Page 40 of Broken Dreams

For an instant he thought of Shane. Had Shane loved Amber, too? He mentally reviewed the letters he’d memorized. They had been close, no question about that. But he did not think their relationship had blossomed to the point of them falling in love.

And now, there was no chance of that, at all.

For once, the guilt didn’t hit. It was hard to feel guilty for being alive. Especially now that he’d realized how much he loved her. With his heart and soul.

But that didn't mean she felt the same way about him.

Sure, she'd kissed him. But Amber was also young and looking for adventure. For all he knew he was just a nice interlude before she moved to Florida.

He struggled to breathe normally, forcing himself to shove these tender new feelings aside. No matter how much it hurt, she was in a different place in her life.

He refused to be selfish. To only think about himself. Not anymore.

He’d love Amber enough to let her go.

Amber knew guilt was making her more than a little irrational, but she refused to leave the hospital. Bethany would need to stay overnight but would likely be able to come home the following day. That was the good news. The bad news was the way Nick had left without goodbye. She'd thought about calling him, but decided it was better for her to stick close to her family.

Beth had suffered an open tibia fracture. The surgical procedure did not take long, and when Beth had been returned to her room, her left leg was in a long cast. She made a mental note to get markers so they could draw on it, once the little girl was feeling better.

Andrea tried several times to convince her to go home, but she just couldn't do it. Remembering how she'd purposefully turned her phone off, just to spend time with Nick haunted her. Granted, Andrea had called earlier in the evening, not during the time they’d been watching the drone show. Or kissing as if they’d never stop. Beth had been hit at seven o'clock in the evening. The drone show had not even started until nine. Still, she couldn't seem to separate the fact that she hadn't been there for Andrea and Beth, because she'd been too busy flirting with Nick.

She and Andrea spent the night in Beth’s room while their parents watched Ben. Stuart was on his way home from Texas where he was at a sales conference. The doctor released the little girl the following Sunday afternoon. Amber tagged along, to make sure her niece was settled and comfortable. Then she played with Ben so Andrea could prepare something for dinner.

Using his red and blue building blocks, she made a tower, smiling when Ben gleefully swatted it down. As they played, she wondered what Nick was doing. Had he packed up his duffel bag and checked out of The Cozy Inn? Hopped a plane back to Virginia? Did he miss her?

She wished she knew what was going through his mind. But maybe it didn't matter. Nick hadn't called. Time for her to face the truth. He’d probably left town. And really, she couldn’t blame him for moving on with his life.

Yet the thought of never seeing him again made her stomach twist and turn like a pretzel.

That night, she didn’t sleep well. She woke Monday morning, feeling cranky. She was torn as to whether or not she should plan on giving her notice. It wasn't that she'd changed her mind about leaving Milwaukee, but to go where? That was the question. Despite their fun day at German Fest, she still didn't know how Nick felt. He'd seemed concerned about Beth, but then had left her at the hospital without even stepping in the next day to see how the little girl was doing.

Pushing the irritating thoughts of Nick from her mind, she swiped her badge to clock in and walked down the hall to the rehab unit. She discovered they had a new patient, a young man by the name of Billy Anderson, who had suffered a traumatic leg amputation after an IED explosion. He’d been treated at Walter Reed, the same military hospital Nick had stayed in, but then he’d been transferred here so he could be closer to his family. The ortho surgeon had accepted the initial transfer, then had sent him to their floor for strengthening and general rehab.

“Good morning, Billy. My name is Amber, and I’ll be your nurse today.”

Silence. Billy lay flat on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling over his head. He acted as if he hadn't heard her.

“You’re scheduled to go downstairs for physical therapy at nine. Do you want to shower before or after?”

More silence. The flat expression in his eyes sent alarm bells ringing through her head.

Obviously, Billy was seriously depressed. Worse than the patient who had killed himself after being discharged.

No way, she was not going to allow that to happen to Billy. This young man needed intense psychiatric care.

After explaining she’d be back in an hour, she left. Outside the room, she took a moment to dig a little deeper in his electronic medical record. The orthopedic trauma doc had placed him on antidepressants and, shocker, Roland had even reordered the medication here on rehab. She counted back the days since they'd been started, back when he’d gotten to Walter Reed, then here. Two weeks.

She frowned. The medication either wasn't working or hadn’t kicked in yet.

Or Billy was faking swallowing them.

She nibbled her lower lip, wishing Nick were still around. Billy needed someone to talk to, someone like Nick who knew what it was like to suffer a traumatic event. Of course, the young man also needed to be under the care of the psychologists on staff. The only problem was that most of them were older. She couldn’t help thinking Billy might respond better to someone younger.

If anyone could get through this young man's stubborn silence, Nick could.

She hoped.

When she returned to the nurse’s station, she was surprised to find Dr. Roland seated at a computer, reading a chart.

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