him what he had been dreaming about. He always said he had been dreaming of me. I knew that couldn’t really always be true, but I loved when he said it.
My phone buzzed and I looked down at the screen. I quickly answered it before it buzzed again. “Hey, Tyler.”
“Hey. I heard he woke up.”
“Yeah.” I smiled at James and then walked over to the window so I wouldn’t disrupt his sleeping.
“How is he doing?”
“Good. He’s a lot better today than he was yesterday. And I think they’re going to discharge him for his birthday.”
“And how are you holding up?”
“Better now that he’s awake.”
He was silent for a second. “The cops stopped calling me. I saw what happened on the news. How Isabella broke into your house. Are you okay?”
“I’m good. And yeah, they arrested her. They shouldn’t be bothering you anymore.”
“Thanks, Penny.”
“How are you?” I held my breath as I waited for his response. Please be good. Please don’t be hurting because of me.
He was silent again. “Better. Actually, I met someone.”
“Really?”
He laughed. “Don’t sound so surprised.”