by J. G. Sumner
Fortunately, Laney was responding well to the medications and the dialysis. Her vital signs were once again back within the normal range, and they had been able to pull off some of the excess fluid she had in her body. That was the most positive thing about the day. I can’t wait for this whole ordeal to be over.
Now, the police needed to find the stalker’s identity. It was getting old, and Josh was tired of dealing with it. Laney needed to wake up and not have to worry about anything but recovering. More than anything, Josh wanted to be the person to help her recover. He needed to be that person for her as much as he needed food and water to survive.
Then, there was Jillian. Every day her illness was a struggle. Josh didn’t go a day without worrying about her. It was as if he had his own child to look after. He frequently waited up to make sure she arrived home safely. He hounded her to make sure she followed up with her doctor’s appointments and took her medications. When the voices in her head were at their peak, it was full time job making sure she was safe.
Now, a whole new problem surfaced. Josh needed to make sure Laney could be supportive of Jillian. Jillian’s illness would become as much a part of Laney’s life as it was Josh’s if they remained together. Would Laney be able to deal with Jillian? Would she be able to accept this illness as part of her own life? Josh’s thoughts were like a volleyball going back and forth through his mind between the two women he loved.
He looked up at the movie screen only to see the credits running. It was over. He’d missed the entire thing.
“Did you like the movie?”
“Yeah, it was super cute. What did you think?”
“It was all right. I like how these types of movies have a happy ending after struggling against the odds.”
“You didn’t watch any of it. I saw you staring into space. I know you were working things out in your head. What’s going on up there?”
“Just the usual stuff.” Not wanting to talk about it, Josh blew Jillian off and started the car.
The ride home had been mostly quiet. Jillian talked about the movie for a few minutes, bringing up scenes she thought were funny including one with the snail dancing and another where the snails rode crows like horses. At one point she had asked Josh if he had seen any of the movie. He just shrugged and let her continue talking. Josh tuned out. He could see Jillian’s lips moving but all he could hear was the hum of his engine.
They got back to the house rather quickly. The traffic they met in Pacific Beach had dissipated allowing for an easy commute.
“Thanks for the movie. I had a good time.” Josh pulled the keys out of the ignition, opened the door, and unfolded his body as he got out of the car.
“You’re welcome. Do you want to hang out a little bit?”
“No, I think I’m just going to hit the hay. I want to get up early and see Laney.” Josh pulled Duke out of the car and led him into the house. “Good night, Jilly.”
Chapter 17
Laney
“Can you hear me, Laney? Is there anyone home inside that pretty little head of yours?”
The fog dissipated as Laney heard the familiar voice.
“You’re so innocent lying there in that bed. I know the truth about you. You’re not innocent, and you don’t deserve to be with that handsome doctor.”
Why is this voice so familiar? Who is it? Why is she here?
Laney sensed this person wasn’t good. Perhaps even dangerous. Her heart pounded in her chest like a jackhammer. She could hear the sound in her ears. The fight or flight response kicked in. Laney willed her body to move to be able to get up and run away or fight back. To no avail, her body refused to respond. She just lay there like a prisoner in a cell and listening to the person talking.
“He’s mine. You got that? He was mine before you came into the picture, and he’ll be mine when you’re gone. You’d better heed my warning and walk right out of his life.”
So this person wants to be with Josh. Is she an ex-girlfriend? Holy crap! What’ve I gotten myself into?
“How could he be interested in a train wreck like you? He deserves better than a little slut. You’re nothing! Yet you monopolize all of his time. Maybe if I just get rid of you, he won’t spend so much time in here.”
The medications weighed on Laney making it difficult to think clearly. She felt intoxicated.
“I see your parents have arrived. Are they taking you home with them? You should go. It’s better for you to be far away from here. You’ll be safer there, and all of your problems will disappear. If you stay, these unfortunate events may continue to occur. Is that what you want?”
The woman was leaning over Laney. The warmth of her breath spewed across her face. Peppermint. Her breath reeked of peppermint like the breath mints one got at a restaurant after dinner. Hands formed around her neck. Laney wanted to push them away, yet she was frozen. She couldn’t do anything to stop her. She couldn’t open her eyes even though she wanted to so badly. The pounding in her head grew louder and faster. Her heart was about to jump out of her chest. All of a sudden, the peppermint and hands left. She was gone. It was silent except for the alarming from her monitor. Time seemed to stand still before someone turned the alarm off.
“Jesus, your heart rate is too high. What’s happening?” It was a different voice. Perhaps a nurse. Someone who knew how to operate the machines. She pressed buttons and the alarms stopped. A heaviness seeped into Laney’s veins and spread throughout her body. She struggled to fight it. She needed to be awake and find out the identity of the peppermint woman. The more she struggled, the foggier her world became. Silence took over Laney’s world, preventing her from feeling or thinking.
Chapter 18
Josh
“Good morning, my beautiful princess. I assume you slept well last night.” Josh studied Laney’s rhythmic breathing. He loved to watch her. Despite all the tubes connected to her, Laney was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her cheeks had pinked up a bit. Despite being sick, she was glowing. She always glowed. That was one of the things Josh loved about her.
Her lips were a cross between red and pink. They were pouty. Josh wanted so badly to place his lips upon hers but her breathing tube was in the way. He settled for leaving a lingering kiss on the corner of her mouth.
The monitor displayed Laney’s vital signs were good. He also got a glimpse of the time, which showed it was 4:58 in the morning. He liked to be in the hospital during this hour. It was one of the few times when there wasn’t a lot of hustle and bustle from visitors, vendors, and procedures being performed.
He checked the dialysis machine and inspected the nurse’s charting. The fluid Laney had been retaining was being removed at a steady rate. Her vitals had been stable throughout the entire process. Things looked good. Josh had been holding his breath. He let out a sigh of relief knowing she was doing better.
“Hey, beautiful, things seem to be going pretty well. You’re moving in the right direction. God is listening to my prayers. Just hang in there. I need to keep you sedated for a little while longer. Hopefully, just another couple of days. Then you can open those beautiful green eyes of yours. I can’t wait to see those magnificent jewels.”
Something moved out of the corner of his eye. A nurse had entered the room.
“Good morning, Dr. Stone. How are you?” “Good, thank you. How was Laney’s night?”
“It went well. The labs haven’t come back yet. They should be ready anytime. Oh, there was this one thing that happened.”
“Oh?” Josh’s pulse quickened.
“Well, I’d gone out to the nurse’s station to grab some supplies. When I got back, her monitor was alarming and her heart rate was in the one-thirties. It was weird because she hadn’t had any stimulation, and I hadn’t changed anything or given her any medications. There was no reason for it as far as I could tell.”
“I see. Did you have to give her additional sedation for her heart rate to come down or did it come down on its own?”
/> “I bolused her with some Propofol. It came down pretty quickly after that. She hasn’t had an episode since.”
“It sounds like you did the right thing. Keep an eye on her and if it happens again, I want to know about it immediately. I don’t care what time day or night. Make sure you pass it on to the rest of the nurses.”
“Sure, no problem. What do you think caused it?”
“I’m not sure. It has happened before. I believe she can sense what’s going on around her, and she might be getting stressed. I’d like to be able to trend when it’s happening.”
“It just seems strange. She’s on the beta-blocker, her blood pressure is good, and she has plenty of fluids on board. She’s not dehydrated. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for her heart rate to spike like that.” Lynn crossed her arms, contemplating the cause.
“Hopefully, it’s just transient and there won’t be any more issues. Sometimes after heart surgery, a patient can have reperfusion beats. Maybe that’s what it is.”
Josh wracked his brain trying to think of anything else. Nothing was glaringly obvious. He sat next to Laney and stroked her arm. He talked to her as though she could talk back. He shared with her all of the things that had taken place over the past several days with the exception of the letter. She didn’t need to know about it. She didn’t need the stress.
Josh got Laney caught up on what was going on with Jillian, her parents and the strange dynamics taking place between the three of them, and he praised Peyton for being supportive of him and their relationship.
“Laney, I just can’t let them take you away. I don’t know what I’d do without you here with me. I can take care of you here. I’ll make sure you have everything you need. You are my world. I need you. I can’t imagine spending a day without seeing your beautiful smile and the twinkle in your eye when you’re razzing me. I love you.”
Laney’s nurse, Lynn, was still in the room watching the dialysis and could hear everything he was saying. He didn’t care. Josh wanted to profess his love to the world. He didn’t feel there was a reason to keep it a secret. She was his family now and there was nothing that would change it.
Josh continued the small talk about current events, sports including the all-star game and who got drafted for the NFL, and the heat wave that was supposed to last for at least the next ten days.
“Dr. Stone? The labs are back.”
Josh shifted his attention from Laney to the nurse. She rolled the computer to him so he could look at the numbers.
“Her BUN and creatinine look to be a bit better this morning. Any urine output?” Josh inquired.
“A little bit. There has been about one-hundred-fifty cc in the last twelve hours.”
“Not as good as I’d like. Her other labs are looking pretty good. What was the total amount of fluids that has been taken off since we started the dialysis?”
The nurse flipped through her charts from the previous shift as well as her own. “It looks like we were able to take off about two liters. Her vital signs were stable throughout.”
“Everything seems to be going as I’d hoped. If she keeps it up, we could potentially stop the dialysis tomorrow. We’ll have to see how today goes. I’ll run it by Dr. Arnold and see what he thinks.”
Josh was pleased. He wanted to take her off the sedation when they discontinued the dialysis. That way, she could talk to her parents and hopefully get them to understand there was no way she was leaving with them.
Perhaps he was putting too much pressure on Laney. She would be stressed about her parents when she figured out what was going on. It would be worse if she woke up in another state only to find out what they had done. No one at the other hospital would be aware of the dynamics between Laney and her parents and may not be prepared to deal with her reaction. Josh couldn’t let that happen. She needed him to pull her through. He was the best person for the job. If he had even an ounce of doubt, he would surely hand off her care to someone he thought could do better. That wasn’t the case. Laney would wake up in a couple days and be fine.
Shift change was taking place among the nurses. Peyton was talking to the night nurse. They were rehashing the events of the previous twelve hours. Lynn had passed on the information about Laney’s heart rate just as he had asked. For the first time in a while, Josh was confident everything would go smoothly from this point forward. A weight had been lifted from his shoulders leaving him feeling lighter and less stressed.
Josh pulled out his phone to catch up on some emails. He placed one hand on top of Laney’s—he needed the physical connection—and mastered using his phone with the free hand. Her soft skin and the warmth of her body kept him grounded. There was no other feeling that compared.
Josh sorted through the junk email pretty quickly. Then he read messages from work regarding the various committees he was on. He noted the meeting dates in his calendar. He scanned some personal emails and came upon one from his mom. She was always afraid to call. She knew how much he worked and never wanted to disturb him despite Josh reassuring her it would be okay. Their means of communication was through email unless Josh called her. He read the letter:
Joshy-
I hope everything is going well with you. I spoke to Jilly yesterday, and she caught me up to speed on what’s going on with your lady friend. I hope she’ll be okay. You must be under a lot of stress worrying about her. Please let me know if I can help in any way. I would love to bring over a casserole.
Jilly also told me how happy she is lately. It sounds as though she has a new man in her life. Would you know anything about him? Is he a good person? I worry about her so much. I assume she’s still taking her medications. I know you wouldn’t let her slip if you could help it.
Anyway, I know you’re busy. When you get a chance, please call me so we can catch up. Please let me know if I can bring you a casserole.
Love always,
Mom
“Geez, Mom. You and your casseroles. I hate casseroles. They’re disgusting.”
She had never cooked casseroles when they were younger. As his mom got older, she started spending time with some ladies in her senior group who raved about them. Now, it was the only thing she made. She baked them for birthdays, friends who were ill, and just because. She brought one to his house at least once a week for him and Jillian. No sooner did they get it, they threw it in the trash. It was wasteful, but they were just so terrible.
Josh reread the letter. Curious about Jillian’s new man, Josh was determined to meet him. Jillian was pretty evasive the night before. He didn’t get a lot of information out of her, mostly because of the shock from the news she had shared with him. Which reminded him, he needed to call her doctor.
“Good morning. It looks as though Laney’s night went well.”
Peyton stood in front of him holding a clipboard. She looked refreshed after getting some sleep and wore a big smile on her face. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her blue eyes sparkled like an alpine lake. She wore cheery scrubs with little puppy dogs wearing nurse’s caps. Peyton was, in her own right, very beautiful. He imagined she had no trouble getting dates.
“Yes, I’m pleased with her progress. I expect she won’t have to be on dialysis for much longer.”
“That’s great. That’s such good news. I can’t wait for her to get better and be able to talk with her again. It seems like it’s been forever.” Peyton hugged herself as a smile lit up her face like a kid’s on Christmas Day.
Josh smiled at how giddy Peyton was at the mere mention of Laney slightly improving. He couldn’t wait to get to know Peyton better once he moved Laney into his house. She was a nice girl and a great friend to Laney.
“When she wakes up, she can tell her parents she wants to stay here with me.”
Peyton’s smile quickly turned into a frown. Josh reciprocated as his smile faded. “What is it, Peyton? What’s going on?”
“I forgot to tell you. Laney’s parents are looking for another doctor to
resume her care.”
“Yeah, I know. They want her to go to Missouri.”
“No, they’re looking for a doctor here. They want you off the case. They think you’re too close to her and you might miss something. They also think you’re going to try and thwart their efforts in getting her transferred. I don’t think her mom likes you.”
Josh’s heart dropped into his stomach. Fear coursed through his veins. He didn’t care if her parents hated him. They couldn’t do this. Josh held onto Laney’s hand for dear life. There was no way he was letting her go. He needed to think. He had to stop this. Josh fought the urge to panic.
“I tried to talk them out of it, but Laney’s mom was very adamant.”
“Why didn’t you call me the moment this happened?”
“I don’t know. It happened at change of shift last night. I got distracted with all of the charting I needed to catch up on before I could leave. I’m so sorry.”
Josh searched his brain. He could fix this. He had to. There was no way he would let Laney’s parents run him off.
Josh picked up Laney’s hand and placed his lips to it. “I’ll take care of this, my love. Don’t you worry.” Josh bolted from his chair, grabbing his lab coat before he left the room.
“Where are you going?” Peyton called after him.
“I’m going to fix this. You’ll see!” Josh darted down the hallway.
Chapter 19
Laney
There was movement. Someone was walking around the room again. Chairs screeched across the floor as they were repositioned. Laney smelled her mom’s perfume and her dad’s aftershave. Those smells were like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day.
“Good morning. How’s my sweet daughter today?”
“Laney is progressing well. I’m sure Dr. Stone will be in shortly to give you an update.”
