I had somehow managed to get myself to sleep again, but was woken up by the knocking on my door.
“Come in!” I called, trying to sit up a bit.
“Good afternoon!” the nurse greeted me, bringing a tray over to my bedside.
“Oh no, it’s alright. My friend was going to pick me up some lunch, thanks,” I said, courteously pushing the tray of food away.
“I’m sorry, but you have to eat this. Doctor’s orders,” she said, sitting the tray down.
I made a face and lifted the lid from the tray as she checked my IV and heart monitor, then left the room. There were some green beans, a big pile of hard potatoes, lumpy gravy to go with it, and something browish that they tried to pass off as roast beef. I noted that I had red jello for dessert, and that was definitely the highlight of my meal. I was still looking disgustedly at my meal when there was another knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called, mashing my fork into the mountain of potatoes.
I looked up and saw Shay walk in with a bag from McDonald’s. “I bought you some lunch,” she said, glancing at my tray.
“Thanks, but the doctor said I have to eat this stuff,” I whined, sticking out my tongue and making a gagging expression.
“Yuck! I feel sorry for you,” she laughed slightly.
“Yeah, you can just eat that if you want,” I said, pointing to the food she had brought me.
“Nah…it’s alright. I’m not hungry,” she said, sitting the bag of food on the table beside my flowers.
“So did you talk to Nick?” I asked, forcing myself to take a bite of the potatoes.
“Yeah, he was glad to hear that you were awake and said he would bring Tristan by later,” Shay said, walking over to sit down.
“That’s good. I can’t wait to see them!” I said, excitedly.
About that time I heard someone making airplane noises that were rapidly approaching my room. I looked up and saw Nick enter the room, holding my son as if he were an airplane and flying him in my direction.
“Hey sweetie!” I said, pushing my food tray over slightly so I could hold Tristan. I covered his tiny baby face in kisses and stroked his soft bit of hair.
I looked back up at Nick and caught him staring at me compassionately with his bright blue eyes. I smiled up at him and he leaned down and gave me a small peck on the cheek.
“How do you feel?” he asked with concern.
“A lot better. My head still hurts some, but nothing like before. I’ve got to take some tests, so they’re going to keep me in here for a few days,” I said, frowning.
“I’m glad you feel better,” he smiled.
“Well, I’m going to go now. I need to go um…clean, yeah. Want me to take Tristan?” Shay asked, getting up to leave.
I decided it would be best if Shay took Tristan with her so that Nick and I could have a break and we could talk alone without any interruptions.
“I’m really glad you came. I didn’t think I would actually ever see you again,” I said watching Nick’s face as he looked at all of the machines surrounding me.
“It’s no problem. Tristan and I had a long man to man talk about it and he talked some sense into me and told me to come,” he grinned, chuckling slightly.
“Well, I’m certainly glad you men had that talk!” I laughed.
“You have to eat that stuff?” Nick asked making a face, gesturing to the hospital food.
“Yeah, I do…” I trailed off, picking up my fork again.
“Sorry,” he said, “but it does look sorta yummy. I haven’t eaten all day!”
“Trust me, it’s not. Shay bought me some food from McDonald’s, but I can’t eat it, so if you want it, it’s on the table,” I told him, taking another bite of my potatoes.
“You sure?” he asked, walking around to the other side of my bed.
“Yeah, I can’t eat it anyway,” I said, as he took the bag and sat down in the chair across from me. We both finished our meals basically in silence except for a few words exchanged about Tristan.
There was another knock at the door and the nurse walked in. “Are you finished Dr. Bryant? I’ll take your tray if you are,” she offered.
“Yep, I am. I’m gonna keep the jello, though,” I smiled, licking my lips.
She laughed a bit and left the room.
“Aww…I wanna bite,” Nick whined, walking over to me.
I rolled my eyes, and lifted my fork to his mouth to feed him a bit of it.
“Oooh…that’s pretty yummy!” he said, his blue eyes wide with delight.
“I wouldn’t know…I haven’t tasted it yet,” I joked.
“Here, let me…” Nick said, taking the fork from my hand and feeding me the dessert.
After I was all finished, he stood up beside of me and took my hand into his.
“Peyton, I wanted to tell you-“ Nick began, but was cut off by someone knocking on my door.
I let out a sigh of aggravation and told the person to come in.
“Hello! Sorry to disturb you two, but Peyton, we need to run those tests now so we can get you out of here as soon as possible,” Dr. McKinley said, walking over, checking something on his clipboard.
“Okay…” I said, turning to Nick.
“It’s all right. We’ll talk later. Bye,” he said, kissing me softly on the lips.
“Bye,” I called after him, watching him leave the room.
After a few hours of running tests on my heart and having needles pricked into my arm to remove samples of my blood, I finally got to return to my room for the night.
“We should have the results in the morning,” Dr. McKinley informed me, leaving me with my worry and anticipation.
