Page 82 of Austin
Her description sounded so cut and dried. Rod in leg. Bruising. Swelling. She didn’t mention the part where he felt like he was coming apart, both physically and mentally. Why did the room smell like Kristen?
“Was there a woman here last night?” he asked Dani as she made notations on the white board hanging opposite his bed. “Long reddish hair?”Beautiful?
Dani gave him a regretful smile. “I came on shift at seven.”
“Thanks.”
Dani moved on to her next patient, leaving Austin stared up at the ceiling wondering if he was imagining things. It seemed so real, the scent, but maybe it wasn’t.
He drifted off again, only to be startled awake by a hand on his arm. His eyes jerked open and he found himself staring blankly at the man standing next to his bed who wore green scrubs and a pleasant expression.
“Expecting someone else?” the doctor asked with a half-smile before extending a hand. “Adam Medina. You may not remember me from last night. I put your leg back together.”
“Thank you.”
The doctor went on to describe the procedure and aftercare, but he didn’t answer the one question Austin wanted answered. “Do you think I’ll be able to make any more events this season?”
“Normally I’d say no. But you’re a bull rider.”
Austin gave a small choking laugh. It hurt.
“Let’s take this a day at a time for a while. See how you mend. I’ve already been in consultation with one of my colleagues in Bozeman.” He checked his clipboard, then looked back at Austin. “If you plan to return to Marietta, that is. That’s what we have as a permanent address.”
“I am.” He had nowhere else to go.
“If you’re agreeable, he’ll handle the follow-ups.”
“I don’t see myself driving to Missoula.”
“Kind of what I figured.”
Austin closed his eyes, grimaced in spite of his intention not to. There wasn’t a place on his body that didn’t ache.
“Doing okay with the pain?” the doctor asked.
“It’s an old friend.”
“This is probably like an old friend and a lot of his relatives.”
Austin smiled instead of laughing. Even that hurt. “I’ll take whatever doesn’t mess with my head.”
“I’ll see that you get something to take the edge off, but for the most part you’ll have to muscle through if we don’t mess with your head.”
He finished his exam, made a few notes and was about to leave when Austin asked, “Have you seen a woman with long reddish hair hanging around out there?”
The doctor shook his head. “Sorry. I haven’t.”
“Thank you.” Once the doctor left, Austin stared up at the ceiling. Maybe he really had imagined that Kristen was with him the night before. Maybe he’d wanted her to be with him so badly that he’d conjured her up. Had a conversation with her.
His eyebrows came together as vague images teased the edges of his memory. Something about telling her she shouldn’t be there. It seemed real…but his concussed brain could have been hallucinating. Addressing his memory of Kristen. Asking her to leave so that he could stop thinking about her. Like that was going to happen.
He was losing it.
His body was beat to shit, his career was in limbo, he had no backup plan to speak of, and he was hallucinating about the woman he’d accidentally fallen in love with. He didn’t need a pain medication that messed with his head. He was doing just fine in that regard on his own.
*
Austin was asleepwhen Kristen arrived back at his room. She’d checked into a motel and purposely waited until just after noon to come back to the hospital, hoping he would be lucid. During that time, she’d slept, showered and been in contact with his brother who’d called the hospital early that morning. The bull had splintered Austin’s tibia, wrenched his knee, bruised the hell out of him and given him a concussion. When he was finished explaining the injuries, Ty had assured Kristen that Austin was tough as hell. These injuries might slow him down, but they wouldn’t put him out.
