(Complete) Joe Walch was in love with the girl of his dreams. Everything was perfect until it all changed...
Ella Burke had a wonderful family, a job she loved and a man she was completely in love with until her dreams were shattered.
Can Ella lear...
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The surgeon had a tired yet happy look on her face as she approached them. She motioned for him to sit, as Joe started to stand. Instead, she sat down in the row of chairs facing theirs.
"He was a trooper. Thankfully I didn't find any other damage other than some bruising."
"Did you remove his spleen?" Joe asked.
"I did do a laparoscopic splenectomy, which was preferred over an open procedure. His recovery will be much quicker. There is still some concern about his head and he'll be sore, but he should fully recover. Once he comes around fully we'll transfer him to a room. Do you want to go sit with him?"
Joe nodded and Ella said, "I'll stay here."
The surgeon nodded and stood up. Joe followed her and found Caleb looking even smaller than before. He was sleeping peacefully and Joe sat in a chair next to him. There was only one nurse with no other patients.
He wasn't certain how long he sat before Caleb stirred. The nurse, who had nothing to do, but to wait like Joe, came right over to talk to him. She asked him a lot of questions about his pain especially his head. Caleb answered weakly and drifted back to sleep.
The nurse turned to Joe. "We'll take our time in transferring him." Looking around, she said, "There isn't a lot of demand for his bed."
"So we just wait?" She nodded. "Can my girlfriend come in?"
She nodded. "I think a resident from neurology will come to assess him once he is fully awake."
"Should I be worried about his head?"
"Only as a precaution. Concussions are taken seriously these days."
Joe nodded. His student-athletes often needed accommodations after suffering concussions.
The nurse asked, "What's her name? I'll go get her."
When Ella appeared she looked half asleep. She smiled and took Joe's hand. "I think I dozed off."
Joe looked at his phone, it was four-thirty. He'd wait until Caleb was moved to call Leah. Suddenly, remembering Thanksgiving, he would call Tommy instead, so he could tell Leah when they picked her up at school. He might have dozed off a little with Ella's head on his shoulder. He woke to the sound of her voice.
"Do you have a lot of pain?"
Caleb groaned, "I feel like I got run over."
Joe asked, "Do you remember anything?"
"Yeah, we were hanging out with friends and going back before eleven and then we were..." He shut his eyes and shook his head.
Joe didn't ask any more questions. As much as he wanted to know about the girl and his phone being elsewhere, it could all wait. By the time, the neurologist came and evaluated him the sun was up. The nurse announced Caleb would be moved to a surgical floor at the children's hospital. Caleb looked shocked and she assured him he didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of seventy-year-old men.
