Page 62 of From Rivals to I Do

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After visiting Eli for a few more minutes, I need a little bit of a break. Although it’s nice to see him, and he’s still the same charming Eli, it’s hard to accept that all the memories we’ve made together have just evaporated into thin air. . . at least for him. I know it’s not his fault. Accidents happen. But I’d be lying if I said that it doesn’t pull at my heartstrings and bring on a new wave of hurt.

Either way, I’m not going to abandon him, that’s for sure. No. I’m going to stick around and see what happens. However, there is something I do need to take care of—figuring out what exactly went wrong with the hospital records.

“Thank you for letting me see him,” I say to Zack as he walks me out.

“No problem,” Zack replies. “We are supposed to be a bit gentle with him, but you can visit whenever you want.”

“Well, to be fair, he is my patient,” I say with a snort. “I thought I was going insane last night when I heard his voice, but I didn’t recognize it was him given the circumstances. Plus, it was really dark in there.”

“Understandable,” Zack says as his eyes flit away from me, and I turn to see Doctor Trachner walking through the hallway.

“Excuse me,” I say as I pat Zack on the shoulder, “I’ve got a mystery to solve.”

Before he can answer, I’m already long gone, stalking Doctor Trachner and pulling on his arm before he ducks back into his office.

“Hey!” he gasps as he twirls around and then puts a hand on his chest. “Oh, it’s just you,” he says, and I cannot help but notice the little bit of annoyance in his voice.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I say. “So, how’s the detective work going on the case of the two Garcia’s?”

“Well, from what I can tell, it was all just a big mistake,” Doctor Tracher says quietly. “I’m sorry for the confusion and the stress that it’s caused you.”

“You’re lucky nothing bad has happened to him and that he’s been given the right meds and stuff,” Noah growls from behind me, catching me off guard. “What if he’d been given the other guys’ meds? He could have gotten hurt!”

That is strange, I think to myself as I listen to Doctor Trachner and Noah go back and forth, Doctor Trachner trying his best to fend off Noah’s threats of a lawsuit the best he can.“Mr. Garcia, I’m really not sure what happened, but I don’t think a lawsuit is in order.” Doctor Trachner laughs nervously. “These kinds of things happen from time to time. . .”

Noah is right. If Elijah had died, and obviously Eli hadn’t, but his identity was mixed up. . . how did they know to give him the correct meds? I think to myself. I wonder for a moment if I should ask the doctor about it, but I decide against it. Especially while Noah is tearing him a new one.

I’ll do some snooping on my next shift, I think to myself. It’s obvious that Doctor Trachner seems to be more interested in covering his own butt than helping, that’s for sure. He just wants to make it go away. But something here isn’t right, and I’m determined to get to the bottom of it.

Chapter fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

“How ya feeling today, Pops?” Jeffrey asks as he settles into the chair next to me.

“I’m doing okay I suppose,” I reply, my mind still in the clouds from Darla’s visit. “Doctor says we can take a look at how the incision is healing today, and hopefully I won’t have to have these mummy bandages on anymore.”

“Annoying, aren’t they?” Jeffrey asks.

“Very,” I say with a sigh. “But being in the hospital in general isn’t exactly a party either.”

“Amen to that,” Jeffrey says as the door opens, and like she’s read my mind, in comes Darla—the beautiful woman that’s been running through my thoughts since we’d met. Well, met for the. . . well, I don’t know how many times we’ve met honestly. But, since the first time that I can remember.

I’m excited to see her, to be honest. This time she’s dressed in neon pink scrubs instead of the minty green ones I’d seen her in earlier, and the color seems to better suit her bubbly personality.

I remember hearing that she was a nurse, but I didn’t expect to see her up here in the ICU.“You miss me or something?” I tease as she goes around and checks all the flowers like she did the other day.

“You could say that,” she says with a little giggle and a wink that pills my skin. “I’m actually here for work this time though.”

“You’re my nurse?”

“Yep!” Darla says with a grin. “I work the ICU.”

“Well, I’ll be dipped,” I reply. “I guess I lucked out.”

“Guess so,” she says as she shuffles past Jeff and messes around with my IV bag. “How’s your pain?”

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