“You’re healing well. If your X-ray checks out okay and we get you up and moving and eating solid foods, you’ll be ready to go home.”
“Tomorrow?” Zachary asked, ignoring his friends’ laughter.
“Your friends told me you’d be impatient,” the doctor said. “I’m thinking more like three to five days.”
Oh, hell no. He hated hospitals.
“We’ll see,” Zachary said.
“Get some rest, and the nurse will get you some Jell-O. That will get you started on solid foods.”
Zachary wanted to gag. He hated Jell-O.
“I’ll check back.”
‘Thank you, Doctor.”
“Would you like strawberry or lime Jell-O?” the nurse asked.
“Strawberry, please.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Kane started laughing after the door closed. “You hate Jell-O. What the hell are you going to do with it? Flush it?”
“No, you’ll eat it and then sneak in a burger later.”
Travis chuckled. “At least he picked strawberry and not lime. Who the hell likes lime Jell-O?”
Chapter Two
Zachary smiled and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the shadows in the room had deepened, telling him that several hours had passed.
“Well, fuck,” he said.
“What’s wrong?”
He turned his head to see Anna sitting across the room on the sofa with a magazine on her lap. “Hey.”
“You used the bad word, so something must be wrong.” Anna walked to the side of the bed.
“I just realized I’d fallen asleep again.”
“But you need the rest.”
“Yeah, it’s just I’ve lost three weeks of my life already. I don’t want to lose any more. What are you doing here?”
Her face turned from concern to embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I was just worried. They’re so short-staffed right now they can’t stay with everyone. I’ll leave you alone.” She started sliding toward the door.
“Don’t touch that door,” he said.
She froze, and her eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to leave.”
She looked shocked. “Really?”
“Yes,” he said.