Page 15 of Wildflower Hearts
“That’d be great.”
She glanced once more at Noah before offering Mark her seat. “I’m going to check on some other patients. I’ll be back shortly.”
Shortly turned into four hours. Lyla waved at a patient headed to check out and spotted Reba approaching her. “Please do not tell me there’s another patient.”
“You’re good as gold. We’ve slowed down, and it’s only two o’clock. The second floor sent us some extra help. It seems they had more clock in tonight than they thought they scheduled.”
“Good. I’m going to take my lunch. Page me if you need me. If not, I’ll find you again in about an hour.”
“Sure thing.”
She walked away, heading automatically for Noah’s room, and tapped on the door frame.
Mark was stretching his arms. “Hey, Doc.”
“I’m not a doctor, Mark.”
“The way I see it, you’re Noah’s doctor. You’ve cared for him more than any soul in this hospital.” He popped his neck and glanced at his watch. “Do you mind if I run to the house and check on Debra? She’s not answering the phone, so she either forgot to hang it up, or…”
“No, go ahead. I’m on lunch, so take your time.”
“Are you sure? I could wait till you get some food.”
“I’m okay.” She ushered him toward the door. “Be careful. It’s been snowing. The roads are slick.”
He stopped halfway outside the door. “Thanks, Lyla.”
“You’re welcome.”
She took his seat beside the bed and reached over to take his hand, threading her fingers through his. “Do you know how hard it is to hold hands with a guy that won’t squeeze his fingers? I bet you'd freak out if you woke up right now. You don’t look like the kind of guy that holds hands with a girl when he doesn’t know her name.” She tilted her head back and gazed at the ceiling. “I wish I knew what happened to you, Noah, but your brother seems pretty adamant about not talking about it. None of your brothers have.” She reached over to brush away a piece of his hair from his forehead. “That’s twice now that I’ve done,” she murmured. “A girl could get used to that kind of thing. I bet you have a girlfriend no one knows about, or maybe you have a hobby like painting. I bet you’re in a band. Are you in a band?” She studied his fingers. “Definitely in a band with these fingers. Do you play the guitar, Noah?”
She began to lean back when she felt a spasm against her thumb. She frowned, ceasing her movements to inch even closer to him. Her eyes were drawn to his hand clasped in hers. She watched, eyes wide, when his fingers curled around hers.
“Noah?” Lyla stood up from the seat, shoving it back using her foot. Blindly, she reached for his call button and squeezed the red trigger. She tossed it aside. “Noah, can you hear me?”
A wide grin spread across her face the second he squeezed her hand.
“That’s right. Come back to us.” She sat on the edge, careful not to crush his tubes or touch his side. “Come back to me, Noah. You can do it.”
“Nurse Hamilton, we saw the light.” Reba burst into the room with Diane following close behind her. “Is everything okay?”
Noah’s eyes opened at that exact moment, his mouth moving soundlessly, and she grinned down at him.
“Welcome back, Mr. Kingsley.”
Chapter Seven
Elias burst out of the elevator, Billy following close with Debra, and they ran up to Mark standing outside the door of Noah’s room.
“What’s going on?”
“Is he really awake?”
“Why aren’t you in there?”
“Whoa, one question at a time.” Mark waved his hands. “Dr. Stewart is in there right now with Lyla. We can’t go in there until they’re done.”
Elias ran his hands through his hair with worry etched all over his face. “What happened? Were you here?”
