Page 77 of Sloane

“I’ve got a little time to decide.”

Fortunately, classes didn’t start until next week, and I had another week after that to withdraw from a class and get my money back.

I didn’t know what the right thing to do was. It felt like my life was on hold until Sloane regained consciousness. Only then would I have a better understanding about what he was going to need from me. And I knew Dan was right, Sloane was going to have a lot to deal with emotionally and physically. He was going to need a lot more help than just what I could give.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ashley

Reluctantly, I’d stayed enrolled in my online classes after all. I thought Dan was right, Sloane would be upset if he thought I’d dropped my classes because of him.

Two days after Dan’s appointment, I was eating lunch at my desk, catching up on paperwork, when my phone rang. I looked down to see it was Ryan calling, and immediately thought that was odd. He or Craig always waited until the evening, after I’d gotten off of work, to call.

“Hi, Ryan. What’s going on?”

“Hey, Ash. I just hung up with the doctor in Germany. They started the process for taking Sloane out of his coma.”

I felt my heart speed up.

“Oh my god! That’s such great news! Did they say how long they expect it to take?”

“They said to plan on a day or two.”

I nodded my head, even though he couldn’t see me. Finally! I was going to be able to do something other than wait.

“Okay. Have you booked your flight yet?”

“They said to hold off until he’s awake and can give the okay for visitors.”

Of course he was going to give the okay for visitors.

“Well, I’ll start looking for flights anyway.”

“Hang tight, Ash. The doctors said the military would probably be willing to fly family members Sloane approves. Just be patient a little while longer.”

“Patient” felt like my middle name these days.

“Okay. I’ll wait to hear from either him or you.”

“Sounds good. Talk to you soon.”

In the meantime, I needed to let Catherine know I was going to be taking vacation leave soon.

****

Sloane

The first thing I remembered was someone softly repeating my name, over and over. Then the sensation like my entire left side was being stung by bees made me swat at my body, which made me recoil in pain.

The quiet voice that had been saying my name, assured me, “It’s okay,” then I felt my hand being held firmly in place. A moment later, the pain subsided, and my whole body relaxed.

The second thing that registered was the sound of machines beeping before I fluttered my eyes open.

As my vision came into focus, I saw a pretty blonde woman in teal scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck standing next to my bed. She smiled warmly at me while telling me with a German accent, “Welcome back, Captain Davidson.”

I didn’t know I’d gone anywhere. But since I was obviously in a hospital room and not in a tent in the desert, something had happened.

“Where am I?”

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