Chased Dreams (19 page)

“Well, you’re stuck with me now, so what
shall we do from here?” I wished she were in my arms. I wanted to
kiss her like I used to. But first, I needed to get cleaned up and
looking a bit more presentable.

“That’s why I’m calling actually. I enrolled
in some summer classes while you were . . . .”

“Living in an alternate universe?” I
supplied answer for her and she laughed.

“I don’t want to bring up anything painful
for you.”

I sighed. “It is what it is, Nikki. You
might as well just say it straight. It doesn’t bother me.”

“Okay, then. While you were in your coma, I
enrolled in some summer classes at Northern College. It was
important to me to still be close to you, but my mom felt it would
help keep me occupied.”

“So you ditched me for school? Is that what
you’re trying to tell me?” I was totally joking, but at her sharp
intake of breath, I realized I’d offended her.

“I would never ditch you—even during the
rest of our senior year. I quit cheer and brought my homework there
so I could sit by you. I even turned on the sports channel so you
could listen to the pro and college football games.”

“You did?”
Was that the reason I dreamed
of playing football?

“Yes. I was desperate. I tried everything to
get you to wake up—I just needed you to wake up.”

“I was kidding, by the way. I know you
wouldn’t ditch me. So, tell me what you were trying to tell
me.”

“I was saying I’m enrolled in classes, but
I’m headed to the school to see if I can drop them so I can spend
more time with you.”

“Don’t,” I replied quickly.

“Why not?” She sounded worried.

“You’ve put your life on hold for me long
enough. I’m not going anywhere. Take your classes and then come see
me when you’re finished.”

“But I
want
to be with you.”

I chuckled. “I want that too, but you need
to stay in your classes. Please, for me?”

“You did not just pull the ‘for me’
card.”

I laughed. “I did. And it’s my first
official request of you, so you can’t deny it.”

“That’s so not fair.”

“It is. We’re going to be spending tons of
time together from now on. I don’t want you getting sick of me too
fast.”

“
That
will never happen.” I could
hear some music playing in the background as she spoke.

“Are you driving?” I asked, a bit of fear
shooting through me.

“Yes, why?” She sounded perplexed.

“I don’t want you being distracted. Hang up
and go to class, then come see me when you’re done. I’ll ask my mom
to help me get a cell phone and then we can text if we want, but I
don’t want you on the phone while you’re driving.”

“Feeling paranoid?”

“Very paranoid. I’ll talk to you later. I
can’t wait to see you.”

“I’ll be out of this class in three hours.
I’ll see you then.”

“Perfect. I love you, Nikki.”

“I love you, too. See you soon. Bye.”

My arm was shaking by the time she hung up
and I dropped the receiver to the bed, unable to even hang it up.
How was this possible? It was stupid that something that used to be
so simple, I never even thought about it, was now so difficult to
do.

“Need a little help?”

Smiling, I glanced at the door, staring at
my mom as she entered. She came and lifted the phone and placed it
back in the cradle.

“Thanks,” I said with a sigh, leaning my
head back against the pillow. “Apparently my status has changed
from star quarterback to invalid.”

“That’s not what I see,” my mom replied,
brushing my hair back from my forehead and then bending to kiss me
there.

“Is that so? What do you see then?”

“I see the strongest kid I’ve ever met. The
young man, who could’ve given up, but didn’t; and kept
fighting—even when the rest of us lost hope. And, I see the most
beautiful sight of all, my child, alive.” Her eyes misted over.

“Well, when you put it like that, I guess I
am pretty awesome.”

She laughed. “And not only are you alive,
but you still have that beautiful sense of humor.” She sat in the
chair beside my bed.

I smiled. “You’ve called me beautiful twice
now in the last minute. You better be careful. It might start going
to my head.”

“I think you’re deserving of a few
accolades. You’ve worked hard to get where you are.”

“Yeah, lying in bed for nine months. It’s a
tough job, but someone’s got to do it.” Turning my hand over in
invitation, she slipped hers in mine. “I thought you’d be working
today.”

Making a sound similar to a snort, she shook
her head. “You just woke up after being in a coma for ages. There’s
no way I’d be going into work today.”

“I just went through all this with Nikki.
She tried to drop her college classes so she could be here, too. I
know you all have lives. I want you to keep living them. There’ll
be plenty of time for us to be together.”

“We simply want to be here to support
you.”

“And you will. I know that, but I don’t want
you all to feel I need to be babysat every single second. I can
take being alone.”

“Has the doctor been in to check on you
today?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Not yet.”

“Well, I spoke to him a little more last
night. I know he’s anxious to get you up and moving as much as
possible. They’ve been doing therapy on you already, moving your
legs and stuff, in an effort to keep you from getting blood
clots.”

“Blood clots?” That term caught my attention
immediately.

“Yes, there was a lot of concern, especially
in the beginning, right after the accident. The doctor said they
are common in injured patients. They checked for things like that
in the CT scans they did.”

That caught my attention, my memories
flitting back to when I thought Nikki was getting a CT scan.
Several things were adding up to run parallel to the events in my
mind.

“You’re going to have a lot of work ahead of
you. Eating, building your strength, mental and physical
therapy—it’s a lot to deal with.”

“I’m up for it,” I replied. “I’ve come this
far. No sense in stopping now.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling upbeat about
things.”

“I am. The only thing holding me back now is
feeling weak and tired. If it were up to me, I’d be running out of
this place.”

“Easy, Tiger. One day at a time. The doctor
did say they were going to add a bar above your bed, both to help
you with moving around and for building muscle.”

“Sounds like a plan. So, can I ask a favor
of you?”

“Sure, what?”

“Do you still have my cell phone? Or can we
get another one? I want to be able to text with people while I’m in
here. It’ll help pass the time.”

“People? Or Nikki?” she asked, with a
knowing smile.

I chuckled. “Of course Nikki, and Brett, and
may be even you once in a while.”

She gave a short laugh. “At least you’re
honest. Anything else you want?”

“Clothes. I’d really appreciate something
besides a hospital gown. It’s kind of hard to look good in one of
these things.”

“I’ll bring you some clothes if the doctor
says that’s okay. And Grandpa is bringing a bunch of stuff to you
today, razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, that kind of
stuff. He should be here before too long.”

“Sounds good.” I eyed her suspiciously, my
gaze zeroing in on the diamond ring on her finger.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing. I’m just wondering how things are
going with you? I’d like to hear some of what’s been going on in
someone else’s life for a change. What’s up with Greg?”

She smiled sweetly. “Greg is amazing. Things
have been going really well with him. Very well, actually.” She was
glowing.

“And?” I prodded.

“Well, we were planning on getting married
in August. We’ve picked a place in Greer that we thought would be
nice for the ceremony. But now that you are back with us, I think
we’ll postpone things until you can participate with us.”

“Have you talked to me about this before?” I
asked, even though I already knew what the answer would be.

She nodded. “Yes, Greg and I both came to
sit with you. He’s even come to visit you alone.”

“I’m excited for you, Mom. He seems like a
great guy and you look really happy.”

“I am really happy, now that you’re awake.”
Squeezing my hand tighter, her eyes watered. “I’ve missed you so
badly, son. I thought I was going to lose you just like your dad. I
didn’t know if I could bear that.”

“I don’t plan on going anywhere.”

A small smile creased her mouth. “Good, I’m
glad.” Glancing toward the clock, she sighed. “I guess I’ll go out
and see if I can find out when the doctor will be in. If it’s going
to be a little while, then I’ll go get your new phone. Your old one
didn’t survive the accident, I’m afraid.”

“Where’d my truck end up?” I asked, hating
that the gift from my Dad had been destroyed.

“One of the local junk yards took it.
There’s no hope of reviving it, I promise you that.”

“Yeah, Nikki told me it was messed up
bad.”

“We’ll get you healed and then see what we
can do about getting you something else to drive.” Standing, she
bent to kiss me, again, and started for the door.

“Hey, Mom?” I called after her and she
turned to glance at me. “Is Turk still alive?”

She smiled and nodded. “He is; only he’s
been fishnapped by your grandpa. He was determined to make sure he
survived to be there when you came home. Grandpa never gave up
hope.”

That almost made me teary. I loved that he
took care of my fish. “I’d like to have him brought here, if that’s
okay. I don’t know what the rules are in this place.”

“I’ll find out,” she replied. “Did you know
you’re in the same facility as Nikki’s grandma?”

“Really?” I glanced around at the room
again, suddenly seeing the similarities. “I didn’t know, but I’d
like to go see her sometime.”

“I think she’d like that, too.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Several doctors had been called in to
consult on my case. They were calling my recovery a miracle. After
being put through a myriad of tests and exams, I was pronounced to
be in relatively good health, as least as far as my brain was
concerned. I’d been given the okay to start physical therapy and
begin rebuilding my body.

Standing with the help of Grandpa, my hands
gripping the sink for support, I stared into the mirror shocked,
finding it hard to believe that this was considered anywhere in the
realm of healthy. I barely recognized the face that stared back at
me. My cheeks were hollowed out, my eyes sunken with dark circles
beneath them. The rest of my body was looking pretty bad, too. I’d
heard the term skin and bones before, but now I was living it.

“I need lots of Grandma’s fried chicken.
Like yesterday,” I said.

Grandpa chuckled. “I think your doctor might
have an issue with that. They want to keep you on these light, soft
foods they’ve been giving you, while your system gets reintroduced
to eating.”

“Smuggle the chicken in then. I’ll eat it on
the sly. No one will be any the wiser.” Even though he was helping
to hold me up, I was shaking like a newborn baby under the
strain.

“I see you’re still as impatient as ever.
Come on, let’s sit you back in your wheelchair before you
fall.”

I didn’t argue. Between the shower and this,
I was exhausted—even though I’d been sitting down for the shower
while he did most of the washing. It was insane. The thought of
running down a football field seemed like something I’d never
achieve again, at this point. At least I’d been allowed to put on
one of my own t-shirts and a pair of basketball shorts today. That
did wonders toward making me feel a little more like myself.
Hospital gowns were simply not my style.

“Do you feel up to trying to shave your face
this time, or do you want me to go ahead and do it for you?”

Glancing down at my trembling hands, I
determined my answer immediately. “As much as I’d like to say I can
do it, Grandpa, I’m afraid I’d cut my own throat.”

“Don’t feel bad, son. It’s going to take
some time for you to get back anywhere close to where you were
before all of this. You basically have to retrain all your muscles
to do everything they used to do. It’s not going to be an easy
road. As a corpsman in the Marines, I saw a lot of cases like this,
though some were not near as lucky as you are. Those brave men
worked so hard, trying to reclaim parts of themselves that used to
come naturally.”

“Did they succeed?”

He draped a towel around my shoulder before
shooting a large amount of shaving cream in his palm and applying
it to my face. “Many of them did, but there were some who couldn’t
handle the strain either. Some even committed suicide.” He began
shaving my face with a straight blade like they used in a
barbershop.
I’d have definitely slit my throat if I tried to use
that thing.

He continued speaking. “I’m not telling you
these things to scare you. I just want you to be prepared for the
reality of the situation. This may be the hardest thing you’ve ever
had to do in your life.”

I didn’t reply, since I didn’t want to get
cut, but I disagreed. Losing Nikki had been the hardest thing I’d
ever had to do in my life. True, I hadn’t really lost her, but
those memories, the version of the story in my mind, would haunt me
for the rest of my life.

Even now, this many days later, I still had
to pinch myself every time she walked into the room. I loved seeing
her, touching her, everything about her. The only thing I hadn’t
loved was the fact that she seemed to be holding back from me. I
was positive that she was simply worried about me, trying to handle
me carefully, but it was driving me crazy. I wanted to be able to
sweep her off her feet and carry her out of this place. I wanted to
hold and kiss her like I used to.