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62. Caveman

After making sure that the nurse would call me as soon as Paige was awake, I left the hospital under Paige's instructions and went to go shower.

"Where are you off to?" David stopped me as I walked through the doors at the end of the hallway. He was writing something into a binder and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Paige says that I stink. I'm going to shower." I say blankly, and then an idea hits me. "David, is Paige allowed to eat normal food? Like from outside of the hospital?"

The question makes him pull his head out of the binder and check his phone. I nervously wait for him to answer.

"I don't see why not, maybe not McDonald's, but outside food is fine." He nods his head at me and winks.

I want to thank him for all he has done for Paige, but the words to do it don't come to mind so I settle on nodding back to him and walking out of the doors. Maybe Diane had my car brought over, or maybe Alex, because it's parked in the front row of the parking lot.

In the passenger seat is a small bag filled with clothes- some for me, some for Paige. A bag of toiletries rests at the bottom and I spot a travel size bottle of my cologne. Diane. She always thinks of everything.

My radio settles on the P play list as I drive down the highway. I have a plan to go home, shower, and dress before I run out the door and head straight back to the hospital.

There are already bouquets of flowers and 'Get Well Soon!' balloons on the island in my kitchen. It frightens me when I walk into the door. How did they get in here? Aren't they supposed to go to the hospital?

Paige, I'll find you a sexy hospital gown, don't you worry. -Natalie. The first note card that I pick up came from a vase full of yellow daises. Paige would hate them. Maybe her and Natalie aren't that far along in their friendship to be able to share favorite flowers.

Flowers. I should get Paige some. Pink peonies would definitely make that stuffy hospital room more enjoyable. Nobody has really said how long Paige would stay there for.

I set down Natalie's note card beside the purple vase the flowers rest in and kick off my shoes beside the bar stools. I glance behind me to a Paige's sandals next to the door.

My feet head for the bathroom. Hanging on my mirror is a pink sticky note. My fingers reach out for it and tug it off of the mirror so I can read it. "Our scars make us know that our past was for real" is written in Paige's loopy handwriting on the lines of the Post-It.

Absently, I reach my arm behind me and touch the scattering of the raised scars along my spine. Our past was for real. Real- that, it definitely was.

I set the note down beside my cologne bottle on the corner of the counter. The dial in my shower turns to the medium point where it isn't too hot, but it's too cool. My fingers deftly undo the buttons along my shirt and as I remove it, I catch a waft of the scent of my sweat and a tiny hit of cologne. I do stink.

A chuckle escapes my mouth as I remember Paige telling me that I stink before she fell asleep. I glance in the rounded mirror before I step into the warmed shower. My hair is a disaster and my beard is way too long. I'll shave it in the shower, I decide. I can hear the hair cracking as I run my hand over my jaw. The dark circles under my eyes resemble Paige's.

The razor trails over my jaw and down my neck as I trim off my beard. I have to shake the razor under the stream of water to get all of the hair out before I can pass it over my face again. Paige liked this? Or was she just saying that?

Damn. How I wish that she would join me at any minute. Maybe she would just be finishing up some paperwork at the island in the kitchen and when she's done, the door to my bathroom would open and there she would be.