Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
She hated waiting.
“Nah, I don’t read a whole lot, but it seems I’ve taken it up while waiting for you to wake.”
She let out a little stretch. “I hate staring at this room.”
“You want to go for a walk?”
“I don’t feel like walking.” Twice a week, she was instructed to walk even with the cast, and it was proving difficult. Her pain medication had been reduced and she’d been expected to deal with it. If the pain was more than she could take, they would give her more drugs, but she didn’t like how groggy they made her feel.
“I’ll get a wheelchair. We’ll go out for a stroll.” He put the book beside her bed and left the room.
She lifted the book up and a picture fell out. She lifted it. It was one of her and Preacher, smiling. She looked happy.
Was this the clue she was struggling to find? Was there some kind of hidden message she should have? A clue?
Nothing came to mind and she had a sudden overwhelming need to hit her head. Before she could do that, Preacher returned, and she slid the picture back into the book. She’d ask him about it another time.
She didn’t need answers today, or even next week. She simply didn’t need answers at all. At least not yet. If she was married to Bishop, what was her relationship with his dad? Why did she feel more comfortable with Preacher than she did with her husband? None of it made any sense to her.
“Are you ready for your trip?” Preacher asked.
She pushed the blankets from her and Preacher moved closer. “Hold on to me.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he lifted her with ease, carrying her to the chair. His closeness sparked something within her. A pleasure she didn’t know she possessed. It felt good to be in his arms, natural.
He put her in the chair and then started to put the blanket around her. “I don’t want you to be cold.”
He moved behind her and they left her room. The moment she was outside her hospital room … something changed. She was no longer confined to that one bit of space and she could finally breathe easier.
“Are you okay?”
“I am. I feel so much better.” She tilted her head back, offering him a smile. “You can stay with me, can’t you? We can do this?”
“We can do whatever you want. We’re not bound by one place.” He moved onto the elevator and no one else shared it with them. She watched the floors change as they descended.
“How are you feeling today?” he asked.
“A little tired. Do you think I’ll ever get out of the hospital? I don’t need to stay here overnight all the time, do I? I’m not in danger or anything. I could go home, right?”
“Do you remember your home?”
“No. I don’t. Do I live with Bishop? Do I live with my dad? I’m twenty years old, so does that mean I married at seventeen? Why did I marry so young?”
“Those are all good questions. What I will say is after you married Bishop, you lived with me.”
“Will I be staying with you again?”
“Bishop doesn’t live with me anymore.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea if I stay with Bishop,” she blurted out. Should she have kept her nerves and doubts to herself?
“You can do whatever it is you want to do.”
The elevator doors opened.
“You’re not angry with me?”
“Why would I be angry with you?”
“Bishop’s your son.”
“I know.”
He didn’t give anything away, which was so frustrating.
“Did we have a good marriage? Everyone is being so secretive.”
“You need to remember everything in your way. We can’t give you clues.”
“But clues can be fun.”
“And you’re not going to get them.”
“This is so not fair,” she said.
He chuckled. “I don’t recall you being so impatient.”
“I don’t want to waste my life waiting for some clues as to what it all means. I know I’m not making any sense.”
“You’re making perfect sense.”
They were silent as they left the hospital, heading out to a synthetic garden. It didn’t look natural to her. He didn’t stop even when they came to some benches. Some people were smoking, others eating.
“The two years I was gone, did I leave of my own free will?” she asked. No one had told her the true extent of her leaving.
“What do you mean?”
“I get the feeling there’s something you guys aren’t telling me. Something big and it does scare me a little. Should I be worried?”
“You’ve got nothing to be worried about,” he said.
“Something bad happened, though?”
He came to a stop near the end of the garden. There was a bench toward the far side and he put the brakes on the chair, moving in front of her and taking a seat. The air had a chill but she didn’t want him to take her inside.