“Dude!” Alex’s face flushed a rosy color as he shook his head in exasperation.
Sally stood up calmly and announced, “I could use a walk. Come with me?” She motioned toward Tommy.
He rolled his eyes in defiance. “I just got back in here!”
Sally linked her arm in his. “Just come with me anyway. Please?” Tommy’s hard facade softened as he took in Sally’s earnest expression. He lowered his head and reluctantly walked out of the room.
Alex’s face was still red. “I am so sorry for Tommy. He um…”
“…hates me?” Caroline offered.
Alex laughed and insisted, “No!” Then he conceded, “Well, yeah. He hates you.”
Disappointment filtered through Caroline’s awareness. “It’s okay. I totally get it.”
Caroline walked up to the charts that surrounded Jackson. There were notes scribbled and numbers written that made no sense to her. “So, what does all this mean?”
Alex tried to recite in less confusing terms what the doctors had explained to him earlier. “He’s in a medically induced coma for now. They say it’s the best way to help him recover, but it’s tricky and he needs to be constantly monitored.”
Caroline nodded that she understood and he continued. “Basically, they shut his brain down. Once the swelling starts to go down, they’ll lower the medications that are keeping him in the coma. But until that happens, he has to stay like this.”
“So why does he have all these other wires and things on him? It looks like he isn’t doing anything on his own.” Caroline’s voice trembled.
Alex’s voice softened, soothing Caroline’s fears. “Don’t worry. When they put him in the coma, they had to give him things to keep his blood pressure down. And make sure his heart still pumped properly. They shut down his brain, remember? So all the things it did for his body, they have to do.”
Caroline understood, but it still sounded scary and overwhelming. “Got it. So how long will it take the swelling to go down?”
Alex shook his head. “They can’t say. It could be days…or weeks. No one knows.”
A nurse walked through the door and looked at the clock on the wall as she began to take Jackson’s vitals. “I’m sorry, you guys, but visiting hours are over. You’re welcome to come back tomorrow morning at seven.”
Caroline turned to grab her things. “Where are you staying?” Alex asked.
“I have no idea,” she said, before a yawn crept out.
“You can stay in Jackson’s room,” he offered.
“What about Sally?”
“She won’t even leave the hospital.”
Caroline’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
Alex’s expression mimicked hers. “Seriously.”
“Tommy’s gonna flip out,” she remarked with a straight face.
Alex laughed. “Probably.”
“I really appreciate it. Thank you.” It seemed wrong somehow to go to Jackson’s home without him, but she looked forward to being surrounded by his things.
After some convincing, which came mostly in the form of Tommy and Alex yelling at each another, Tommy agreed that Caroline could stay at their place for the night. She overheard him shout, “Just keep her away from me!” His tone made her shudder.
Once inside their apartment, Tommy walked to his room and slammed the door shut. Caroline looked visibly uncomfortable as Alex apologized. “I don’t even know what to say about him any more. Here, this is Jackson’s room.” He opened the door for her. “And he has an attached bathroom so you don’t have to use the one in the hall.”
The tension in her face subsided. She threw her arms around Alex’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Thank you so much, Alex. For everything.”
Alex’s cheeks turned bright red. “This is what Jackson would want. Make yourself at home. Goodnight, Caroline.”
“Goodnight.”
Alex stopped in the hallway and shouted, “Oh yeah. Hey, we leave here between seven and seven thirty.”
“Thanks,” she yelled through the closed door.
Once in the silence of Jackson’s bedroom, she looked around, taking note of everything that surrounded her. There was simplicity that Caroline felt suited him perfectly. The color scheme was earthy, in natural tones of deep, dark browns and tans. His room was clean and uncluttered, aside from the two shirts that lay crumpled on the floor.
A small bookcase filled with books on history, farming, and even some classic literature sat against the wall. The dresser was tall and housed a large flat screen television on top. A simple nightstand with one drawer resided next to his queen-sized bed. A lone burgundy-colored candle sat on top of it, along with his alarm clock and iPod player.
She noted the candle’s wick was still perfectly white. “Never been lit,” she mumbled to no one as her hand ran across the still even top.
She sat down on the edge of his bed as the scent of him instantly surrounded her. She grabbed at the pillows, pulled them to her face and breathed him in. There would be no escaping him tonight.
Her mind wandered to impure thoughts of Sally and Jackson when a knock on the door broke her concentration. “Come in.” She sighed, uncertain who would be there.
Alex poked his head around the door. “Sorry, Caroline, I just wanted to let you know that the sheets are clean.”
Caroline let out a huge sigh of relief. “I was actually just thinking about that,” she admitted.