Page 34 of Love on the Brain
“You gonna buy it or just stare at it?” She smirked, and he didn’t care at that point what she knew or thought she knew about him and Jane. “Get her some chocolate, too. The boy’s box is probably all gone by now.”
Ryan nodded and followed her to the register. She scanned the card and a heart-shaped box identical to the one Casey’s parents had sent.
“Can I get these delivered? I’m due back on the clock.”
Ms. Robie lowered her chin and looked at him over the rim of her purple glasses like he was the dumbest person in the world. “Then wait until your shift’s over. That woman needs your supportin person.”
Ryan sighed inwardly. She was right, of course.
After storing the card and candy in his locker, he finished his rounds, checking in on patients, updating meds, and returning messages from parents. He was finishing up his last report when he received a message from the emergency department about a critical incoming patient.
The same team that had brought Noah in was transferring the girl from the stretcher to a bed when he arrived. Garrett Cruz looked up at Ryan. “This is Sanibelle Mathers, seven years old. She was doing a back handspring in the house and lost herself in the air. Head wound, concussion, unresponsive. I know her personally, Ryan. She’s on my daughter’s all-star cheer team and has been doing this move in her sleep since she was four.”
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” The girl’s mother stood back from the medical team, crying.
“I’ve ordered blood work, and X-ray is on the way,” the attending physician said. “We’re doing everything we can, ma’am, and Dr. Engstrom is the best neurosurgeon there is. He’ll determine what to do next.”
Ryan assured the girl’s mother she was in good hands and proceeded to evaluate her. Strong pulse but knocked out cold. “We definitely need a brain scan and an MRI of the head and neck. Her impulses are working, so I’m not worried about paralysis, but it is concerning that she’s still unconscious.” At the mother’s stricken expression, he hurried to say, “The brain will do whatever is necessary to protect itself. Sometimes, that’s by shutting down. It’s scary, but it’s a normal function.”
“Okay.” She nodded, her face contorting in anguish as she struggled to remain in control.. “Please, do whatever you need to do.”
“Jayla, I promise you, she’s in the best hands with Dr. Engstrom,” Cruz said. “Please, call my wife if you or your husband needs anything. Ellery can take the other kids for a sleepover if he wants to come up here when the roads are better.”
“Thanks, Garrett.” She turned to Ryan. “Please, save my baby. Whatever it takes.”
The X-ray technician arrived with a portable unit, and the scan showed a cracked skull and the dark mass of a subdural hematoma. It was worse than Ryan anticipated. “We need to get her into surgery immediately to relieve the pressure on her brain and remove the hemorrhage. I’m going to set that up, and I’ll be right back.”
Ryan spent the next fifteen minutes coordinating a room and a team, working against the “golden hour” of time injuries like this took to kill a victim. He sent a text to Jane explaining his absence and that he was sorry.
Sanibelle’s surgery was a success, and he was confident, with the pressure off the brain, she’d wake up on her own when the anesthesia wore off, but he knew they wouldn’t know until then if she lost any memory or faculties. He explained to her parents about brain rehab and what recovery would look like and gave them his personal cell in case they had any questions or concerns while he was off the clock.
By the time he’d showered and changed into street clothes, it was well into the wee hours of the night. In Noah’s room, Jane was dozing on the sofa. She hadn’t pulled it out to make it into a bed and was using her coat as a blanket. The bedding was folded, untouched, on the counter by the sink.
Ryan had no plans to wake her, so after setting the card and chocolate on the windowsill and checking on Noah, he settled into the recliner next to the bed.
He didn’t mean to, but he found himself watching her sleep. With her face relaxed and the worry lines gone, she looked the same as when he’d met her all those years ago.Beautiful.Whoever it was that called her Plain Jane in high school had been an idiot. Ryan fought to keep his lids open so he could absorb every detail and commit it to memory. They hadn’t spoken about their kiss or their feelings for each other, and he was starting to think that was for the best.
But while she was here, he could wish.
Wishing only ever hurt the wisher.
CHAPTER10
The steady ring of the alarm signaling the saline bag was empty pulled Jane from her sleep. She rubbed the grit from her eyes and pushed her jacket off and sat up. A few feet away, Ryan slept in the recliner, snoring lightly. She gazed upon him fondly, glad he was getting rest after a very long shift.
With a sigh, she rose from the sofa to turn the alarm off before it woke Ryan or Noah and pressed the call button to alert the nurse station. There should have been a backup bag ready and waiting, but since they were understaffed, Jane couldn’t be too upset.
A few minutes later, a nurse entered with two saline bags. The young woman glanced at Ryan in the armchair and gave Jane a half-smile as she set to work connecting one of the bags to Noah’s intravenous line. Noah didn’t wake up as she checked his vitals and monitors.
Jane glanced at the clock.Four a.m.Noah was usually awake by seven. Did she want to change into comfier clothes and make the bed up for maybe three hours?
Nah. But she would pull the bed out and trade her jacket for blankets and a pillow.
She opened the cabinet by the bathroom and pulled out a pillow, then retrieved the blanket from where the last shift’s nurse had left them. On the way back to the sofa, her eyes caught sight of a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a red envelope on the windowsill.
Good. They’d finished the first box in record time. But how would Dale and Connie know that? And a card? They hadn’t sent one before. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Jane sidestepped to get a closer look. On the card, in Ryan’s doctor scrawl, was her name.
He’d gotten her a Valentine? Stunned, Jane quickly turned back toward the sofa. She set the blankets down, reached under the bench seat, and pulled the handles. The backrest flattened, and Jane crawled on top of it, shaking out the blankets and curling up in them.
