Page 47 of Last Chance Love

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m a professional who’s spent the past fifteen years of her career dealing with hard-headed, persistent men who aren’t afraid to lie to my face,” she said with a snort, setting her tablet on the small table nearby. “And who also knows it’s remarkably hard to lie about having a concussion unless you’re used to having them.”

“Christ, can you get used to those?”

“No, by that point, you’re dealing with severe brain damage. Which is not something you want, so I’m going to have a talk about hard hats in the future when it comes to construction.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“I’d like to think so,” she said and bent over me. “Now, any disorientation or dizziness? Confusion?”

“When I first woke up, I was a little groggy, still feel that way, but…not really?”

“Not really is not a good answer.”

“Here,” I said, pushing upright as best I could and stopping. “Okay, a little dizziness, but I don’t feel like I’m going to keel over and slam my face into the floor. And the confusion I feel is probably the normal kind.”

“Define the normal kind.”

“The kind that happens after a building falls on you and you don’t remember freaking out on people who are trying to help you…probably because I got drugged.”

“Mmm,” she said, lips pursing. “Lay back down. You made your point. How’s your head?”

“Feels like someone dropped a wall on it.”

“Cute.”

“I don’t know how else to describe it. It hurts. If you want someone to be better at this, go drop a wall on Reed, and I’m sure he could give you the full break down.”

Her lip twitched. “I heard you saved him today.”

“I don’t remember anything about it, but I guess.”

“It will never stop giving me hope when I see things like that around here. Sure, the cons here aren’t the worst of the worst, but they’re not always prime examples of humanity, either. Yet, given the chance, so many of them show there is still a great deal of humanity left inside them,” she said, looking up at the bag on the IV stand. “I originally joined the program because it seemed like a challenge.”

“A challenge?” I asked as she grabbed my wrist and took my pulse, despite the machine attached to me that probably did that for her.

“Something new, something different. Like Reed, I spent time in the ER. After a while, it starts to drain you. Little pieces start to break off, and you lose sight of who you are. All that misery and pain catches up with you eventually. And you either find something else, or you burn out and never recover. I loved what I did, so I thought a place like this might be a middle ground. A place where I could still be challenged, but where I wasn’t going to lose every emotional neuron I had.”

“That’s gotta be hard,” I said, unsure what to say. It felt like she was rambling, but I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like she was invested in what happened to me. Or maybe she was trying to make a point, and I just needed to let her speak.

“And so I came here. And I’ve been taking care of these men for a decade and a half. It turned out to be the best of both worlds,” she said, looking at me with a small smile. “I get the challenge of dealing with difficult men, but I get to see the good things they’re capable of. So, despite you almost knocking out my best worker, I’m glad to see you’re one of the good ones.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m glad you could pull something good from all this,” I said with a snort, a little embarrassed by the praise. I thought she would give me a glimpse into her life, not turn it around, so it became a compliment.

“I’m always a little surprised at how life can give you its worst, and yet there’s usually a glimmer of something better and brighter in it,” she said. “Light sensitivity?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been avoiding looking at the lights.”

“Oh. Yeah, but I get migraines a lot.”

“I’ve seen your chart,” she said after a moment and grunted. “Truth be told, you should be in a lot worse shape than you are. I expected a shattered back, broken bones, hell, even a fracture on top of a major concussion. Brains leaking out of your ears.”

“I’m having a hard time finding any of this inspiring,” I told her with a frown.

She chuckled. “Well, you should. Having an entire wall fall on you like that should have caused serious problems, but what do you have? I’d guess a mild tomaybemoderate concussion, a bruised back and chest, a head wound that was stitched up easily enough?—”

“What?” I asked, reaching up to grab my head only to be immediately reminded why that was a bad idea when a fresh wave of agony washed over me and made me close my eyes as tears sprung to them. “Ow.”

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