Chapter 2

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I jerked awake when Barbara slipped into my room the next morning with my breakfast tray.

"Good morning, Eden." Barbara opened a juice cup, but I spilled it. My fingers still weren't as nimble as they’d used to be though the swelling had gone down significantly. "Oops." She grinned, and mopped my gown with a napkin while the temperature probe she'd slipped under my tongue did its thing. "You're still feverish."

I shrugged. I'd already figured that. When Barbara smiled, I smiled too. I couldn't help it. Barbara was great. She wore her hair short and gelled into a spiky mess. She had a little stuffed animal clipped to the purple stethoscope she wore draped over her neck. She wheeled a blood pressure gizmo to my bedside and I gingerly rolled onto my stomach while she lowered the head of my bed. When I was flat, Barbara fastened the cuff to my thigh and inflated it. I jerked when she put the stethoscope behind my knee. It was cold.

"Oops, sorry, again."

Barbara finished her collection of my vitals. "Sorry, honey. Rest for you today. I'll talk to Dr. Nielsen about your meds, see what we can do to get this fever down and call Ranger, tell him no whirlpool today."

I was disappointed to hear that. Ranger was great. We really got along well. He never acted all goofy around me like guys usually did. I figured Ranger was maybe twenty-five or thirty. He was so careful with me. Respectful, even. He never made me feel embarrassed. And, thank God, he never bought the act that Maddie tried to sell – that I was some sort of celebutante who required all sorts of special attention and treatment – or worse, that I wanted it.

"Barbara, my friend Ashley promised to visit me. Will she be allowed?"

Barbara frowned at me for a second and then smiled. "I'll see what I can do. Oh. I almost forgot. You got another gift from "a fan" today. A box of chocolates. Sure you don’t want them?”

I shuddered. Definitely not. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay. Then, finish your breakfast."

I ate the fruit and drank my juice but the powdery eggs were awful. I glanced at the menu left on the tray and rolled my eyes. Maddie must have filled it out. They were feeding me from the Dietary Restrictions menu. Of course, Maddie would be concerned that I’d put on weight while I recuperated. I read the other choices and my stomach growled. French Toast, yogurt. Bagels. Well, it’s not like a few pounds were going to hurt me now. I grabbed a pen. It felt awkward in my gauze-covered hand but it didn't really hurt. I chose every item on the menu. 

When I finished eating and had used the bathroom to brush my teeth and tie up my dirty hair, I had to walk around for a while. My legs were stiff and my body ached from doing nothing. I changed into a fresh gown, covered it with another gown worn backwards like a robe and pushed my IV pole down the corridor. Barbara was at the main desk, filling out charts. The corridor was filled with carts of various types. The smell of disinfectant hung heavy on the air. I could smell that but not the meals.

Maybe that was a blessing.

People in the corridors watched me shuffle by the meal cart, standing by to collect empty trays, the bin for dirty laundry, an empty gurney. A blood pressure cart. The crash cart. There was so much clutter in these corridors, it had to be a fire safety violation.

At the end of the hall, I turned and headed back the way I came. The staring didn't bother me. Not really. I was used to people watching me strut down a runway or pose in front of a camera. Okay, so now they'd be looking at scars. It was okay.

Really.

A crash caught my attention, followed by a loud curse. I searched for the source, found Ollie, Ranger's patient from yesterday, trying to push his own wheelchair through the door to what I supposed was his room, next to mine. He'd gotten tangled up in one of the various carts that lined the hall.

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