Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 15

RYAN'S POV

When Becca walks in the room with Matt, she almost looks embarrassed that Landon's there. She walks directly to me and leans her back against my chest while I'm sitting on her bed. I realize the reason she does this is because the hospital gown she has on is very loosely tied together near her upper body and her back is showing through a gap in the fabric. I take the ties and fix them tighter so there isn't such a large opening anymore and feel Becca relax into me and rest her left hand on my knee before turning her attention to Landon.

"Hey Landon," she says and adds a sweet smile. He stopped pacing and I could tell he was trying to calm down so he wouldn't frighten her.

"Why didn't you tell us about him Becca?" he asked, getting straight to the point. Her body tensed before she replied.

"I didn't realize Ryan told you..."

"Hey," I leaned forward like I was telling her a secret, "I'm sorry Becs. I only told Landon and my mom that's it okay? I won't ever tell anybody else without your permission." She spun quickly in my arms.

"Why did you tell your mom?"

I scratched the back of my neck with one arm while trying to think up a way to pitch her the idea of living at my house for now without scaring her off; however, Matt took that moment to interrupt our conversation.

"Ryan, I need to talk to you."

Becca looks at me still waiting for an explanation.

"Can we talk in a second?" I ask and she nods. "Alright, is it okay if Landon stays in here with you while I talk to Matt?" She nods again so I gently lift her onto the bed and tell her I'll be right back.

"What's up?" I ask Matt as soon as we get in the hallway.

"Becca doesn't have a concussion but her ribs are broken. They look like they were broken for a while too but are healing okay. She has a cut near her hairline and she told me her head hit the headboard when she was thrown onto the bed but it doesn't need stitches."

Taking a deep breath, grateful that there's no concussion, I am ready to ask some questions but Matt holds his hand up and continues.

"She's staying overnight so we can monitor her breathing with the rib injuries and the swelling on her face to make sure that goes down. I want to give her a sedative later as well but I'm not sure how she'd feel about that. I normally don't have to work around the patient like this but she seems to have difficulty with trust..."

"Well, I will talk to her about the sedative. I'm planning on staying here overnight anyways," I state. Matt puts his clipboard to the side and locks eyes with me.

"Ryan, I'm not sure what your situation is with Becca but please watch over her for a little while okay? I see a lot of patients come in with a saving grace only to end up in the same position they had been in before."

Without missing a beat, I say, "I'm not leaving her Matt. She won't end up back there I can promise you that." He smiles and nods then walks down the hallway and around a corner.

When I open the door to Becca's room, I see a sobbing Becca in a panicking Landon's arms. His eyes were filled with uneasiness and practically begged for me to help him. I easily took his place, Becca falling into my arms, and he backed away towards the door. Lifting his chin in goodbye, he pointed to his phone letting me know he would text me later and then snuck out the door. After a little while, Becca relaxed so I lifted her onto the bed and sat in the chair next to her. She seemed to shy away from me so I just started telling her what my plans were.

"Becs, I don't know what you're thinking, but I was hoping you would stay at my house for a little while." My voice was nervous and somewhat shaky in fear of what her answer would be.