Page 68 of Roaring Fork Wrangler

“Good news?” my mom asked when I came downstairs and saw it was daylight.

“Sam said the tests they ran show brain function.”

“Are you heading back to the hospital?” she asked after wrapping me in a big hug.

“I have to, Mom.”

“I’ll drive.”

Sam and Beau were still there when I walked into the room. He looked up at me, butshe didn’t. When I stepped closer, I saw why. Cord’s eyes were open, and she was staring into them.

“Juni’s here,” she told him before standing from the chair where she’d been sitting, and motioning for me to take it.

“Hi,” I said, looking into the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen. He blinked twice, and I leaned forward, brushed the hair from his face, and kissed his cheek.

When I was still there a few hours later, Beau asked the hospital staff if they could bring in a chair I could sleep in, not that I did much of it. I woke myself what seemed like every few minutes to check on Cord.

20

CORD

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw someone coming at me. Whoever it was, was covered from head to toe. Between that and the heavy snow and wind, I’d barely seen him, certainly not enough to make out who the fuck it was. I remembered coming to and thinking that it felt like someone had hit me with an anvil. Who knew what it actually was, and it didn’t really matter. The guy I’d seen in the middle of a snowstorm intended to kill me. Once he learned he hadn’t, I had no doubt he’d return to finish me off.

I’d tried to speak several times, but never managed to get more than a syllable out. “Jun,” was the first word I’d tried to say, praying someone heard me, praying that the next time I opened my eyes, I’d see her. When Sam told me she was there, I felt inexplicably relieved. Just her presence soothed me.

Now, staring into her wide eyes, the same feeling swept over me. Sam had been here with me on and off, and so had my brother Buck, but neither of them settled me like Juni did.

She leaned forward and covered my hand with hers. I wanted to pull her closer, but I couldn’t get my arm to move. I couldn’t get anything to move, but I could feel her touch. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it?

My gaze penetrated hers with so many questions, none of which I could articulate. If only she could read my mind.

I blinked a couple of times and tried to speak, but no sound, let alone words, came out.

I knew a guy from high school whose dad had had a stroke so severe that he got what was called locked-in syndrome. He could move his eyes and hear but was otherwise paralyzed and unable to communicate. If that was what was happening to me, I wouldn’t fucking want to live.

The door opened, but I couldn’t turn my head to see who walked in. “Good morning, Cord,” a male voicesaid. When he came to stand in my line of sight, I figured by the way he was dressed that he was a doctor. “I’m Dr. Oldham. If you can hear and understand me, please blink twice.”

I did.

“Excellent. Again, if you remember meeting me previously, blink twice.”

Since I didn’t, I kept my eyes still.

“Should I step out?” Juni asked.

Not wanting her to leave, I blinked three times.

The doctor smiled. “I think he’s trying to tell us you should stay.”

I blinked twice.

He covered my hand with his like Juni had. “Can you feel anything?” he asked.

I gave the same response.

Each place he touched on my body, from my forehead to the bottom of my feet, I felt.

“This is excellent progress,” he said. “Cord, do you remember being out in the snow?”

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