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Blakely
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“You doing okay?” Tyler stands next to my bed, hovering over me like a watch dog.
“I’m sore,” I admit, finding it hard to keep my eyes open. Even though I’ve slept for nearly an entire day, I’m just so tired.
Of course that might have something to do with the doctors and nurses that were in and out of my room all night last night waking me up every hour on the hour to take my vitals and ask me weird questions that made very little sense in my tired state.
“Where is everyone?” I ask, glancing around the room. I feel like I only closed my eyes for a second.
“Mary and Allie headed home. Mary has to work today, but Allie said she’d be back later if you’re up for the company. She’s supposed to call me before she heads this way. Your mom and dad went home to shower and change. Your mom said something about stopping by the flower shop and watering some of the plants, but they should be back soon.”
“I forgot all about the shop.” I sigh heavily.
“Well, you kind of have other things on your mind.”
“Yeah, like sleep,” I say around a yawn.
“Anyway, that’s the benefit of owning your own business; you can close down when needed...” He drifts off.
“Only if you want no clientele left.”
“Florence’s has been in business for decades. I highly doubt one day is going to drive people away. Your mom already called Sheila and they’re going to handle the shop until you’re back on your feet.”
“Well that won’t be long if I have anything to say about it.”
“Says the girl who can barely keep her eyes open,” he teases.
“What time is it, anyway?” I ask, searching for the controls that adjust the bed.
“Just after three in the afternoon. You’ve slept nearly all day. The doctor should be in soon. The way he talked it sounds like they might keep you one more day, just to be safe.”
“I don’t want to stay another day.”
“I know you don’t, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. You took a pretty good hit to the head. They’re being cautious.”
“I guess.” I sigh loudly. “How do I sit this bed up?” I ask, growing frustrated that I can’t find what I’m looking for.
“Here.” Tyler reaches across me and hits a button on the panel, causing the bed to inch upward.
“That’s good,” I tell him when I’m sitting almost completely upright.
He smiles, reaching behind me to adjust my pillows. I wish I could say he’s only being sweet because I’m hurt, but the truth is he’s almost always like this. He cares for me in a way I still don’t fully understand. Like he needs to be needed in order to feel fulfilled.
“Are you hungry? Can I get you anything to eat?”
“Actually, I am a little hungry,” I admit, not able to remember the last time I ate. Maybe yesterday afternoon when I was at the beach.
Asher’s face instantly flashes through my mind and my stomach twists. I only vaguely remember him being here last night when Tyler came in. The entire encounter is such a blur, but I do remember that he and Tyler exchanged a few words before he left. Though I have no idea what those words were as I’ve been in and out since then.
Regardless, I know that Tyler and I are going to need to sit down and discuss Asher. Though as of right now he seems perfectly content avoiding the topic all together. Which I have to admit works for me. I’m not in the right mental state to have a real conversation, especially with all the pain meds they’ve been feeding me.
“I’ll run down to the cafeteria and get you something. Anything in particular sound good?”
“Not really. I guess maybe just a sandwich or something.” I shrug. “Oh, and a sweet tea if they have it,” I quickly add.
“Sandwich and a sweet tea coming right up.” He leans forward and drops a kiss to my forehead.
“Hey, Ty?” I call after him just as he reaches the door.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know where my phone is?” I look around, not seeing any of my personal items.
“Actually, no. It wasn’t with your stuff. I’m assuming it got lost during the accident. I’ll see about getting you a new one once we’re home.”
“Okay.” I nod, watching him disappear into the hallway moments later.
I’ve barely had time to adjust in bed when the door swings open again. I look up, expecting to see Tyler. Instead, I’m completely thrown when I see it’s Asher who quickly steps into the room and shuts the door behind him.
“I thought he would never leave.” He shakes his head, turning back toward me.
“Asher... What. What are you doing here?” I stutter out.
“I had to see you.” He rushes to my bedside, allowing me to get my first real look at him since the accident.
He’s got a deep purple knot on the right side of his forehead and a couple scrapes on his cheek. I also notice a bandage wrapped around his hand.
“You shouldn’t be here.” I sit up straighter, cringing when I put even the slightest pressure on my left hand which is wrapped halfway up my forearm in a cast.
“I had to see you,” he repeats. “Your mom said you were doing okay, but I couldn’t go home until I could see it for myself.”
“Couldn’t go home? You mean you’ve been here all night?”
“I slept in the waiting room,” he confirms. This news causes my heart to flip inside my chest.
“Asher,” I start, but he quickly cuts me off.
“I’m so sorry, B.” He reaches out and slides the back of his fingers gently down my cheek.
“I’m the one that should be sorry. It was my fault. I was going too fast and took my eyes off the road.”
“Only after I gave you a hard time about how slow you were driving.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t try to spin this so that you can burden the guilt. This is on me. My punishment.”
“Your punishment?” He seems confused by my statement.
“It’s what I deserve, isn’t it? I knew I was playing with fire by being out with you. I knew it was wrong. That it wasn’t fair to Tyler. Yet I did it anyway. Maybe it was the universe’s way of knocking some sense into me.”
“You can’t believe that.” He reaches for my hand but I pull it away before he can touch me.
“I don’t know what I believe.”
“It was an accident. Accidents happen every single day. They don’t have to have some profound meaning. It just is what it is.”
“I can’t do this anymore, Asher,” I blurt.
“Can’t do what?”
“Any of this. It’s not fair to you or me and it’s especially not fair to Tyler.”
“B, you’re tired and hurt. It’s been a long twenty-four hours. Don’t make any rash decisions until you can really think them through.”
“This isn’t a rash decision. This is something I’ve known all along. We aren’t capable of just being friends, Asher. You know that as well as I do. We’re pretending. Kidding ourselves into believing something that isn’t true. The truth is, I’ve been so desperate not to lose you again that I’ve lost sight of what I built in your absence. I won’t throw away my relationship with Tyler over something that could never work.”
“Who says it can’t work?”
“You know it can’t.”
“I can’t lose you, B.”
“And I can’t be around you. I just can’t.” I stop myself from telling him that it’s too difficult to be around him. That over the last couple of weeks I’ve realized just how much I still love him and being around him makes me feel like I’m suffocating.
“I’m not going to walk away,” he tells me, matter of fact.
“I’m getting married in less than two weeks.”
“Then I have two weeks to change your mind.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.”
“We’ll see about that.” A trace of a smile forms on his lips and damn if it doesn’t make my insides twirl with excitement.
How does he do that?
“Tyler will be back any minute. You need to go,” I tell him, gesturing toward the door.
“Fine. I’ll go. But I meant what I said, B. I’m not giving up on you. Not now. Not ever.” With that, he presses a kiss to my temple and quickly exits the room. Stopping in the doorway, he gives me one last look over his shoulder before disappearing into the hallway, leaving me even more exhausted – physically and emotionally – than I was before.
