Chapter 10: Chelsea

My head hurt, and my mouth was dry. The smell of disinfectant hung strong in the air, and I honestly felt like I was about to puke. I heard beeping noises and people talking in the distance, but when I panned my head over all those things faded into the background.

“Oh my God, Chelsea.”

His rugged voice hit my ears like waves crashing against the rocks. My soul was desperately dry, and he was wetting my existence. My eyes felt heavy, but his hand descending over mine felt warm and comforting, and I didn’t want to fall back asleep and risk having this moment with him.

“Fl-... -ynn?”

My vision was pounding with my headache, and my shoulder was burning and itching. What the hell was Flynn doing here? I felt something dance along my lips as my eyes fluttered closed, and then I heard that same low voice in my ear.

“Drink. You’ve gotta be thirsty.”

I leaned my head into those pillowy lips, and when Flynn pressed a light kiss to my temple, I knew everything was going to be alright. I wasn’t sure where I was, or how I’d gotten there-- I think-- but Flynn was here, and that always told me everything was going to be alright.

Then, I heard a stampede of people flood the room. It reminded me of those times at the rodeo when the horses came out and competed in the racing tournaments. People were poking me and prodding me, a doctor was peeling my eyes open, and someone else was sticking my feet with something sharp. I heard the beeping in the background speed up, and I felt the vomit rising in my throat.

“Back off,” I heard a voice in the distance.

“Chelsea…?”

“Oh my God, my little girl!”

All the voices melded together, and my ears started to burn. Someone was massaging my aching shoulder, and another person was toggling with something at the back of my head, and when I felt a pinch at the base of my neck, I reared up and heaved all over the side of whatever it was I was laying in.

“I said, ‘back off’!”

I’d know that roar anywhere. Over all the chaos of a place I didn’t recognize and above all the motions that were frightening and foreign, there rose one particular voice I’d always latched onto. I always heard him when he shouted from the rodeo pin, and he always heard me when I would shout back. I felt someone slick my hair back as I continued to vomit all over the side of my bed, and when I was finally done all I could do was sob.

“What's... ha-... happening, Flynn?”

I felt panic waft into my system and, slowly but surely, things began to fall back into place. I remember a horse in a beautiful pasture, and I watched that horse get spooked. I tried to run over to the horse, in my mind, but all of a sudden, I was lying on the ground under the horse.

“Oreo…” I whispered.

“Chelsea, latch onto the sound of my voice.”

I felt a light kiss on the temple of my head, and all of a sudden, a pair of fingers interlaced with mine. I felt someone take my other hand, but the poking and the prodding had stopped, and the beeping I had heard in the distance was just a slow, rhythmic dot in the barrage of sounds that were slowly disappearing.

“You remember Oreo?” Flynn asked, and all I did was nod against his lips.

“Do you remember the pasture?”

And again, I nodded into his touch.

“Good girl. Do you… remember th-”

He couldn’t say it. For as strong and stubborn as Flynn had always been, there were times when his words alluded him. Flynn played up a strong and unwavering facade, but deep down he cared with a burning passion about anyone who wriggled their way into his heart and soul. He’d open his doors for anyone who needed a place to stay, and he’d give his own shirt off his back if it meant someone else would be better off.

Hearing the catch in his voice scared me while bits and pieces of the accident slowly came flooding back to the forefront of my mind. I felt small circles being drawn on my other hand by someone while a hand descended onto my leg, and when my searing headache ricocheted across my vision, that’s when I remembered.

The snake.

“Snake…” I whispered.

“Yes,” Flynn managed to choke out, “there was a snake. You, uh… fell off Oreo when he began to buck because-”

“-he was spooked by the snake,” I croaked.

“The snake bit you while you were lying on the ground, and the shock of the bite paralyzed you long enough for Oreo’s hoof to come down onto your shoulder.”

Holy god, I could’ve been killed. By all accounts, I honestly should be dead.

“Oh God. Bradley,” I groaned.

“He got to you just as Oreo came down onto your shoulder. I guess the pain caused you to black out, and he threw you across his lap and was the one that got you to the hospital.”

And then, everything else started rushing back. The reservations for dinner, how I’d gotten his phone number, the confessions I was going to make…

“Oh, god. Flynn. I-I-I… I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he said lowly.

“I need you to call that steak restaurant in town and cancel our reservations.”

When he didn’t say anything, I slowly lobbed my head over and opened my aching eyes again. He was staring at me darkly, but I knew Flynn well enough to detect the hint of confusion wafting behind his eyes. I could see so many unsaid things that he wanted to blurt out at that moment, but my Flynn was calculating what to say.

And that made me nervous.

“Chelsea… you-”

I felt my heart began to race and it timed itself with the erratic beeping in the background. I felt someone clamp down onto my foot and start massaging it while the person drawing circles on top of my hand slowly brought it to their lips to kiss.

“Flynn?” I urged.

“You’ve been out for three days, Chelsea. Whatever reservations you had…”

Three days? I’d… been unconscious for three days!? My heart began to flutter, and I felt my hands begin to shake. There were so many things I had to do: I had to call the restaurant and apologize and explain to Flynn why I had them. I had to call work and tell them why I hadn’t come back yet. Jesus Chri-... I was due back to work yesterday!

“Calm down. Calm down. I’ll call the restaurant and explain to them what happened. No one will be mad at you there,” Flynn soothed.

And then? I felt his lips by my ear again.

“You’ve been in a medically-induced coma so your body could use the anti-venom the hospital had to filter out the venom from your brain. The snake, it bit you in your neck and seeped pretty quickly into that intelligent brain of yours.”

I snickered, and a light smile bloomed across my cheeks. Even in the most desolate moments, Flynn could always seem to make me smile.

God, how I had missed that about him.

“But, your brain still has some swelling, and you’ll have to stay in the hospital a couple more days until it’s completely gone.”

“I-... I-I-I can’t, though. I, uh, was due at-... at work tomorrow, Flynn.”

The last few words came out like a whispered plea. Like I was ready for someone to wake me up from this nightmare. I was ready to wake up and be in my own bed in Paris after kissing my parents goodbye.

I wanted out of this hospital.

“I’ve taken care of it.”

I turned my head towards the voice holding my other hand, and my eyes landed on the most comforting face I could have conjured in that very moment.

“Mom,” I whispered. I felt Flynn let go of my hand, and for a split second I reached out and grasped his forearm. I didn’t want to let him go, and I didn’t want him to leave, but my mother nodded him out of the room, and I didn’t have the energy to fight. I watched him give me one more glance from the doorway, and then he slunk out of the room and shut the door behind him.

“I already called your work,” I heard my Mom say.

“Are you the reason Flynn is here?” I asked.

“Chelsea, when I-”

I heard my mother swallow hard, and that’s when my father took over the conversation.

“Hey there, honey bunny,” he soothed from my feet.

“Who called Flynn?” I whispered.

“Well, when it all happened, Bradley called us after an ambulance had shown up. We met you here, at the hospital, and when they started taking your belongings off you, they handed your phone to us. Your mother went to work scrolling through to find your boss’s number, but along the way, she found that you had Flynn’s in your phone.”

“Bradley gave it to me,” I croaked.

“It’s good you remember that sweetie,” my mother cooed with tears in her voice.

“We figured if you had his number, maybe the two of you were at least kosher, so we called him,” my dad finished.

“And yes, I called your work and told them what was happening,” my mother took over. “They’ve given you the month off to recuperate and heal. Apparently, someone doesn’t like taking vacation time very often.”

“I enjoy what I do,” I snickered.

“Well, they said you have four weeks, and if you need more all you need to do is call.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I smiled. And I meant it. I guess my colleagues call me a workaholic for a reason, but the truth is I adore what I do. It’s never been work for me, just… life. Life enjoyed, and life lived, and life loved.

“Knock knock,” came a voice from the door.

“Flynn,” I smiled lightly.

“That’s what brings me to my other point,” I heard my mom sigh.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” I asked. I could hear the sadness and exasperation in her voice, and I was wondering how in the world she was going to take care of me. She had the farm, and my father wasn’t much help these days, and it seemed like I had a long road to recovery ahead of me. Right now, I had issues just lifting my own hands! How was she going to take care of me!?

“Settle that mind down, Chelsea. It’s alright.”

God, his voice could calm the raging sea inside of me with just a few simple words.

“Flynn and I talked, and he’s offered to take care of you. The doctor says you’ll be here for two or three more days, and then you can either go to a halfway house and recuperate, or you can be released into someone’s care.”

“Flynn…?” I asked. I panned my gaze over to him standing at the door, and I watched him unfurl his arms before he came and sat on the edge of my hospital bed. His large, strong hand descended lightly onto my leg, and when he began to rub it in an attempt to quell my fears, I felt myself melt into the warmth of his touch.

“I’ll come by as often as I can, but I just won’t be able to upkeep the farm and make sure you have everything you need.”

I could hear the tears in my mother’s eyes, and I lobbed my gaze over toward her. Tears were streaming down her face, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. So, I turned my hand over and locked my fingers with hers before I urged her to look at me.

“You are not an incompetent mother, Mom. You have responsibilities, and you trust Flynn. I think we all do, even after all these years.”

I felt his hand squeeze my leg, and it took every ounce of energy I had not to groan in comfort right there in the middle of the hospital room.

“I’ll come by every day,” my mother breathed.

“Ssshhhh… it’s alright,” I soothed. I pulled her close to me and felt her wrap her tired arms around me. Whoever suggested that Flynn take care of me was right, even without the responsibility of the farm, my mother’s energy went towards taking care of my father. She would’ve never had the energy and strength to juggle taking care of both of us.

“You’ll be just fine with me, Chelsea,” Flynn said lowly.

And a smile graced my chapped lips just as my mother began to pull away from the crook of my neck.

“I know,” I said. “I know.”