The Way My Heart Beats

Chapter 6

Crossing my arms as if holding myself for what she's about to say, I let out a deep breath. "Just go ahead and put it all out there." She gives me a nod in understanding and begins by saying, "It's a good thing she's stubborn because this should have killed her. She suffered an aneurism. She's been in surgery the past two hours trying to repair the bleed and any damage." She pauses taking a deep breath allowing me to soak in what she had told me. "She should've died. If you hadn't have been there, Grant, she would have. When people go unconscious from an aneurism, they usually don't come back. With that being said, here's the bad news..." She trails off waiting for me to ready myself.

"She hasn't woken up yet. She's in a coma, Grant. She's stable and everything looks good. The doctor suspects a full recovery, but there's no time clock on when she will wake up. It could be now, days, weeks... We don't know."

Taking in the information, my first thought is seeing her. I have to see her, touch her to believe she's okay. "Can I see her?"

"That's why I came to get you. She needs some brain stimulation. She needs to be talked to. I figured you might have an advantage." I give her a weird look. She smiles at me before explaining. "I saw. I know. Minutes into meeting, I saw the way you two looked at each other. She may have just had her head smashed into a concrete wall, but I know her. I know that she doesn't look at anybody the way she looked at you yesterday. She trusts you. She may not know it yet, but she needs you."

I don't say anything. I don't need to. She knows. When we make it the the ICU she stops before letting me enter the room. She turns to me putting her hand on my bicep. "Take care of my friend, Grant. She can't be broken again. She just can't."

With a heaviness hovering over us, I don't have to know details to know what needed to be done. It would take time, but Clara needed to be loved. She just needed someone who loved her; someone who would take care of her unconditionally. I'm not sure why it didn't scare me that I suddenly had this responsibility, and I committed to it without thought or reason. And not for a second did I doubt I couldn't uphold my commitment.

I nod giving Amelia a look of understanding and promise. Turning from me she slides the curtain back enough for me to walk through.

My heart pauses seeing Clara hooked up to all the machines and wires. She is breathing on her own, thankfully, but her oxygen levels are low; therefore, she needs to be on oxygen until her pulse oxygen was above ninety-five.

I slowly walk over to the bed letting my eyes take in everything I am seeing. How the hell had we spent more time in this damn hospital than anywhere else in the past two days after work than we had during work?

What a hell of a way to meet someone! I'd spent more time taking care of this woman than I had flirting with her, and somehow I was still so hung up on having her for myself. In such a short amount of time she'd won me over. Head over fucking heels. I'm no softie either. I thought for sure after my ex wife left that I'd never do this shit again.

Here I am. Being an idiot. Letting my heart do its thing.

When I reach her bedside, I wrap my hand around her cold, lifeless one bending down giving her a kiss on the forehead just wishing she was awake to remind me that we had to be friends. "Those are the rules, Grant." I figure that's what she'd say. Screw the rules. I've never been any good at following them anyways.

I sit in the chair beside the bed pulling it as close to her as I could not letting her hand go. Rubbing my thumb across her knuckles I laugh at how silly all of this feels. Two days ago I would've been at home by now sitting on the couch in my underwear watching a football game drinking a beer. "You sure do know how to screw up a man's schedule, Clara." I pause to really study her features without her giving me hell about it.

Her skin is fair with a light dusting of freckles splayed across her nose and cheek bones. She doesn't have any makeup on so they really stand out. Her eyelashes thickly outlining her eyelids, and her lips are a bit dry from the lack of hydration from surgery and the intubation tube. Oh how I would love to wet them for her. Just one soft kiss to give life back into those lips.

"You're breathtaking," I whisper bringing my knuckle to graze her cheek. "I'm sorry you're here. I'm sorry you're hurt. I'm sorry you feel the need to distance yourself from anything good. I'm sorry you've been so broken and almost irreparable. I'm sorry you've been so alone and unloved..." I trail off bringing her hand to my lips before whispering, "I'm sorry that I'm just now finding you. And I'm sorry your heart has beat for the one person who crushed it."

I don't need to know her story to know someone she had trusted with her whole being had been the one to ultimately ruin her. She held up too many walls to be anything less than damaged. This could be undone. It was a special task that would involve a sense of sensitivity and demand a place in her life. A task that I was beginning to feel was made just for me.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I wake up startled by the sudden sound of the curtain moving across it's track. I had fallen asleep with head on my arm still holding Clara's hand. My back is sore from the position I had been in. I know it's early because it's still dark outside but a hint of light is sitting on the horizon.

The doctor has come in for rounds. He shakes my hand and introduces himself as Dr. Hendrix.

"Are you Clara's husband?" He asks, looking over her charts.

I clear my throat afraid of what I sound like after being asleep for the last several hours. "No, sir. Just a good friend."

Opening her eyelids one at a time he checks each pupil with a small flashlight. "Must be. Don't know too many friends who sleep in those awful chairs for a whole night." He says, then gives me a big smile. "Yeah," I scoff, "you tell her  that."

"Oh she'll know. You just keep talking to her, and she'll know. She's in there somewhere. You'll just need to give her a reason to find her way back."

He finishes up his exam by checking her breathing and heartbeat before turning his attention back to me. "There's no time table when someone's in a coma. She's in there. Sometimes people get stuck in their own minds. They're safe and there's nothing to hide from or be afraid of when you can control where you're at. Keep talking to her. Keep reminding her there's someone here for her on the outside. She'll come around. Just be patient." He leaves me with that as he walks from the room.

If he only knew the meaning behind his words. Those words described Clara before the coma. Now, not only do I have to win her back to consciousness, I have to win her heart.

I check my phone; the bright numbers read 5:52. I was usually already on my way to work at this time. I need to get downstairs to the job site to lay out the orders for the day. I am most definitely taking the day off, but I am still the boss and my employees need a game plan. In the meantime, I need coffee.

The first sip of coffee goes straight to my bones, giving them life, waking me up from the inside out. Reaching the elevator I hit the button to the ground level. My guys are already getting their gear ready to start their day.

"Hey boss! You done got all pretty on us, and traded your neon green for your causal Friday?" One of the carpenters named Jesse, jokes.

"Yeah, did you get a manicure, too?" Another one of the workers butt in.

"Very funny. I'm just here to give orders, then I'm out for the day. But I won't be far so don't get any crazy ideas." I say sternly.

"Oh yeah. We heard about that nurse chick from yesterday was back in the hospital. Had to have surgery and shit." Jesse says.

"Not sure how you got that information, but that's about right. I'll be up in ICU with her. I'll have my phone on me if I'm needed." I clap my hands, an attempt to bring them together for a quick run through of today's objectives.

"Ow. Ow." The guys hoot and holler, "Boss has the hots for the nurse chick." Jesse calls out as a few others joke throwing out comments along those lines.

Raising my voice to rein them in, "Alright. Alright. Let's get down to business..." I trail off and give them their to do list for the day.