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Loving Again(73)

By:Peggy Bird


                “How long will he be in the hospital?” Amanda asked. “And can we see him?”

                “We’ll put him in ICU overnight to observe him for concussion and then see how he recovers from the surgery. His arm will be in a cast for about six weeks and he’ll need physical therapy to make sure he has a full range of motion in his shoulder. You can see him when he gets to ICU. Why don’t you wait here and you can go with him when they transfer him.”

                Knowing that Sam wouldn’t want his sons to hear what happened from a television newscast, Amanda called his former wife to alert her. By the time she was off the phone, Danny had left to go back downtown to talk to Drake Vos and begin her reports.

                After a few hours, Sam was deemed stable enough to go to ICU and Amanda and Margo accompanied him there. They didn’t stay long. Sam had been sedated but the nurse assured Amanda that by the next day he’d be alert and able to talk to her. She suggested Amanda go home and get some sleep.

                Yeah, like that was gonna happen.





Chapter Fifteen


                Amanda heard the doorbell ring the next morning but didn’t bother getting out of bed. It was probably someone going door-to-door selling religion. Or lawn care. The only person she wanted to see at her front door was in the hospital attached to a million machines.

                Then Margo Keyes knocked on her bedroom door. “Amanda, are you awake? Danny Hartmann’s here. She has a message from Sam.”

                Amanda was downstairs in seconds. “Sam called you? How is he? What did he say?”

                “He called me when he couldn’t get you. How come you aren’t answering your phones?”

                Margo raised her hand. “My fault. Since Amanda didn’t have a car at the hospital last night, I drove her home. When I got her here she said she didn’t want to be alone, so I stayed. Unplugged her landline phones and turned off her cell. Figured there might be press calling and I didn’t want her disturbed.”

                “How is he?” Amanda asked again.

                “He sounded amazingly good. In fact, he was calling with a list of things he wants because he doesn’t like what he has in the hospital. I thought maybe you could take them to him, Amanda, as soon as we collect them.”

                “What’s he want?” Amanda asked.

                “A pajama top, an electric razor and a cell phone. I picked up a cell phone.”

                “My brother left an electric razor the last time he was here,” Amanda said.

                “And, don’t ask why, but I have a man’s pajama top that should fit Sam,” Margo said. “I’ll go get it now while you shower and get something to eat, Amanda.”

                Ninety minutes later, after a hot shower and a breakfast Danny insisted she try to eat, Amanda was at the hospital. She’d had a nervous drive there trying to convince herself Sam would be happy to see her when she wasn’t at all sure he would. After all, she was the reason he was in the hospital. He’d been mad about her not telling him what she knew and he didn’t know the half of what she’d been keeping from him.

                Clutching a plastic bag containing what she’d brought for him, she stopped inside the door of the room and watched him, she wasn’t sure for what. Maybe some kind of welcoming sign. But he seemed to be asleep. His eyes were closed, his head half turned away from her. The monitors attached to him were quietly beeping and booping — indicating, apparently, that his heart and whatever else they were monitoring were working correctly because, in spite of the beeps and boops, no one was running to the room with a crash cart.