Page 99 of Cluelessly Yours

“Sammy is good. Probably shouldn’t have gotten out of bed without a nurse.” Kendall grins. “But right now, we’re all just going to focus on you, okay?”

I could give two shits about myself, if I’m honest, but I’m kind of powerless at the moment, stuck in this fucking bed.

“Even though you sustained a pretty severe concussion, your MRI and your EEG looked great,” Kendall updates. “You have some fractured ribs. A pretty nasty wound on your head that they sutured in the ED. And a small bleed in your spleen, but that was easily fixed in surgery. Truthfully, Noah, I’m shocked your injuries weren’t worse than they are.”

My fucking spleen was bleeding? Holy shit.

“Is he going to be okay?” Sammy asks, and Kendall smiles over at her.

“His neurological function appears to be intact, and his vitals have been stable since his surgery. So yeah, Sammy, other than being a little banged up, I think he’s going to be just fine. Though, I definitely want to do a full evaluation of him before I can say with certainty.”

I know everything Kendall is saying equates to good news, but all I can do right now is look at Sammy. The last time I saw her, I thought it was going to be the last time I saw her alive and well.

But she’s here. In front of me. Living and breathing.Thank everything.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I can feel some tears brewing in my eyes.

Kendall squeezes my shoulder compassionately, clearly having noticed myemotional moment. “By the way, Dale’s on his way up. He’s been asking about you all morning.”

“What about—” I start to open my mouth to ask Kendall about Sammy’s injuries, but another voice in the room stops me.

“Dale?” The question comes from Ashley, and she’s no longer sitting in the chair beside Brooke. Instead, she’s on her feet now, and her eyes are insanely wide as if someone just gave her a jump scare.

“Yes, Dale,” Kendall answers with a smile. “He’s my husband, who is also an ER doctor here. We’ve all been good friends for many, many years.”

“Dale isyourhusband,” Ashley repeats, but it’s not a question.

There’s a part of me that’s a little confused by Ashley’s confusion about who Dale is. I’m pretty sure when we were dating all those months ago, she met Dale. At least once or twice,right?

“You okay?” Brooke questions, and I realize it’s directed at Ashley, who is now pacing the tile floor near the windows.

But Ashley doesn’t answer, and all the color appears to have drained from her face.

“Ashley?” Sammy asks, concern in her voice. “You okay?”

“Miss, I think you should sit down,” Kendall states, her attention no longer focused on me but the pregnant woman who is still erratically pacing near the windows.

Ashley tries to force a smile to her lips, but it’s all off. “I’m f-fine.” She shakes her head frantically. “I’m fine.”

“Oh no.” Sammy’s voice fills my ears, and I move my gaze back to her. But she’s too busy staring at Ashley, and her eyes nearly consume her whole head as she watches the woman intently. “Ohnooooooo.”

Oh no?I might’ve just woken up from a fucking coma, but it sure feels like I’m missing something here…

Noah

“The man of the hour!” Dale exclaims as he walks into the room, his eyes directed at me. He steps up to my bedside, standing right beside Kendall, and places a strong hand to my shoulder. “Glad to see you’re awake. How ya feelin’?”

All I can do is shrug. “I think I’m okay.”

“Would you mind getting out of my way, Dale? I’m trying to evaluate a patient here.” Kendall nudges him with her hip, and he starts to laugh.

“Oh, c’mon, baby, he’s awake and talking. I think he’s good.” Dale winks at me before he starts to survey the rest of the room. “He’s even gathered his own fan club,” he states, his gaze startling noticeably when he gets to Ashley standing by the windows.

Tell me about. I was surprised to see her, too.

“Were you working when they brought me in?” I ask Dale, trying to make sense of all the things I can’t on my own. He surprises me by shaking his head instead of giving me a mouthful of his usual sarcastic commentary.

“Who was working?”

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