Page 98 of Counted

He went to the bathroom, washed up, splashed water on his face, and even managed to comb his hair. It was so tangled it took a lot longer than it should have.

Then he opened the bathroom door and nearly collided with Eve. He reached out to steady her.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” He swallowed. “The headache is gone.”

It took a few seconds for that to process. Then she whimpered and grabbed him into a hug.

He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly before relaxing. “I’m sorry it was so bad,” he murmured.

“Why the hell are you apologizing?” She pulled back and glared up at him. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know it wasn’t. But you were here the whole time, trying to help me. I wasn’t always conscious, but I was some of the time. You must be so tired.”

She shrugged and flushed and smiled at him. “I’m not the one who had to go through the whole thing. So you really feel okay?”

“I’m exhausted and kind of weak, but the headache is totally gone. That’s enough to make me feel better than anything. I really thought it was never going to go away.”

“I thought that too,” she admitted hoarsely. “I honestly wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”

His throat tightened. He cupped her cheek with one hand. “I heard you praying for me.”

“There wasn’t anything else I could do. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course I don’t mind.” He might have said more, but his stomach growled just then, loud and ornery.

They both laughed. Then Eve told him to take a shower while she called down for something to eat.

It took Jude two full days to recover enough to do much of anything. He’d been in bed for almost five days, and it had taken more out of him than he would have expected.

He spent most of his recovery lying around with Eve. They took it easy and lounged around in the library or the media room. Nancy brought them their meals, and a couple of times a day, Eve would suggest they take a short walk to stretch their legs. But otherwise Jude did absolutely nothing and enjoyed it more than he would have imagined.

On the third day, he woke up early with more energy, so he knew what he needed to do.

He still had that one last scene to write of his book.

He had to do it. And he had to do it today.

This might be his last chance.

So he took a brisk, short walk, breathing in the morning air, and then he took a quick shower before dressing. Eve was awake by then, and she agreed today was the day to write that last scene.

She asked Nancy to make him a smoothie so he wouldn’t have to waste any time over breakfast.

Jude went to the library and saw a pile of mail on his desk.

He leafed through it quickly, tossing the junk and noticing a certified letter from his doctor’s office. It was just like the one they’d sent him before. His father must have signed for it. He stared at the envelope for a minute. Then tore it into small pieces and dropped it in the trash.

He wasn’t going to let that distract him today.

He sat at his desk, opened his laptop, and retrieved the document.

He scrolled to the last scene break and those two paragraphs Eve had transcribed while he was sick, and he started to type.

He’d had the whole thing laid out in his mind for weeks now, so there was no agonizing about pacing or action or dialogue. It came quickly and smoothly, without any hiccups or pauses to brainstorm. He occasionally searched for the best word choice, but otherwise he filled the pages quickly.

Until he had only one paragraph left.

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