The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(70)

Theo leaned over and peeked at her phone.

“Oh great, you’re getting Alexa on your ‘Keep Theo in the hospital’ side, I see.”

Maddie tucked her phone in her pocket.

“I’m just keeping her posted, since her fiancé doesn’t seem to be doing that!”

Dr. Stewart finished talking to Drew and shook hands with everyone before she left the room.

“If I don’t see any of you again before he’s out of here, it was a pleasure. Don’t worry, the nurses will give you a whole list to consult in the next few days.” She patted Maddie on the shoulder after she shook Theo’s hand. “He’ll be okay.”

Maddie showed all of her teeth when she smiled back at her.

“He’d better be.”

Drew picked up his bag shortly after the doctor left.

“I’m pretty sure that all you need is a lot of very boring rest—Maddie’s right that you won’t get to use screens for a while, so say good-bye to your phone and computer, too.”

Theo dropped his head into his hands.

“For how long?”

Poor Theo. He was on his phone more than she was on hers.

“A week at a minimum, more than likely more,” Drew said. He turned to Ben. “I’ll send you a text you can send to your mom, if that will make her feel better.”

Ben nodded.

“I’m sure it will, thanks.”

Drew waved at the door.

“Okay, text me if you need anything. I’m sure you’ll hear from Alexa very soon.”

After Drew left, the nurse came back in with Theo’s discharge papers and a stack of other paperwork.

“Do you have someone to stay with you overnight tonight?” she asked Theo as she was disconnecting the IV cord.

“Yes,” both Maddie and Ben said.

Maddie looked at Ben, and he looked back at her, then down at Theo. Part of Maddie wanted to just let his brother deal with him overnight. Theo had told her to go home. Maybe he was tired of her. Maybe he wanted his brother to take care of him instead of her.

Too bad if he did; she was going to do it no matter what. Had his brother sat there all day looking up danger signs for head injuries, or listening to what every doctor said? Had his brother already read through the list that the nurse had handed her about what to do over the next few days and when to take him back to the hospital?

“I’ll be the one taking care of him overnight,” Maddie said to the nurse. Neither Theo nor Ben argued.

The nurse nodded at Maddie.

“Okay, you have the list of danger signs there, and the numbers to call if there are any problems. Do you have any questions?”

Boy, they really didn’t give you a lot of time to look over the list and think of questions, did they? They were just ready to turn over his bed and get them out of there. They had apparently never met her before.

“Yes, quite a few, actually. First of all, this line says vomiting is common, but then this line says to be concerned if there’s too much vomiting. Those two things seem to contradict each other. Can you clarify?”





Chapter Seventeen




THEO AND BEN EXCHANGED GLANCES THROUGHOUT MADDIE’S LITANY of questions for the nurse. Theo was very glad Ben had obeyed his “Don’t argue with her” look after the nurse had asked who was staying with him tonight.

Theo had no idea why Maddie was so intent on taking care of him overnight. She was such a hard person to figure out: on the one hand, she’d been there with him basically since he’d been injured, had answered him every time he’d woken up confused in this bed, and was now grilling the nurse on proper postconcussion procedures. On the other, she’d dropped his hand like it had burned her as soon as Alexa had walked into the room, and had made a point to say she was only at the hospital to do Alexa a favor. If this had happened after the wedding, would Maddie have even been here at all? He had no idea.

All he knew was that he’d felt so relieved every time he’d woken up and had seen her right there by his side. Especially since he had a rock in the pit of his stomach because of the rally. He couldn’t believe he’d made every wrong decision about something he’d worked so hard to make perfect.

“Okay, Mr. Stephens,” the nurse finally said. “Let’s get you out of that bed and you can get some clothes on.”

Theo sat up, slowly this time. Okay, good, it didn’t hurt as much as it had the last few times he’d tried it.

“Speaking of clothes, what am I going to wear out of here?” He looked at Maddie. “ Or . . . did they really cut my clothes off me?” Everything that had happened so far today felt like it was one big dream.

Maddie took a deep breath.

“It happened. Don’t remind me.” She shook her head. “But you have other stuff to change into. I got Ben to stop by your house and pick up sweats and a T-shirt.” She narrowed her eyes at Ben. “You did do that, didn’t you?”

Apparently, in the last few hours in the ER together, Maddie had started talking to Ben like he was her little brother.

Ben reached into his messenger bag and pulled out Theo’s gray sweats and an old Harvard tee.

“You think I’d forget to do that and risk your wrath?” Ben tossed the clothes on the bed next to Theo.