The melody in our hearts (25 page)

She looked at him and felt instinctively very protective of him.

“Now stop acting like a clown and rest for a while. I’ll go speak to the reporters outside and tell them you’re okay.”

He opened his eyes and looked at her, alarmed.

“I won’t let anyone in, don’t worry. Not unless you want to see anyone in particular….” She let the words linger, knowing he would understand who she was talking about, but he closed his eyes and said nothing.

“No,” he said, steadfastly. “I don’t want to see anyone. Please don’t let anyone in, even if it’s my manager.”

“Not even your girlfriend?” she couldn’t help asking, and he opened his eyes and looked at her.

“No.” He looked away. “She’s the last person I want to see.”

Her heart jumped up to her throat when she heard those words, but she knew she had to act like his friend, so she disguised the happiness those words had caused her behind a worried look, and she sat beside him again.

“What happened? You wanna talk about it?”

“I thought you said I needed to rest,” he said and closed his eyes. “I always follow doctors’ orders!”

She smiled and brushed his hair. He’d open up later, when he felt like it. She knew him too well, so she needn’t worry about it.

“I wish all patients were so obedient! I’ll be back later. Push that button there if you need anything, and a nurse will be right here.”

“Okay, Doc,” he said, his eyes still closed.

She nodded, checked the IV again, and then she left, closing the door behind her.

When she came back, after talking to the reporters and telling them a hundred times that no, they couldn’t come up to interview him or take pictures of him, she wondered how he managed to cope with all that. She had spoken to them for barely fifteen minutes, and she felt totally wrecked.

She opened the door and saw that he was still asleep. She got close to the bed, checked the IV, and then she touched his wrist to take his pulse, but as soon as she touched him, he opened his eyes.

“Hey,” she said “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No problem. I’ve been sleeping for three days. I don’t really need any more sleep. So I see you’ve survived. You’ll be on the news tonight, aren’t you excited about it?”

She sighed and slumped down on the chair next to his bed.

“I don’t know how you manage. It drove me insane, all those questions, and microphones coming toward me from all directions… it was crazy!”

He chuckled and nodded.

“It really drives you crazy, but after a while you get used to it. Still, I hate interviews.”

He looked out the window, and she saw a strange expression on his face, but she thought it was only because he had gone through a lot.

“Will I be allowed to get out of this bed any time soon?” he asked then, changing the subject.

“We’ll see. You’re still weak, and you need to recover your strength first of all. I’ll make sure you are booked for a magnetic resonance first thing tomorrow morning so we can make sure that your brain is working properly. Well, it would be a miracle if it did, since it never did work properly in the past anyway!”

She winked and he chuckled, feeling a little less tense.

“But you don’t really think my brain was damaged, do you? I mean, this resonance is only a precaution, right?”

She nodded. “Everything should be fine. It’s just a standard procedure to make sure that everything’s okay. Obviously you’re feeling pretty bad and aching everywhere, and that’s probably going to get worse because you were hurt pretty bad in that accident and you’ve undergone an operation too, so bear with me. I promise you’ll be back on your feet soon.”

“Are you giving me your word, Doc?” She smiled and nodded, so he closed his eyes, feeling tired again. “I depend on it, then. Don’t let me down.”

She took his hand and squeezed it, but he was so drowsy he barely noticed.

“I promise,” she whispered in his ear, then she had a quick look at the stitches on his forehead and put the plaster back into place when she saw everything was fine. She took the clipboard at the foot of the bed, wrote a couple of notes, and left the room, heading to the reception desk to make sure the resonance was booked in the morning.

~
Forty-three
~

Even if she was off duty until early in the afternoon, she was allowed to be in the room with Doctor Walker, the neurologist, and when she received the thumbs-up that everything was as it should be and there had been no brain damage, she finally relaxed.

Ryan seemed okay, but she knew too well that neurological problems didn’t always show up immediately and that it was easy enough to misread a brain hemorrhage until it started giving the first symptoms, when it would be too late to avoid permanent damage.

When they took him out of the machine, she went into the room and told him everything was fine, just like she had predicted.

“So what are the doctor’s orders now?” he asked, smiling and clearly relieved to know that he was okay.

“Rest. Eat. Behave. At least for a week. We’ll see how things go, and we’ll decide then.”

“That sounds good to me. I need to rest. I came back to Boston in pieces – you can’t even imagine how little sleep I got every night. It’s a miracle I managed to stand on my feet day after day.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry, nobody will bother you here. You’ll have plenty of time to rest.”

The nurse showed up at her side and she nodded. “They’ll take you back to your room now. I’ll come and check on you later.”

With that, she moved aside, and the nurse pushed the bed out of the room.

“I thought you’d be asleep!”

He turned to look at her and smiled. For the first time since he had opened his eyes the day before, she saw a real smile lighting up his face, and she felt her heart melt. Apart from the scars and plasters on his face, that was the Ryan she knew,
her
Ryan.

“No way. This cable TV is great. And I can’t sleep now that Kyle is just about to tell Melanie that he cheated on her with her sister. You should sit here and watch it with me!”

She chuckled and got close to his bed.

“Are you serious? What on Earth are you watching?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s some kind of stupid TV series, something like
Beautiful
or that kind of stuff. I’m lucky I can’t get out of this bed – at least I won’t miss a minute of it. Do you think I could have popcorn and a Coke?”

He grinned and she shook her head, taking her pocket light out.

“Now, be a good boy and let me examine you,” she said, pointing the light into his right eye.

“Don’t do that. It’s annoying!” He blinked and groaned.

“Oh, stop moaning like a kid now. It’s only a light!” she said, pointing it into his left eye.

He blinked again.

“Okay, at least your reflexes are good. And since you’re moaning like a five-year-old, I guess you’re feeling better too.”

He snorted, but then smiled at her. “Sort of. Like you said yesterday, I am starting to feel pain everywhere, even in places I didn’t know existed. Any chance of getting some pain killers?”

She checked his pulse, then took the stethoscope off her neck and put it in the pocket of her white coat.

“I’ll give you something to ease the pain if it’s too much to bear.”

“You’re very professional, you know. With that white coat and the stethoscope and all that. You almost look like a real doctor!”

She huffed and looked at him, with her hands on her hips.

“Excuse me?” she said, staring at him. “If I remember well, I’m the one who saved your life, Mr. Funny Guy! Is that all the gratitude I’m gonna get for it?”

He giggled and lifted his hand up, waiting for her to take it.

“C’mon, you know I was kidding. You should know by now how I love to tease you! Come here.”

She looked at him and smiled in resignation, then she took his hand and let him squeeze it.

“I’ll spend my whole life thanking you for what you did, Val. Nothing I’ll ever do will ever pay you back.”

“I just did what any other doctor would have done. It’s my job, so there’s nothing you should thank me for. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, that’s all.”

“Don’t be modest now. I know you’re gonna brag about it for years!” He giggled and she smiled.

“I’m glad you’re back to normal,” she said, squeezing his hand a little bit more. “I was starting to miss your jokes!”

He laughed and immediately groaned.

“You okay?” She bent down to check on him, and he nodded and opened his eyes.

“I’ll be a man and bear it without pain killers. You’ll be proud of me.”

She smiled and giggled. “Don’t worry too much about that; there’s no need to be a macho man in here. If you’re in pain, I’ll give you something that will help you.”

Then she left the room, walking toward the nurses’ desk to get some pain killers for him.

~
Forty-four
~

A couple of hours later, Valerie was talking with Lauren, the psychiatrist from the third floor, about a convention Lauren was going to attend in Florida in a couple of days, when she heard a female voice asking the nurse where Ryan’s room was.

She immediately looked toward the reception and, although they had never met before and Ryan had never had the chance to introduce her to Valerie, Valerie had seen pictures of Ryan and her on the tabloids, so she recognized the woman even before she could introduce herself. She was stunningly beautiful, and Valerie felt queasiness mixed with jealousy in the pit of her stomach. There was no way she could compete with her, not in a million years, not even if Ryan kept into consideration that she had saved his life while his girlfriend hadn’t shown up for over four days.

Nevertheless, she was his doctor now and she had some authority in there, so she could easily send the woman away and forget about her for a while.

When the nurse turned back to tell Valerie who that woman was after, she nodded and said goodbye to Lauren, moving closer to the woman, ready to enjoy her little revenge.

“I’m sorry, miss, but I’m not supposed to let anyone in.”

She grimaced and looked smugly at Valerie.

“I’m Jennifer. I’m his girlfriend,” she said, in a tone that let Valerie assume she had meant to add
You idiot, as if you didn’t know who I am
.

Whether it was jealousy or just a sixth sense, Valerie decided at once that she didn’t like her at all and wondered what Ryan saw in her, apart from an amazingly beautiful woman. She didn’t look like Ryan’s type of woman, especially considering that
she
wanted to be Ryan’s type of woman.

“He doesn’t want to see anyone,” she said, her tone firm and professional. “Not even his girlfriend. At least that’s what he said yesterday.”

“Well, could you take me to his room please? I’m sure he’ll let me in when he sees me.”

She shrugged and walked toward his room, looking forward to hearing him ask her to go away. She could perfectly remember the way he had said
“Not even my girlfriend,”
and she was sure he hadn’t changed his mind in the meantime. She knew him too well and, even if he hadn’t wanted to talk about it, she knew something had happened and, sooner or later, he would open up and tell her.

She opened the door and walked in. He was awake, watching TV, and smiled when he saw her.

“Hey, Doc!”

His expression changed completely when she moved aside to let that woman in. Even if he was already quite pale, she was sure he had gone even paler just seeing her.

“Hi, Ryan,” Jennifer said, smiling, but he turned away and stared at the window.

“What’s she doing here? I thought I asked you not to let anyone in.”

Valerie couldn’t help turning to look at Jennifer, and she felt sorry for her when she saw the expression on her face. Jennifer tried to hide it and quickly pulled herself together.

“I heard the news, so I’ve come to see how you were feeling….” she said, getting closer to the bed.

“Get out,” he said, harshly.

Valerie was sure she had never in her life heard Ryan speak in such a harsh tone.

“Ryan....” Jennifer almost begged, taking his hand.

“Get the hell out of here!” he snapped and she let go of his hand.

Valerie thought it would be better to leave them alone and turned to leave the room, but he stopped her.

“Val. Please, take her out.”

She turned to look at him, and his eyes were almost pleading.

“Ryan, we need to talk. I’m not leaving until we’ve talked this through.”