One Day at a Time (Starting Over Series Book 4) (24 page)

Now they were back, and Josie had her head in the redhead’s lap. The woman must’ve been close with them, judging from the loving way she stroked the girl’s hair. And Cash noted that Jonathon looked at her like she hung the moon.

“Mr. Brookes?” They turned toward the doctor who had stepped out. Jonathon stepped forward and shook his hand. “I’m Dr. Karel, and I’ve been the one treating your sister. Do you want to talk privately?”

“No, we all want to know how she’s doing.”

Cash wrapped his arm around Betsy as they waited for the doctor to speak. “Your sister is resting right now. She kept getting severely agitated so we had to sedate her. We’ve wired her jaw shut and stapled a laceration that was on her hairline. She has a mild concussion. We want to keep her overnight to make sure we have her pain under control and watch for infection. They’re moving her to room 314. So you can head up in a few minutes. Do you have any questions?”

“No. Thanks, Doctor.” The doctor shook hands with everyone and then disappeared beyond the doors.

Tessa’s brother was talking to the other officers while Cash stood with Jared and Betsy, waiting to go up to see Tessa. After all of the officers left he watched Jonathon go over and kiss his sleeping daughter. He whispered something to the redhead. She nodded and looked back down at Josie.

Everyone was quiet on the elevator ride. He watched the numbers light up as the elevator climbed to the third floor. When the doors slid open everyone stepped off except for him. He was nervous about seeing her. What if she kicked him out? The doors started to shut but he pushed the open button, took a deep breath, and stepped out into the hall.

As they waited at the nurse’s station for permission to go in to see Tessa, his palms began to sweat.

“Do you guys mind if just Cash and I go in first?” Jonathon asked. It made sense. They didn’t need to overwhelm her.

Betsy and Jared went and sat down, promising they would stay right there waiting. Pushing the door open slowly, Jonathon led the way into her room. They found her curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed. Cash didn’t even think, he just went right to her and very carefully pulled her into his arms. He half expected her to wake. She didn’t look like herself; every single part of her face was swollen. Her cries were muffled since her jaw was wired shut.

Jonathon sat on the other side of her rubbing her back. The crying went on for a while, but who could blame her? She went through something a person should never experience. Her brother had tears in his eyes as he watched his sister lose it.

When she finally fell asleep, Cash settled down into the bed with her—mindful of her face, but they had her on some powerful pain meds. Jonathon told him he was going to go check on Josie and would be back in a little bit. He leaned down to kiss his sister’s forehead and then walked out.

Betsy and Jared came in a few minutes later. He knew it would happen before it actually did, so when Betsy started crying Jared wrapped his arms around her. Tessa didn’t stir. “Her dad did this to her?” Betsy’s chin wobbled when she asked.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’s what it looks like. If that fucker wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself.” He thought about their little puppy. She lost her life because of that man. “That bastard killed Daisy, too.” Tessa had been holding the puppy when Jonathon entered the apartment, and the only way she’d let go was for Cash to get Daisy.

“What can we do?” Jared asked from the end of the bed.

“They’re going to come stay at my place. Could you get the spare bedroom ready? Maybe make sure there’s food in the house?”

“Yeah, brother, we’ll make sure it’s ready. Are you going to stay tonight?”

“Yeah, as long as she doesn’t kick me out.” That was his biggest fear and he felt selfish for it. What if she only clung to him because of the grief she was suffering? What if when she woke up she didn’t want him anywhere near her?

“Okay, we’ll take care of everything.” Betsy came around to hug him and bent down to kiss Tessa on the head.

He watched them go and then sank down in the bed, which was uncomfortably small for the two of them but he didn’t see her being out of his sight for a while.

***

Tessa’s eyes felt heavy. Why was she so sleepy? She attempted to move and was struck by terrible pain. Something was wrong with her mouth, she tried to cry out but she couldn’t open it. Everything hurt. Badly.

“Tessa?” Who was talking to her? It sounded like Cash, but what was he doing in her bedroom? “Sweetheart, can you open your eyes for me?” Voices were muffled around her as she tried to open her eyes.

Finally peeling them open, she squinted against the light overhead. She heard someone say to turn the light down. A face appeared above hers. It took a minute to come into focus, but it was Cash. He looked like shit; his hair was a mess, he had thick stubble on his jaw and bags under eyes. Her arm felt like it was full of lead when she reached up to touch his face.

“Cash?” Her voice was distorted because she couldn’t open her mouth. “What happened?” She looked around and saw the stark white walls, the TV hanging from the ceiling. Moving her head slowly she saw her brother also leaning over the bed. “Why am I in the hospital? Why are you here? You…You s-said we were over,” she whispered to Cash. Pain filled his eyes and he carefully took her hand, bringing it to my lips.

“I was so wrong, baby. I know now that it was a mistake to break things off with you. I love you.” She didn’t know what to say to that, but she wanted to know what happened to her. She reached up and touched her face with her free hand. It felt swollen and painful to the touch.

A knock at the door had them all turning. A grey-haired man walked in, followed by a nurse. “Ms. Brooks, I’m Dr. Mitchell. How are you feeling?”

“Sore, tired, and it’s hard to talk.”

“Unfortunately, it’ll take some time for your jaw to heal and the wires to be removed. Do you remember what happened? Why you’re here?”

She closed her eyes to think about it but came up with nothing. Opening them again she shook her head. “What happened to me?” She watched some sort of silent communication go on between the doctor and her brother.

“I’ll give you a few minutes. Press the button if you need us.” She stared at the doctor as he spoke to Jonathon and then walked out of the room. Once the door closed, Cash sat down on the bed, holding her hand to his chest. Jonathon sat down next to her thigh, facing her. She couldn’t read the look on his face, but something told her she wasn’t going to like what he had to say. He reached out and took her other hand.

“Sweetheart, what I’m about to tell you is going to be hard to hear. There’s still stuff I don’t know, but just listen, okay?” She nodded, and he continued. “Most of this is what we got from Josie. I guess she was outside walking Daisy when Dad approached her. He convinced her that he was a good guy so she brought him up. He hit you, sweetheart. She says he made fun of you and hit you. He grabbed Josie a few times but you stopped him. She took your phone outside and called 9-1-1 and then me. Do you remember what happened to Dad?”

Why couldn’t she remember? Trying to wrack her brain she kept coming up with nothing. She remembered making cookies with Josie and then nothing. Her heart started pounding in her chest. She could hear the beep, beep, beep of the machine she was hooked up to and the beeps kept coming faster and faster. “Why can’t I remember? What happened to him?”

Cash and Jonathon exchanged a glance, then Jonathon said, “We’ll be right back, okay? We’ll ask the doctor why you can’t remember.” Jonathon kissed her forehead, followed by Cash who kissed her hand. Both men on silent feet walked out of the door. A nurse entered the room as they walked out.

Cash followed Jonathon out into the hall and down to the nurse’s station where the doctor was sitting. When they reached the desk, the doctor looked up and smiled at them.

“Gentlemen.” He stood up and came around the counter to them.

“Dr. Mitchell, why doesn’t she remember anything?” Jonathon said.

“Is her memory about what happened completely gone?” Cash asked. He hated the blank look on her face when she tried to remember what happened. He dreaded the time when he’d have to tell her about Daisy. He still wasn’t completely clear on what the bastard did to that poor, defenseless puppy. He would need to bury her when he got home. He decided her final resting place should be near the hammock.

“Your sister suffered an extremely traumatic experience. Sometimes our brain does what it can to protect ourselves. What she has is situation-specific amnesia. She remembers everything right up to her niece taking the puppy out. Due to the incident, she’s suffering from PTSD. I understand it’s your father who did this?” Jonathon nodded. “Well, she’s got a long road ahead of her. Not only physically, but mentally as well. Her memory of the event could come back today or years from now. My recommendation is to get her to see a therapist who has experience with PTSD. Do you have any questions for me?”

“No. Thanks, Doctor.” Cash said and shook the man’s hand. Jonathon followed suit and then they made their way back to the room. “I bet my therapist, Derek, could recommend a therapist for her. Should I make that call?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks. Is it still okay that we stay with you?”

“Absolutely. Some friends of mine are getting the spare bedroom ready and getting some groceries.” He sent a text to Betsy to see if they needed any more money and was waiting to hear back. “So who’s the redhead?” Instead of responding, Jonathon started walking faster down the hall. That was odd, but Cash didn’t spare the redhead of Jonathon’s weird behavior much more thought since they were back in Tessa’s room.

Tessa was asleep. Every time Cash looked at her battered face he wanted to scream and hit something. She didn’t look like herself. Her face was black and blue and swollen twice its size. He knew it was going to be a long road getting her back to normal, or as normal as she could be after something like this. Jonathon assured him that it was a clear case of self-defense and they wouldn’t be pressing any charges against her.

Cash’s phone vibrated—it was his sister, wanting to know if he’d patched things up with Tessa. He decided it was best to tell her over the phone and not via text message. At eight months pregnant, she was hormonal and weepy, and immediately started crying. Dylan had to take the phone from JoJo, so he told him what happened. Dylan was a great guy and asked what they could do for Tessa. Cash promised to keep them informed. When he hung up he stepped back into the room.

Chapter Sixteen

Two weeks had gone by since the incident, as Tessa called it. It was scary that there was a chunk of time she couldn’t account for. Her brother had been so great and hadn’t pushed her to remember at all. Sure, they had made her start going to therapy, but so far she didn’t remember anything. Jonathon had even gotten Josie in to talk to someone. Last week, when she’d stopped using the heavy-duty pain pills, Cash sat her down and told her what had happened to her poor, innocent baby. He’d taken her outside and showed her where they had buried her. It was right by the hammock where she loved to lay.

She’d been inconsolable as she cried for her sweet puppy. Even though she had been keeping her distance from Cash, she still let him hold her when she lost it. She sobbed, which she quickly learned was quite painful with a broken jaw. Mac came over and helped her off of the ground and took her to her house for a few minutes so she could get herself together. Which was code for a shot of vodka that had her almost throwing up. Tessa’s dad was the reason she didn’t drink, but as the alcohol travelled into her stomach, warming it, she felt it spread through her body and had her calming down.

Cash and Josie came over to get her, and Mac sent a plate of cookies home with them. Josie had bonded with the crazy old bat and they spent a lot of time together, which Mac loved since she didn’t have any children of her own to spoil.

On Monday, Tessa had met Jonathon’s mystery woman, Shannon. She was a beautiful, petite redhead. She had brought her flowers and a little gift basket with all things girlie for Josie. She’d only stayed long enough to see how she and Josie were doing. She didn’t ask about Jonathon, even though Tessa could see in Shannon’s eyes that she was hurting. Tessa still had no idea what Jonathon did, but it must’ve been really bad. He was persistent and wasn’t giving up on her. She knew his feelings for Shannon were stronger than he wanted to admit, but he was just going to have to man up and deal with it.

Now she stood in Cash’s spare bedroom, packing her bag. Her landlord fixed the damage her dad caused at the apartment and they had permission to move back in. Luckily they weren’t going to be charged extra rent money. A part of her didn’t want to leave, but she and Cash still hadn’t talked about the break up and everything that led up to it. As far as Tessa was concerned, there was no “us” until they talked.

A knock sounded at the door and Cash stepped inside. “Can’t I convince you to stay with me?” He pulled her to him, but she held her body rigid. “I want you to stay with me. There’s so much we need to work out.” She could see the desperation on his face.

“I have to go home at least to get fresh clothes. If, and that’s a big if, I come back I’m sleeping in here.” She wanted more than anything to stay in his room with him. To be snuggled up against his body while she slept, but they needed to talk about everything, and she couldn’t forget that when he broke up with her she was so heartbroken.

“O-Okay, fair enough.” He kissed her forehead. He was examining her face, and she knew he was seeing the bruises that were now a sickening yellowish-green color. At least the swelling was gone and she was used to talking through her teeth. Drinking all of her meals was getting old, but hopefully in a couple more weeks she would be free of the wires. “You feeling okay?” She knew they were all wondering when her memories would come back so they had been tip-toeing around her. She hated that they were treating her like glass but they wouldn’t tell her what happened.