Penny
“He’s awake?” Kylie asks, looking thoroughly confused and out of breath. Ben’s on her heels and skids to a stop on the shiny linoleum floor.
“I don’t know,” I admit, leaning myself against the wall. I’ve been out of his room for twenty minutes, and no one has come out to give me an update. “He made some noises, and I hit the button and everyone rushed in. Then it seemed like he was in some kind of distress and they had me wait out here.”
“It’s probably nothing,” Ben says, trying to reassure me, but I’m way too far into the dark hole of worry to consider he might be right. “The doctor said it would be like a delayed reaction of coming out of anesthesia. Some people are sick when they wake up.”
“Yeah,” Kylie jumps in. “Remember when I got my wisdom teeth out and I puked the whole way home?”
I nod, just to let her know I’ve heard her, but I’m sure she can see it’s not working.
Finally the door opens, and a few nurses come out looking pretty calm. If he was dead in there, surely they’d be looking a little more distressed.
“You can go in. Just one at a time,” one nurse said, holding the door open for me.
“Dalton,” I gasp as he tries to reposition himself and greet me. “Just lie still,” I insist, waving my hands at him. “I’m here.”
“You didn’t have to—” he begins, but gives up when the doctor leans over to adjust one of the machines he’s attached to.
“Dalton, I need you to take it easy for a while,” Dr. Greenlaw says, as he pushes a few buttons and steps back. “We’re going to continue to monitor you. You cannot have company for long. I’ll be back shortly, and then you’ll have to leave.”
“Yes,” I say obediently, but fully intend to protest when the time comes. I have no intention of leaving Dalton’s side.
Everyone clears the room as I rush to his side and slide my hand into his. “How do you feel?”
“I feel like I lost a fight with a gorilla,” he admits, but he’s forcing a smile. “I’m sorry you had to sit around and worry. How did you find out I was here?”
“Not from you calling me, that’s for damn sure,” I say, glaring at him. “I had to hear it from a couple jerks in the lobby at the tower.”
“What were they saying?” he asks, shifting himself upward. “Who was it?”
“Who cares?” I cut back, pressing his shoulder down and insisting he relaxes. “They were talking garbage about you missing some meetings or something.”
“I need to call the office,” he says suddenly as though reality is falling on him one brick to the head at a time.
“Dalton,” I say gently as I lean in and kiss him on the cheek. “The world is going to keep spinning just fine for a while so you can heal. What you did for your father, that’s what matters.”
He looks for a moment like he’s woken from a dream, clearly still groggy from the sedation. Though a light in his eyes seemed to flick on. “My dad. How is he?”
“I was talking to him earlier today and he seems all right. We didn’t talk much about his health; he was more worried about you.”
“Yeah, this must have freaked him out.” Dalton sighs, and gestures over to the beeping machines he’s attached to. “It was supposed to be a pretty standard procedure. Just a small thing.”
“You don’t do anything small,” I tease and feel a flutter of relief as he laughs. “Your father was very grateful. He said you seemed different when you met to talk.”
“I felt different,” Dalton admits, though somewhat reluctantly. “You had my head spinning, trying to figure out what you meant. I didn’t want love before I met you, but I guess I also didn’t understand it either.”
“But now you do?” I ask, half hopeful, half skeptical.
“Not completely,” he admits. “If we were talking business strategy, I’d say this is more of an evolution than a revolution. What I don’t want is you seeing me all sick and feeling bad for me. You were right to walk away. I’m no good for you.”
“I was right,” I agree, watching his face closely to see his reaction. But he’s too stoic and serious for me to get a read. “But maybe you don’t have to evolve all on your own. I’ve learned a lot since I met you.”
“In bed?” He can hardly get the words out before laughing.
“Glad to see you’re still in there. I wasn’t sure if you had any brain damage. Same old Dalton. But no, I wasn’t talking about sex. I was talking about the things I learned about myself. I’ve dug my heels in so deep I can’t actually tell which parts of my life makes me happy and which parts I’ve stubbornly held on to as a way to prove to my mother and sister I’m right. It’s time for me to face up to that and decide how much more like them I should be.”
“Don’t change too much,” he pleads as he takes my hands to his lips and kisses my fingers gently. “I fell in love with the Penny who can smile even when things are hard. The one who will go down fighting for her family. Keep those parts.”
“I will. I love you too, Dalton.” I nod and eye him closely. “You shouldn’t talk too much. Maybe we need to do a full reboot. Have you thought about maybe a lobotomy while you’re in here?”
His wry smile brings a calm to my thudding heart. “Maybe we can get a two-for-one deal, because your sister is nuts to think she’s ready for the fight she has coming. I had plenty of time to think about it, lying around before the procedure, and she’s really going out on a ledge.”
“She’s right outside that door so you might want to keep your voice down or she’ll put you on her hit list. Right now I’m pretty sure it’s only the three of us who aren’t on it.”
“Three of us?”
“Ben’s out there too.” I smile, knowing he’ll get a kick out of the image of Ben and Kylie hanging out. “He helped track you down, and the two of them have been sticking close by, waiting for you to wake up.”
“Ugh,” Dalton groans. “Just what I need. People palling around and expecting to spend time together. Lives getting all mixed up and dramatic.”
“This really breaks your rules about not having friends. Is that part of the evolution of Dalton Croft?”
“Friends,” he murmurs as though it’s a vile curse words. “It’s messy and distracting. I don’t know why anyone would actually allow that in their lives.”
“You can’t think of a single reason?”
Dalton’s face softens, and he looks around the stark hospital room, possibly noticing what I noticed before. “I guess it would have been shitty dying here alone. Or even waking up here alone. Don’t get me wrong. Having your smiling face here when my eyes opened, that was worth something. Maybe even worth having to put up with Ben and Kylie.”
“I guess we’ll have to find out,” I say as the door cracks open and two heads peek in nosily.
“Is he dead or what?” Kylie asks, feigning impatience.
“Why?” Dalton chuckles. “You planning on knocking down a wall and taking over my apartment too?”
“You’ll need a bigger place,” Kylie insists, looking over at me with a smile. “How else are you going to shack up with my sister?”
Ben hangs back, but I can see him taking all of this in. “Glad to see you’re awake, Dalton.”
“Thanks, Ben. You’re a good friend.”
I take Dalton’s hand in mine and kiss it because I know that he means it. He likes Ben. He loves me. Things are going to be okay.