While I Was Away(41)

He wants to shake hands and I want to crawl inside his soul.

“My nurse?” she asked. He nodded and dropped his hand to the bed's remote control, pushing buttons until the top half started to lift, raising her into a sitting position.

“Yes. About a month after you were admitted, I started working in the ICU. I would've introduced myself before, but I got a nasty virus right before you woke up and was forced to stay home. I wasn't able to come back to work for almost ten days. When I was finally allowed back to work, you'd already been released. But I was your main nurse, I was there every day with you right up until I got sick. We've spent a lot of time together, you and I,” he tried to make it sound like a joke.

Buddy, you have no idea.

“No,” she groaned, rubbing her fingertips across her forehead. “You and I, we ...”

Jones waited patiently while she tried to find the right words, but when it was obvious she was at a loss, he went on talking.

“I have a lot of experience with patients with head trauma, I worked in the neurology unit at a hospital in Denver for years,” he explained. “You're probably the most amazing case I've ever worked on, though.”

“I am?” she asked, and when he smiled this time, it finally reached his eyes. The look stole her breath a little and she fell even more in love with him.

“Sure. You were in a comatose state for about four months, then woke up one day and pretty much walked out the door. That's virtually unheard of, Ms. Reins. You're a medical marvel,” he teased.

She'd heard all this before, of course, so it didn't make her feel uncomfortable. Him referring to her as “Ms. Reins”, though, made her want to crawl out of her skin.

“Yeah. Yeah, so they tell me,” she mumbled, struggling to lift herself away from the mattress. “Look, Jones, I'm a little -”

“What did you call me?”

His voice was sharp when he interrupted, startling her. She stopped moving and looked at him, frozen in place by his emerald stare.

“Your name?” she asked, glancing around. “That's your name, isn't it? Johannes Lund?”

“That's not what you called me.”

“Jones. I called you 'Jones' – it's short for Johannes, for you, right?”

She wouldn't have thought it possible, but his stare grew even more intense. A few more minutes and he'd probably burn a hole straight through her.

“How do you know that name?” he demanded.

“Because ... because it's your name,” she babbled.

“No one has called me that in ... jesus, longer than a year. How do you know it?” he asked. She had no clue how to respond appropriately, so she just said what came to mind first.

“You told me it,” she replied.

His jaw dropped.

“I never -”

“Ms. Reins!” a loud voice boomed through the room, cutting the tension in half. They both whipped their heads around and saw her neurologist striding across the floor. He snatched her file from Jones' lap and started flipping through it. “Glad to see you're already awake. I heard you gave the nurses quite a scare.”

“Doctor, I think she -” Jones stood up and folded his arms across his chest.

“Please, you don't understand, I need to -” she tried to stop him.

“Everything seems fine with your head, thankfully,” Dr. Martin ignored both of them as he scanned her paperwork. “Your iron counts look a little low, you have some mild anemia, and though you've gained a lot of weight since your coma, I'd like to see you put on some more. That's probably what caused the fainting spell. I'm going to schedule an appointment with a nutritionist ...”

The doctor's voice faded away as Adele's mind began to race. It hadn't been anemia or hunger causing her to faint, she knew. She frowned and started yanking at the oxygen monitor attached to her finger.

“I don't want to see a nutritionist. I want – need – to talk privately with Jones,” she insisted.

“Who?” Dr. Martin asked.

“Uh ...” Jones added in an awkward voice.

“With Jo-, er, with Nurse Lund,” she corrected herself, glancing at his ID badge.

“Ah, Nurse Lund. Took excellent care of you while you were out,” the doctor informed her.

Yes, yes he did – now if only he could remember.

“Thank you, doctor,” Jones said in a slow, calm voice. She didn't care for his tone at all – he was acting like she was some sort of wacko. “But I think Ms. Reins is a little confused, I'm worried about her. You might want to keep her for observation.”

“I know he took excellent care of me,” she snapped, hating how they were talking about her like she wasn't in the room. “I was there.”

The doctor and nurse glanced at each other, and though Adele knew getting upset was only going to make things worse, she couldn't help it. When she'd first woken up and had realized she'd probably never see Jones again, she'd thought she was in hell. This, though, was much worse, and she was not equipped to handle it.

“Yes, yes, of course you were there,” Dr. Martin agreed. “Adele, I think we should lay you back down. I've contacted your brother, I'll just call him back and tell him we're keeping you for the night.”