“Your husband needs ya to be strong for a little bit. Why don’t you go sit with him, and I’m gonna go get some clothes from my car.”
“You came with a bag?” she asked.
“I always carry clothes with me. Got into the habit in college when-”
I caught myself and the memories I was dredging up. I was about to say, ‘in college when Chelsea traveled the road with me,’ but all it did was bring tears to my eyes before I harshly blinked them away.
“I’ll be right back,” I choked out.
Chapter 10: Chelsea
My head hurt, and my mouth was dry. The smell of disinfectant hung strong in the air, and I honestly felt like I was about to puke. I heard beeping noises and people talking in the distance, but when I panned my head over all those things faded into the background.
“Oh my God, Chelsea.”
His rugged voice hit my ears like waves crashing against the rocks. My soul was desperately dry, and he was wetting my existence. My eyes felt heavy, but his hand descending over mine felt warm and comforting, and I didn’t want to fall back asleep and risk having this moment with him.
“Fl-... -ynn?”
My vision was pounding with my headache, and my shoulder was burning and itching. What the hell was Flynn doing here? I felt something dance along my lips as my eyes fluttered closed, and then I heard that same low voice in my ear.
“Drink. You’ve gotta be thirsty.”
I leaned my head into those pillowy lips, and when Flynn pressed a light kiss to my temple, I knew everything was going to be alright. I wasn’t sure where I was, or how I’d gotten there-- I think-- but Flynn was here, and that always told me everything was going to be alright.
Then, I heard a stampede of people flood the room. It reminded me of those times at the rodeo when the horses came out and competed in the racing tournaments. People were poking me and prodding me, a doctor was peeling my eyes open, and someone else was sticking my feet with something sharp. I heard the beeping in the background speed up, and I felt the vomit rising in my throat.
“Back off,” I heard a voice in the distance.
“Chelsea…?”
“Oh my God, my little girl!”
All the voices melded together, and my ears started to burn. Someone was massaging my aching shoulder, and another person was toggling with something at the back of my head, and when I felt a pinch at the base of my neck, I reared up and heaved all over the side of whatever it was I was laying in.
“I said, ‘back off’!”
I’d know that roar anywhere. Over all the chaos of a place I didn’t recognize and above all the motions that were frightening and foreign, there rose one particular voice I’d always latched onto. I always heard him when he shouted from the rodeo pin, and he always heard me when I would shout back. I felt someone slick my hair back as I continued to vomit all over the side of my bed, and when I was finally done all I could do was sob.
“What's... ha-... happening, Flynn?”
I felt panic waft into my system and, slowly but surely, things began to fall back into place. I remember a horse in a beautiful pasture, and I watched that horse get spooked. I tried to run over to the horse, in my mind, but all of a sudden, I was lying on the ground under the horse.
“Oreo…” I whispered.
“Chelsea, latch onto the sound of my voice.”
I felt a light kiss on the temple of my head, and all of a sudden, a pair of fingers interlaced with mine. I felt someone take my other hand, but the poking and the prodding had stopped, and the beeping I had heard in the distance was just a slow, rhythmic dot in the barrage of sounds that were slowly disappearing.
“You remember Oreo?” Flynn asked, and all I did was nod against his lips.
“Do you remember the pasture?”
And again, I nodded into his touch.
“Good girl. Do you… remember th-”
He couldn’t say it. For as strong and stubborn as Flynn had always been, there were times when his words alluded him. Flynn played up a strong and unwavering facade, but deep down he cared with a burning passion about anyone who wriggled their way into his heart and soul. He’d open his doors for anyone who needed a place to stay, and he’d give his own shirt off his back if it meant someone else would be better off.
Hearing the catch in his voice scared me while bits and pieces of the accident slowly came flooding back to the forefront of my mind. I felt small circles being drawn on my other hand by someone while a hand descended onto my leg, and when my searing headache ricocheted across my vision, that’s when I remembered.
The snake.
“Snake…” I whispered.
“Yes,” Flynn managed to choke out, “there was a snake. You, uh… fell off Oreo when he began to buck because-”
“-he was spooked by the snake,” I croaked.
“The snake bit you while you were lying on the ground, and the shock of the bite paralyzed you long enough for Oreo’s hoof to come down onto your shoulder.”
Holy god, I could’ve been killed. By all accounts, I honestly should be dead.
“Oh God. Bradley,” I groaned.
“He got to you just as Oreo came down onto your shoulder. I guess the pain caused you to black out, and he threw you across his lap and was the one that got you to the hospital.”
And then, everything else started rushing back. The reservations for dinner, how I’d gotten his phone number, the confessions I was going to make…
“Oh, god. Flynn. I-I-I… I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” he said lowly.
“I need you to call that steak restaurant in town and cancel our reservations.”
When he didn’t say anything, I slowly lobbed my head over and opened my aching eyes again. He was staring at me darkly, but I knew Flynn well enough to detect the hint of confusion wafting behind his eyes. I could see so many unsaid things that he wanted to blurt out at that moment, but my Flynn was calculating what to say.
And that made me nervous.
“Chelsea… you-”
I felt my heart began to race and it timed itself with the erratic beeping in the background. I felt someone clamp down onto my foot and start massaging it while the person drawing circles on top of my hand slowly brought it to their lips to kiss.
“Flynn?” I urged.
“You’ve been out for three days, Chelsea. Whatever reservations you had…”
Three days? I’d… been unconscious for three days!? My heart began to flutter, and I felt my hands begin to shake. There were so many things I had to do: I had to call the restaurant and apologize and explain to Flynn why I had them. I had to call work and tell them why I hadn’t come back yet. Jesus Chri-... I was due back to work yesterday!
“Calm down. Calm down. I’ll call the restaurant and explain to them what happened. No one will be mad at you there,” Flynn soothed.
And then? I felt his lips by my ear again.
“You’ve been in a medically-induced coma so your body could use the anti-venom the hospital had to filter out the venom from your brain. The snake, it bit you in your neck and seeped pretty quickly into that intelligent brain of yours.”
I snickered, and a light smile bloomed across my cheeks. Even in the most desolate moments, Flynn could always seem to make me smile.
God, how I had missed that about him.
“But, your brain still has some swelling, and you’ll have to stay in the hospital a couple more days until it’s completely gone.”
“I-... I-I-I can’t, though. I, uh, was due at-... at work tomorrow, Flynn.”
The last few words came out like a whispered plea. Like I was ready for someone to wake me up from this nightmare. I was ready to wake up and be in my own bed in Paris after kissing my parents goodbye.
I wanted out of this hospital.
“I’ve taken care of it.”
I turned my head towards the voice holding my other hand, and my eyes landed on the most comforting fac
e I could have conjured in that very moment.
“Mom,” I whispered. I felt Flynn let go of my hand, and for a split second I reached out and grasped his forearm. I didn’t want to let him go, and I didn’t want him to leave, but my mother nodded him out of the room, and I didn’t have the energy to fight. I watched him give me one more glance from the doorway, and then he slunk out of the room and shut the door behind him.
“I already called your work,” I heard my Mom say.
“Are you the reason Flynn is here?” I asked.
“Chelsea, when I-”
I heard my mother swallow hard, and that’s when my father took over the conversation.
“Hey there, honey bunny,” he soothed from my feet.
“Who called Flynn?” I whispered.
“Well, when it all happened, Bradley called us after an ambulance had shown up. We met you here, at the hospital, and when they started taking your belongings off you, they handed your phone to us. Your mother went to work scrolling through to find your boss’s number, but along the way, she found that you had Flynn’s in your phone.”
“Bradley gave it to me,” I croaked.
“It’s good you remember that sweetie,” my mother cooed with tears in her voice.
“We figured if you had his number, maybe the two of you were at least kosher, so we called him,” my dad finished.
“And yes, I called your work and told them what was happening,” my mother took over. “They’ve given you the month off to recuperate and heal. Apparently, someone doesn’t like taking vacation time very often.”
“I enjoy what I do,” I snickered.
“Well, they said you have four weeks, and if you need more all you need to do is call.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I smiled. And I meant it. I guess my colleagues call me a workaholic for a reason, but the truth is I adore what I do. It’s never been work for me, just… life. Life enjoyed, and life lived, and life loved.
“Knock knock,” came a voice from the door.
“Flynn,” I smiled lightly.
“That’s what brings me to my other point,” I heard my mom sigh.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” I asked. I could hear the sadness and exasperation in her voice, and I was wondering how in the world she was going to take care of me. She had the farm, and my father wasn’t much help these days, and it seemed like I had a long road to recovery ahead of me. Right now, I had issues just lifting my own hands! How was she going to take care of me!?
“Settle that mind down, Chelsea. It’s alright.”
God, his voice could calm the raging sea inside of me with just a few simple words.
“Flynn and I talked, and he’s offered to take care of you. The doctor says you’ll be here for two or three more days, and then you can either go to a halfway house and recuperate, or you can be released into someone’s care.”
“Flynn…?” I asked. I panned my gaze over to him standing at the door, and I watched him unfurl his arms before he came and sat on the edge of my hospital bed. His large, strong hand descended lightly onto my leg, and when he began to rub it in an attempt to quell my fears, I felt myself melt into the warmth of his touch.
“I’ll come by as often as I can, but I just won’t be able to upkeep the farm and make sure you have everything you need.”
I could hear the tears in my mother’s eyes, and I lobbed my gaze over toward her. Tears were streaming down her face, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. So, I turned my hand over and locked my fingers with hers before I urged her to look at me.
“You are not an incompetent mother, Mom. You have responsibilities, and you trust Flynn. I think we all do, even after all these years.”
I felt his hand squeeze my leg, and it took every ounce of energy I had not to groan in comfort right there in the middle of the hospital room.
“I’ll come by every day,” my mother breathed.
“Ssshhhh… it’s alright,” I soothed. I pulled her close to me and felt her wrap her tired arms around me. Whoever suggested that Flynn take care of me was right, even without the responsibility of the farm, my mother’s energy went towards taking care of my father. She would’ve never had the energy and strength to juggle taking care of both of us.
“You’ll be just fine with me, Chelsea,” Flynn said lowly.
And a smile graced my chapped lips just as my mother began to pull away from the crook of my neck.
“I know,” I said. “I know.”
Chapter 11: Flynn
I knew Chelsea’s mother would’ve never been able to take care of her in the condition she was in. From what the doctor was telling us, Chelsea would have issues getting up to walk and cleaning herself for a while, which meant she wouldn’t be able to do things like cook and clean for herself. Her mom was inundated with responsibilities around her ranch and was still the prime caretaker of Barber, and it killed me to think about Chelsea not being taken care of in the way she needed to be.
When we had all this information, it was just before Chelsea had woken up, and when I suggested it to Mrs. August, she had thrown a fit. She accused me of calling her a terrible mother, and I had to hold her close and tell her that I meant absolutely none of that. I explained to her the sheer amount of time it would take to take care of Chelsea, even if she was sleeping a great deal because of her pain medication. Chelsea would have doctor’s appointments to get back and forth to, and she would need help in the shower as well as getting clothes on. Mrs. August was tough, but she was also older, and lugging around Barber whenever he needed help was more exertion than she could take some days.
And that was no secret to the community.
I told her I’d be there to help her and that I’d give her a key to my home. I told her she could come by anytime she wanted to visit and check up on Chelsea, and that I’d keep my phone on me so she could call whenever she wanted. It was quite the fight with her, but when Barber finally intervened, he was able to talk some sense into her.
And finally, she relented and agreed to let me take Chelsea home to care for her.
I stayed by Chelsea’s bedside and lived in the few clothes I kept slung in the back of my truck. When she was sleeping, I went up to the local laundromat and cleaned my clothes up, and when I needed a shower, I used the little one that was attached to Chelsea’s hospital room. She was still groggy from the antivenom and the pain medication she was on, so she slept more than she was awake. But, that didn’t bother me. It gave me a lot of time to think on some things.
I made some phone calls and moved back riding lessons for the next two weeks. I figured if I could get Chelsea up and going on her own halfway through the month, then I could at least resume giving lessons to the boys who had aspirations of riding in the rodeo one day. I made a call to Bradley and told him I’d pay him money if he would come over and take care of my animals so I could focus on Chelsea, and he said he could switch off with his dad. I tried to get him to agree on a price, but he refused to be paid.
Figures, with a selfless man like him.
So, I told him I’d offer him free work in return. If he were gonna come take care of my animals free of charge, then I’d offer him the same courtesy. I told him he could take me up on that offer anytime he’d like, and it could be a way for him and his father to take a vacation. Far as I knew, they’d never taken one-- not since his mama died anyway-- proclaiming that it wasn’t a family vacation without the entire family.
But sometimes you just needed a break from work.
I told him how Chelsea was and he promised to stop by later on. I told him to seriously consider my offer, even if he and his dad just sat around the house and did absolutely nothing. That wasn’t a vacation, that was just being lazy, and Bradley laughed through the phone before he hung up.
Now, it was just a matter of fixing up things in the house before Chelsea got there. I had a spare bedroom across the hall from mine, but the issue was it was upstairs. I had a room downstairs that I could clear out, but that required f
urniture to be moved and I wasn’t sure I could pull that off in the amount of time I had. So, since Chelsea was still sound asleep, I went off in search of the doctor.
“Ash! Hey… hey, Ash!”
She turned around with a small smile on her lips, and I caught myself before I approached her.
“I mean, doctor. Hey, doctor.”
“What can I do for you, Bullhead,” she lulled.
“I have some questions on how to make Chelsea safe and comfortable given her condition.”
“Alright. Shoot,” she said.
“Stairs. Yay or nay?”
“If she’s got help, no problem. But, she might get dizzy looking down them with the concussion she’s got, so a general ‘nay’ unless someone’ll help her down every single time.”
“Alright. What about diet? Anything I should stay away from with her swelling and stuff?”
“Anything that prompts inflammation will be bad, but if you just stick to a healthy diet that isn’t rich in breads, you’ll be good. Lots of water, no soda, and absolutely no caffeine.”
“Chelsea’s not gonna like that,” I mused lowly.
“No one ever does,” Ash smirked.
“Whose care is she being released into?” she asked.
“Mine.” Ash pursed her lips.
“Bet her momma didn’t like that.”
“Not at first, but I gave her a key to the house so she could come by whenever she wanted.”
“That’s good,” Ash smiled, “you’re a good man, Flynn.”
“Thanks,” I sighed.
“Just… know your limits,” she warned.
“What’s that mean?”
“Flynn, this is Chelsea. There isn’t a person around here, new or old, that doesn’t know y’all’s story. What she did rocked this little Oklahoma town, and there are just as many people worried about you as they are about her.”
“I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself.”
“Doesn’t mean you shouldn't be reminded of that every once in a while.”
The silence that hung between us was tense. I didn’t stop to think about how this would look: a boy whose college love abandoned him the morning after graduation suddenly comes back into town, half kills herself, and then that same boy takes her in to rehabilitate her as he sees fit.
Baby Makes Three: A Brother's Best Friend's Secret Baby Romance Page 43
