A Way to Yesterday

Chapter 7- Wicked Bitch of the West

Cara's POV:

Present.

Somehow I manage to get through the surgery successfully. I'm relieved now that I know for sure he's going to be okay. After cleaning up I decide to go check on Liam again. Harry walks in and stands beside me.

"So are you ready to tell me what's wrong?" he asks casually. I sigh heavily.

"No," I say simply. He shuts off the water and leans against the counter. I ignore his burning gaze. He clears his throat. "What?" I snap still avoiding his eyes.

"How about we just forget about this and we go out for a drink tonight?" he suggests. I shrug.

"I don't know," I say. He chuckles and reaches for a paper towel.

"Well think about it. You know where to find me," he says. He stands by the door and waits for me. I finish quickly and dry my hands. As soon as Harry opened the door we heard the frantic shouts of a woman. We step out in the hall and my eyes fall on a woman about my height, with short blonde hair and a slim figure.

She's yelling at the receptionist about finding her husband. The nurse behind the desk is trying to calm her down. Harry shakes his head.

"Where is my husband? I need to see him," she yells.

"I'll let you take this one," Harry whispers and I roll my eyes. I huff and start towards the woman, who by the way is still yelling.

"Excuse me. Miss. I need you to calm down," I shout over her yelling. She stops and turns to me.

"I need to find my husband. He was in an accident. I need to know if he's okay," she yells in my face. I close my eyes and mentally tell myself not to slap this woman. I used to be good at this. With handling people like this. But now I was almost reluctant. To say that I'd changed would be an understatement. I was definitely not who I was in college.

"Okay. I can help you find him but you need to calm down. There are other patients and you can't upset them," I say in my motherly voice. She glares at me.

"I don't give a shit about upsetting anyone. You don't seem to care that I'm upset. Now I want to see my husband," she shouts.

"Miss. If you don't calm down I will call security and have them escort you out and then you won't get to see your husband," I say calmly but sternly. She huffs but keeps her mouth shut. "Good. Now. Was that so hard?"

She continues her murderous glare but shakes her head. I smile politely at her but in the back of my mind I feel a small victory for taming the wild bitch.

"Okay. What's your husbands name?" I ask.

"Liam. Liam Payne," she says and I freeze. Liam? Liam was married? She gives me a worried look when I don't move or say anything right away. "What? Is he okay?" she asks. I snap out of my daze and clear my throat.

"Um. Yes. He's fine. Liam is your husband?" I ask. Maybe I misheard her. But unfortunately she nods.

"Yes. Can I see him?" she asks.

"Um. Not at the moment. He just came out of surgery and now he's recovering. But as soon as he's in the clear you can see him," I tell her, switching back to business while she changes back to bitchy.

"Well how long will that take?" she snaps.

"I don't know. Times vary. If he wakes up within the next few hours he should be fine but if not then we have to see whats wrong," I explain to her. "But if you will just have a seat and patiently wait we should know in a few hours."

"Fine," she says and takes out her phone. She moves to the waiting area and sits down. I shake my head and walk away. Well that was fun, I think to myself.

I hope Liam married her as a joke because she was seriously a bitch. Either his taste in women changed or I was secretly a bitch all the time. It was definitely the latter. Makes you wonder what he saw in a girl like that. Maybe she's a down low bitch. That would explain it. I'd have to remember to ask him when and if he wakes up.

Shit. What was I going to do when he wakes up? I had to talk to him eventually. Maybe he would suffer from memory loss and won't even recognize me. I hoped for that but then I didn't. I didn't want to go through that awkwardness. But at the same time I wanted him to remember me. Maybe I was clinging to some small hope that he would still be in love with me and want me back.

I knew that I still had feelings for him. I just wasn't exactly sure if they were positive or negative. Probably a mixture of both. You don't just fall out of love with somebody. Not when you're so deep in love. And I was in deep. Plus I had some ill feelings towards him because of the break up.

Now don't get me wrong, the break up was mostly mutual. We wanted different things and he was graduating that month and moving back to New York to start his career. I still had one more year before I got master's. Then I would do another year to earn my PhD.

I should have known something would go wrong. I should have sensed it but I was so blinded by love that I was left dizzy and disoriented when we called it quits. I didn't want to let him go but once he listed the obvious reasons as to why it wouldn't work out I stopped crying, said goodbye and walked away without another word. Literally.

Of course once I was alone I cried for days. I hadn't heard from him since that night and I thought that I never would again. He didn't even try and do the "lets be friends" gig. But honestly that probably would've turned out a disaster.

I stood outside his door and took a deep breath, praying to myself that he wasn't awake just yet. I opened the door and sighed in relief when his eyes were still closed. I did a quick check of everything. He was recovering normally and would probably be awake in the next hour or so. Great. Now I get to tell the wicked bitch of the west.