Carson hadn’t complained. He’d just hovered. Encouraged her. Held her up when her body and her will had started to falter.
Exhausted and sore from working her muscles after a week of no activity, she returned to her room. But her fear about getting lost in sleep kicked in again. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t settle down until Carson climbed in bed with her.
Luckily she’d slept without dreams.
But again she woke in a panic.
Carson calmed her down before the nurses barreled in. “Hey, sugar. Listen to me. If something doesn’t feel right, you need to tell someone. If you’re havin’ headaches or hallucinations or you’re feelin’ paranoid, some of that is a normal reaction as the drugs are getting washed out of your system. Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t try and hide it. The doctors can’t help your recovery process if they don’t know what they’re dealin’ with.”
She closed her eyes and nestled her face in his neck. “I’m scared.”
Carson didn’t say anything; he just trailed his fingers up and down her spine.
After a bit she began to talk. Then it all spewed out, in a fragmented mess. Her emotions were all over the place.
“Did that help?”
“Just being with you helps.”
“Mmm. I love the sweet talkin’ side of you.” He traced her jawline with his thumb. “You know you can tell me anything, but you oughta rethink your stance on talkin’ to the lady psychologist because I think she can help you.”
She frowned. “What stance?”
“You told her you didn’t need her help.”
“I don’t remember.” Another memory lapse. How many had she had since she came out of the coma? Two? Three? A dozen? “Was I rude to her?”
Carson shrugged. “I’m sure she’s used to patients tellin’ her to get the hell out of their rooms and to never come back.”
Her stomach roiled. “I said that?”
“It wasn’t like you made her cry or nothin’.”
Carolyn wanted to cry. “Am I going through one of those personality changes? Where I was a nice woman and after bein’ in a coma I become a total asshole?”
“Hey, it was one incident. You’re entitled to a little bad behavior after what you’ve been through. Don’t get yourself riled up.”
“Too late.”
“Sugar, just breathe, okay?”
“I can’t. I’m suffocating.”
He kissed her then, a sweet distraction. Soft smooches and the gentle brush of his lips across hers, the tease of his breath mingling with hers while his thumb continued to caress her face with utmost tenderness.
It settled her. It soothed her. She curled into him. His heart beat steadily beneath her ear. His outdoorsy scent filled her senses.“What time are the kids coming?”
“Whenever you’re feelin’ up to it. No rush.”
Carolyn lifted her head from his chest. “I thought they were all fired up to see me since you kept them out of ICU for the past week.”
“They are very anxious to see you. But they were also warned you might have a setback the first couple of days, so they’re on standby.”
“Setback? I haven’t had a setback.”
The look in his eyes contradicted her statement. “Answer me this. How long have you been out of the coma?”
“Not even twenty-four hours.”
He shook his head. “It’s been forty-eight hours.”
Time confusion in the first couple days is an aftereffect for coma patients, the doctors had assured her.
“You were agitated by the pain, so they had to sedate you and keep you in ICU.”
“It’s a blur.”
“It’ll get better.”
“You’re sure?”
“No, but whatever happens, Caro, we’ll deal with it together.”
“I hate that I put you through this.”
“Just another bump in the road. We’ve had a few of ’em the past fifty years.”
Later that day Carolyn felt a million times better after they let her shower. It was such a shock to see her hair buzzed almost to her scalp. Carson already said he was used to it and he liked it. Then he’d gone into great detail about all the places on his body he couldn’t wait to feel her rubbing that short hair.
If the thought of that man’s wicked mouth and skilled hands all over her didn’t speed up her recovery process and her desire to go home, nothing would.
Carson had summoned their kids. She’d debated putting on makeup so as to not scare them, but nothing would hide the pallor of the last week so she opted to let her age show.
She was wired as she waited. Carson sat beside her on a tall chair, his hands in near constant motion. Seemed he had a case of nerves too.