Page 60 of Revived

It took a little over five hours to get back home thanks to a traffic snag we hit along the way. I had hoped that the call John put into Mel would keep her there until we were able to make it to town. Thankfully, Kendra and Mel’s flight had been delayed due to a mechanical issue with the plane and it turned out they were coming in a little later than we’d get there. That gave me plenty of time to put a plan together and formulate a convincing argument for her to stay.

When they finally got in, I was tucked away in my bedroom upstairs. The stairs were not fun to ascend, but I figured Mel would be too consumed with yelling at me for taking them to leave. That was step one. Do something stupid to prove I couldn’t be left to my own devices.

“How the hell did he get up there? All of you idiots just stood around and let him go up the stairs? He was shot. They had to repair a tear in his femoral artery! Seriously?” I heard her yelling before she made her way up.

“Sorry, Mel,” one of them called out to her.

“We weren’t thinking,” Chevy added. I couldn’t see her, but everyone paused in speaking so I figured she was giving him a look.

“Out of everyone here, you should have known better, Chevy. That was inexcusable.”

“You’re right. Maybe you should check on him, just in case then, and yell at us later?” My son made the suggestion, to which Mel’s reply was to huff and stomp into my room.

“Did you do this on purpose?” She asked, the minute she walked through my door.

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. “It wasn’t my best decision, but I wanted to be comfortable in my own bed, with my own shower that has a seat in it,” I told her as I pointed to the bathroom in question. “Besides, I’ve missed sleeping in my own space and I didn’t want to force Chevy to move out of his room downstairs for me. It’s his and he’s had enough upheaval this year.” All of that was true enough. “Besides, I’m worried he'll move out into the pool house if we make a big deal about this,” I pointed to my leg. “To be honest, I don’t want him any further away.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “Did one of those assholes help you up here, at least?”

“Yes. John argued the whole time he took the weight off my hurt leg, I promise.”

“I really don’t think this is such a good idea, Gabe.”

“Same reasons apply as they did for my son, and for adding you to the tour, Mel. You saw that nurse try to come into my room while you were at the hospital with me. What do you think will happen if we go looking for an at-home nurse? I trust you. More than that, I need you to be the one.”

When her features softened, I knew she wouldn’t argue any longer. “When was your bandage changed last?”

“Right before I left the hospital,” I told her and then she went about making sure I got washed up, freshly bandaged, had taken my meds, and eaten a solid meal.

After a week, she finally started to thaw a bit and carry on conversations that didn’t revolve around what I wanted for dinner, how to shower properly without causing myself unnecessary pain, and how to do exercises that would prevent blood clots and promote healing in my thigh.

“What are you up to?” Mel asked me as she came in carrying fresh sheets for my bed.

“You don’t have to do that,” I told her, nodding my head toward the sheets.

“Yes, I do. Making sure you’re resting in a clean space is just as important as keeping the wound cleaned.”

“You know what I mean. Chevy could come in and help me with stuff like that.” She laughed then.

“Have you seen the way Chevy makes his own bed?”

“No,” I admitted. “Should I be concerned?”

“Very,” she teased me and winked. Actually winked. It was the first bit of playfulness that I’d seen out of her since the night before I screwed it all up.

“Anyway, I was just writing, coming up with some new material to work on.”

“Another album? That means another tour, right? Or will any new stuff just get added to your playlists for the makeup dates for the tour that got put on hold?”

“If this was stuff for my band, I’d say that it would probably just get added at this point, but it’s not for Valhalla Rising.”

“You’re writing for someone else?” I grinned at her as I flipped the notebook around and showed her the title of the song. “Chasing Cars?” She asked.

“That’s the name of the band the boys have,” I told her proudly. My son, his two brothers, and a friend of theirs had finally decided on a name. Since each of them was named after a vehicle, and their friend after a famous race car driver, it seemed too perfect to pass up.

“Let me see!” Mel clapped excited as she put the sheets down on the chair in the corner and crawled up across the bed to sit beside me. Feeling the warmth of her body so near mine was damn near heaven. I allowed her to grab the notebook out of my hands and took the time to study her face. Those eyes of hers shimmered with emotion as she read through the lyrics. “This is beautiful, Gabe.” She turned to look at me then. “Has he seen this yet?” I shook my head, ‘no’. “I’m betting he’s going to love it too,” she told me as her eyes dropped from staring into my own down to my lips. It took every bit of determination I had not to push forward and take that kiss. The want was there in her eyes, in her stare, but she wasn’t ready yet.

“Sorry to have just hopped in here like this,” she mentioned as she started to move away from me.

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