Page 13 of Zane

The shower ended up being so emotionally draining that Kelsey was in no mood to eat anything. Instead, she fell into bed, her hair still wrapped in a towel.

How long was she going to be doing all the things they’d done together, alone?

As Kelsey curled up under the covers, Zane’s pillow clutched in her arms, exhaustion dragged her toward sleep. Unfortunately, her thoughts were still going a mile a minute, clutching tightly to the edge of consciousness.

There were things she needed to do the next day, in addition to being with Zane. She had to call his workplace and hers, since neither of them would be able to work for awhile.

It seemed wrong to focus on the practical things while Zane’s condition was still so perilous, but he’d expect her to do it in his absence. So she would.

That next day set the pattern for the days to come.

Each morning, she went to the hospital to spend the day with Zane. His parents were there as well, though they didn’t talk much to her. They spent a lot of time on the phone, giving updates on Zane to a variety of people. Some family members, but also what sounded like people from their church.

After a few days, Lee and Rori had gone back to Serenity, and Gareth and Wilder had arrived. Wilder had brought his wife as well, but Gareth’s had stayed home with their kids.

Kelsey missed Rori, who had ended up being a great support for her. Lexi was nice, but she wasn’t as warm and friendly as Rori. With Lee and Rori gone, Kelsey felt very much on the outside as they all waited for the day when Zane would wake up.

It took several days, but finally everything looked good enough to the Halverson parents and Zane’s doctors to bring him out of the sedation. She’d hoped that he’d wake up immediately, but that didn’t happen.

All she wanted was for him to open his eyes so they could move into the next phase of healing from his accident. Kelsey knew it wouldn’t be easy because there were so many parts of his body that needed to heal, and with his broken leg, he wouldn’t be able to work for a while.

But they could handle all of that.

He just needed to open his eyes.

CHAPTER FOUR

Pain… pain… pain…

There was no escaping it, and Zane couldn’t seem to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. His torso hurt. His leg hurt. His whole body ached. But of it all, the pain in his head hurt the most. Like the worst headache he’d ever had.

Was this a nightmare?

It felt far too real to be a bad dream, though. But what had happened? It felt like he’d taken a tumble down the stairs and hit every single step with every part of his body. Twice.

He tried to shift, moaning as pain shot from the top of his head down to his toes.

“Zane? Son?” His dad’s voice broke through the cloud of pain in his mind. “Don’t move too much. Can you open your eyes?”

As he struggled to do as his dad had asked, Zane heard his mom say, “Wilder, go get Kelsey. I’ll let the nurses know.”

Slowly, Zane opened his eyes to a dimly lit room, though it still made him blink. He was very thankful for the lack of light, because he had a feeling that if the lights in the room had been fully on, the pain in his head would have felt like an explosion.

He blinked a couple more times and lifted his hand to touch his head.

“Careful, son,” his dad said. “You’re hooked up to a few things.”

“What—” He stopped talking when the word made his throat hurt.

“Here.” His dad lifted something to his mouth, wetting his lips and adding moisture to his dry mouth.

“Water.” The word still hurt, but he needed more than a wet sponge.

“The nurse will be here in a minute.”

Before he could say anything more, there was motion at the door, and three people came into the room.

“Zane!” A woman with blonde hair and a worried look approached the bed, leaning down to press her cheek to his. When she pulled back, there were tears in her blue-green eyes. “Finally! I’ve been so worried.”

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