"He"s awake," she says.
"Oh thank G.o.d." I swallow but it doesn"t help to soothe my dry throat. "Can I see him?"
She nods. "Follow me."
Chapter 11.
There"s a digital clock on the wall of Jace"s hospital room. Red LED lights blare the time at me the moment I open my eyes. It"s two-sixteen in the morning. The light is off in here, but the heavy oversized door is cracked a bit and it lets in all the light from the hallway outside. Hospitals don"t shut down when it"s time to go to sleep.
I yawn and sit back, straightening my spine from the awkward way I had been sleeping. The plastic fake leather armchair in the corner of Jace"s hospital room had sufficed as my pseudo bed. I had dragged it across the room, right up next to Jace"s bed, carefully avoiding the wires and tubes that hung from various places on his body.
The doctor had informed me that Jace suffered a concussion. After extensive testing, they said the damage wasn"t bad but it wasn"t good. He"d need to stay for observation and make sure his brain didn"t start swelling or something elsesome kind of fancy medical term that made my stomach tighten. Instead of dwelling on what might happen, I had promised myself to stay calm and trust that everything would be okay. There"s no way fate would take Jace away from me. Not now.
My right hand is wrapped tightly in his. It"s sweaty and uncomfortable but I don"t dare move. As much as I want Jace to wake up and talk and laugh and kiss me, the doctor said it"s best that he gets some rest now. His body can heal better when he"s sleeping, and I"ll just have to wait.
I rearrange the flimsy pillows in my chair and try to get in a more comfortable position. I tuck my other arm under the lowered handrail on the side of the bed and rest my head on the mattress next to Jace"s shoulder. My anxiety fades as I close my eyes and soon, sleep overtakes me.
When I wake up for the second time, it"s because a nurse walks into the room. She lifts an eyebrow when she sees how I"m positioned both in a chair and on Jace"s bed. I sit up quickly and rub my eyes. I almost expect her to chastise me for how I was sleeping, but she doesn"t say anything at first.
She checks Jace"s monitors and taps something into a tablet. "Good morning," she says finally as she adjusts the IV bag and checks the time on her watch. "Breakfast hasn"t been here yet?"
I shake my head. "I don"t think so."
"Has he woken up this morning?"
I shake my head again. My hand is still interlocked with his, my hand sweat and his hand sweat merged into one sticky mess. Still, I don"t want to let go. Jace"s constant sleeping doesn"t seem to bother her. She tells me she"ll request an extra breakfast tray for me and then leaves before I have time to tell her that won"t be necessary. I"m still so full of nervous energy that I"m not sure I could eat right now even if I had food in front of me. And hospital food? No thanks.
After what feels like hours, I turn on the television in the room and try to find something worth watching, but nothing takes my mind off of the situation. I want Jace to wake up so badly but I don"t want to be the one who wakes him up. I want to be patient and allow him to sleep as long as he needs to. But...I might yawn a little loudly and make a big deal about standing up and repositioning myself next to him on the mattress.
It doesn"t work.
Even when his cell phone blares to life on the table next to the bed, Jace sleeps soundly. I peek over at his phone, the top corner of which is lit up red to signal that the battery life is low. It"s his mother calling, and honestly, I"m surprised she didn"t call sooner. I glance over at Jace and when he hasn"t woken up by the third ring, I take the phone and answer it.
I"d normally be a nervous wreck talking to his mom for the first time ever, but somehow I manage to say h.e.l.lo without my voice cracking.
"h.e.l.lo?" She sounds confused at first and then her voice softens. "Is this Bayleigh? Or did my son develop a high-pitched voice?"
I smile, hoping it takes the nerves out of my voice. "It"s Bayleigh. Jace is still sleeping."
"Really? I guess he didn"t have work today?"
"Work?" The word suddenly has no meaning to me. "Why would he beWait, do you not know what happened last night?"
"I haven"t heard from Jace in days, honey. Why, what"s wrong?"
She called me honey the first time she"s ever talked to me. That"s kind of a huge deal, but I"ll have time to be excited about that later. Right now I feel sick to my stomach over the fact that his own mother doesn"t know he"s admitted into the hospital. It was all my fault. I"m the fiance. I"m his emergency contact. I should have been smart enough to call her but it never even crossed my mind. I spent all night worrying about Jace and never once worried about his family.
I swallow and try to think of the best way to give a mother scary news. "Well...first of all, he"s okay. But he"s in the hospital from wrecking his dirt bike yesterday."
"What?" she snaps as if I"ve just told her some juicy gossip instead of terrible news. "He better not have broken any bones right before the wedding! Oh, I"m gonna kill that boy if he did."
"No...no broken bones. Just a concussion and some sc.r.a.pes and bruises."
"No brain swelling?" She asks the question as if it were as casual as asking what"s for breakfast.
"No swelling."
"Good."
Jace hasn"t stirred since I answered the phone. I decide to talk a little louder. "Do you want me to wake him up for you?"
"That won"t be necessary, honey. I trust you"re taking good care of him. I was just calling to invite you two to come over and see Gary and I next weekend. Do you think ya"ll can make it?"
I almost blurt out Who is Gary? but before I put my foot in my mouth, I remember that"s his dad"s name. Plus there"s a bigger situation at hand right now. His mother just invited us to come visit them in California. For the first time.
"Um, sure," I say without really thinking about it. "I mean, a.s.suming he"s out of the hospital and feeling better and all that, I"m sure we can come over."
"Oh he"ll be out of there by this afternoon," she says with a laugh. "You take care of him but if that boy tries milking it just for the attention, you better tell him to get off his a.s.s and take care of himself, okay?"
"Okay." I can"t believe she"s taking this so lightly. Her son is in the hospital. The hospital. My mom would be freaking out if I were in the same position, but Jace"s mom acts like it"s no big deal. "I"ll talk to him when he wakes up."
"Great," she says in the same cheerful tone she"s had she"s the beginning of our conversation. "Tell him Dad"s credit card has a lot of miles on it so he won"t need to buy plane tickets."
"Sounds good," I say.
"Okay, hun. Talk to you later!"
When I hang up Jace"s phone, I stare at the home screen for a few seconds while I take it all in. I"ve just spoken to Jace"s mother for the very first time since our relationship began. And it wasn"t even that scary. She was really nice. I mean, he had always promised me that his mother was nice, but I guess I never believed it. And up until now, I had known that the first time I met them would be at our wedding, but I was trying to cover up the nervous feelings I had about that and try to focus on the wedding. Now we"ll be meeting them before the big day.
We"re going to be staying with them in California. At their house. Will they make us sleep in separate beds? Will his mom"s niceness be just an act meant to lure me to their home where she"ll then berate me for ruining her son"s life? What if she meets me and doesn"t like me and then demands that Jace call off the wedding?
A heavy sadness presses into my chest as I stare at Jace"s phone. His background is a picture of us at the motocross track, him in his gear and me in my homemade T-shirt that says: The Future Mrs. Adams.
I remember when that picture was taken. It was during spring break when I spent the week with Hana while our guys rode dirt bikes all day. We both made shirts like that, using a plain t-shirt and iron on glittery letters, only hers was about Ash, of course. I had had so much fun with Jace and my new motocross friends. It never occurred to me that my boyfriend"s sport is a dangerous one. I spent that whole week hanging out at the track and making fun of Jace for how smelly he got after a day of riding in the hot Texas sun. I never once thought that one day I"d be sitting next to him in the hospital.
His phone beeps one last desperate cry to be plugged into a charger and then it dies. I frown. Bringing a charger is probably something I could have put on the list for Becca. After they let me see Jace and they gave him his own hospital room out of the emergency area, Becca had went back to our apartment and collected some items for me. Clothes, toothbrush, snacks and my tablet. The tablet"s charger also worked on my cell phone. I didn"t think to ask for Jace"s charger as well.
"Hey beautiful." Jace"s voice is groggy from sleep and probably the drugs in this IV bag. "Why do you look so sad?"
I smile as my heart explodes with happiness over hearing my fiance"s voice after what feels like years of not talking to him. I hold up his phone. "It"s dead."
He shrugs. "You"re here, so I don"t care to talk to anyone else."
I set the phone on a nearby table and stand up, leaning over him to kiss his lips, his cheek and his forehead. "I"m glad you"re alive," I whisper. Jace reaches up and grabs my face, pulling me down for another kiss. "Oh yeah?" he asks playfully. I nod. "Because now I"m going to kill you for making me worry."
He smiles. "I"m sorry, baby. I"m fine, though. They"ll let me go home today."
I open my mouth to say something, but stop when Jace"s demeanor turns...sneaky? Or...smoldering? "What is it?" I ask. He gives me this lazy smile and pulls at my arm, tugging me closer to him. "You look really f.u.c.king hot right now," he whispers. "I want you."
"Oh my gosh," I say, rolling my eyes. "You are in the hospital and you"re thinking about s.e.x?"
He shrugs and makes this face like he can"t help it. "I always want to do you," he says. "It"s your fault."
I stand up and put my hands on my hips. "And why is it my fault?"
He reaches out and pokes me in the stomach. "Because you"re so prettyyyyy."
With one twist of his hand, he grabs me around the waist and pulls me to him, and then draws me in for a kiss. We make out in a hungry, eager way, but it"s not as satisfying as at home because now all I can focus on is being gentle so as not to rip out his IV, or touch any part of him that"s been injured. His torso is covered by a hospital gown and the sheets, but the doctor had told me that he was pretty banged up. No internal injuries though, so that"s a good thing. I groan and pull away from kissing him so I can look him in the eyes.
"I"m sorry to ruin the mood, but I have something to tell you."
Jace winces as he shifts to the right in his bed. He pats the now empty s.p.a.ce, motioning for me to lie down next to him. Carefully, I snuggle into the s.p.a.ce next to him and rest my head on his shoulder. I take a deep breath.
"Okay, now you"re scaring me," he says. "What is it?"
I take another deep breath. "Your mom called. I answered your phone. It was before the battery died."
He laughs. "Okay, what"s so bad about that? Wait...is everyone okay?"
"What?" I snap, looking back at him. "You"re the one who"s not okay, mister!"
"I"m fine, babe. I promise. Just have a headache, that"s all. So what"d Mom want?"
"Well I told her you were in the hospital with a concussion, and she didn"t even seem to care."
He nods. "That"s my mother. She raised a motocross kid. We get hurt. That"s what we do."
"Why does everyone think this isn"t a big deal? You"re in the freaking hospital!"
"I"m sorry, baby. I know this is hard on you." He kisses the top of my head and I close my eyes as we cuddle on the stiff hospital bed. "I didn"t mean to scare you. I wasn"t supposed to crash, obviously. But I"m sorry you had to go through this. I"ll be okay, I promise."
"You"re about to be a father, you know. I can"t have you risking your life just to do what Ash called freestyle tricks" after work."
Jace stiffens. "Did he say what kind of freestyle?" I shake my head and he relaxes. "Good."
"What"s that supposed to mean?" I ask.
"So what else did my mom want?" He"s changing the subject and doing a terrible job of being casual about it, but I"m definitely not in the mood to grill him on his definition of freestyling.
"She wants us to come visit. Next week."
"That"s a good idea," Jace says. "They should totally meet you before the wedding. Besides, now that I"m hurt, Mr. Fisher will let me take a couple of weeks off work to recover. So it"s perfect."
"I don"t know about this," I say, feeling my stomach twist into knots.
"What"s wrong?"
"It"s your parents. I"m nervous...What if they don"t like me?"
Jace waves away my worries with a casual flick of his hand. "You"re insane. They"re going to love you."
Chapter 12.
When Jace is out of the hospital, we make a trip to the mall and purchase new luggage. I"ve never really had a proper suitcase, always opting to toss my stuff in a duffel bag or backpack when traveling, and Jace"s old luggage was from his motocross days and reeked of dried sweat and exhaust. He chooses this Oakley brand bag on wheels to be his new suitcase and I pick something more girly. A pink suitcase dotted with sparkly silver stars. It has pink wheels and a shiny pink handle.
"You won"t have to worry about spotting this at the baggage claim," Jace says once we get home and I"m fawning over it and all of its cool compartments. "I don"t know," I say. "I think it might need more glitter."
Jace flips open his pocket knife and slices through the plastic tags that I was trying, but failing, to rip off with my hands. Then he cuts off the tags on his new bag as well. We plop them onto our bed and begin packing. Our return trip plane ticket is for three days after we arrive in California. Three whole days of hanging out with Jace"s parents. I"m not even sure my body can handle that amount of nervousness.
"What"s bugging you?" Jace says as he swoops behind me in our shared closet, grabbing a few b.u.t.ton up shirts off the hangers and tossing them over his shoulder. I shrug and flip through my clothes, unsure of what to bring. "I"m just nervous, that"s all."
"There"s nothing to be worried about. Unless you"re scared of flying." His eyes go wide in this evil way. "Wait, are you scared of flying?"
"No," I snap, making sure I sound confident so he won"t catch on that yeah, I"m a little scared of flying. But that fear is nothing compared to the gigantic ball of nerves that took up residence in my chest the moment his mother called and hasn"t left since. "I"m scared of your parents."
Jace laughs so hard and so loud that I jump and then immediately fake punch him in the arm. "Stop laughing at me!"
"You"re so adorable, Bay. I love you so much," he says between laughter. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about. My parents are cool. I promise."
I draw in a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh. "I really hope you"re right."
Choosing enough clothes to last for three nights and three days with the potential of changing outfits halfway through the day poses the toughest task I"ve had to do in weeks. Planning a wedding feels like a cakewalk compared to choosing what outfits you want to be seen wearing around your future in-laws.
Jace has his entire suitcase full and ready to go by the time I"ve finally chosen which outfits I think I might be taking with me. Guys have it so easy. They wear jeans and shirts and they can mix and match everything in their wardrobe. Plus Jace looks hot in everything. I have to do this delicate balance between something that looks nice but not like I"m trying too hard, and something that doesn"t show off my growing stomach.