Page 75 of #Awestruck

And more frequent. The pain slammed into me even harder.

“If I have to carry you and put you in my car, I will.”

And I knew he could do it. Maybe he was right. I nodded and went to put on some shoes and grab my coat. Evan locked the door behind us, giving me a pointed look, and then helped me out to his SUV.

He might have broken the land speed record, but I wasn’t sure since I could focus only on how much I hurt. A throbbing headache was starting to blur my vision. My head felt like I could detach it from the rest of my body, like it might float away.

After parking the car, Evan basically carried me into the ER. The pain in my throat was constant now and getting worse. He called for help, and some medical professionals came running over.

I was aware of lights being flashed in my eyes and the doctor looking down my throat. I nearly vomited when he touched the back of it with some kind of swab.

“Are you family?” someone asked Evan. I didn’t know how much time had passed.

“I’m her fiancé.”

“She’s had some complications from an illness, and now she is going to need an immediate tonsillectomy.”

Then I heard words likesevere infection,abscesses, andperitonsillar. None of it was making any sense.

There was a poke of a needle in my arm, and a heavy darkness started to descend.

The last thing I saw was Evan’s worried face as he squeezed my hand tightly.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I came to in a hospital room. I felt a little disoriented and realized I had an IV in my arm. It took me a second to remember what had happened. I wasn’t in pain at the moment, but my throat definitely felt weird. Like something had changed.

Evan was asleep in a chair, the scruff on his chin making it obvious that he hadn’t shaved.

I said his name, and it came out as a croaky whisper. But he immediately responded.

He rushed over to the side of my bed and took my hand. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay.”

“That’s good. When you first came to, you were really out of it and kept asking where you were and tried to rip your IV out.”

“Did I really? I don’t remember.”

“You’ve actually been eating and drinking today and going to the bathroom, too. Do you remember that?”

I had vague flashes after he said that but nothing that was clear. It was so weird to think that I’d been doing things like using the restroom and having food and couldn’t remember it. “No.”

“You asked me if they’d given you your tonsils, and I told you the tonsil fairy wasn’t real.” Why would I want my tonsils? I must have really been loopy. He went on, “You also texted your boss and told her you were in the hospital.”

Panic gripped my chest, my heart squeezing hard. Like I was ready to have a heart attack. At least I was in the right place for it. But I had texted Brenda? What else had I said about her or my job while highly medicated? What had she said? Had Evan seen any of our messages? “Where’s my phone?”

He pointed to it on that long, rolling table that hospital rooms always had. I grabbed it and checked for my message to Brenda. I’d told her I was having emergency surgery and was in the hospital.

“Did she reply?”

“She didn’t.” Did she not believe me? Not care? Would she use this as an excuse to get rid of me? Claim she’d never gotten it and say that I had failed to report for work?

“Do you want me to call her?” he offered.

“No!” I said the word so forcefully that it actually hurt. “No, thank you. I’ll take care of it.”

“I guess it shouldn’t really surprise me that you don’t remember all of that stuff because you’ve been in and out all day. Hopefully you’re more awake now.”

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