“You don’t want me to call your fiancée?” She cleared her throat.
I looked down at my phone and scrolled through my missed calls: Greg, Greg, Greg, Ryan, Greg, Greg, Greg, Ryan. There were a few calls from my business, but not a single call from Jonathan.
I typed “NO” onto my screen and held it up to her.
“Okay then...Well, I’ll be back to check on you shortly, Miss Gracen. If you can think of anything else you may want, just hit the blue call button on the remote and one of the nurses will see that you get it.”
I smiled again and she left the room.
I’d heard her list all my injuries, but it seemed so surreal, especially since I couldn’t “feel” anything. My body was so numb I could barely feel my tongue licking my lips.
Confused, I slowly lifted my right hand in front of my face and stared at the mini gray remote they’d secured in the middle of my palm. There were four buttons: “Call Nurse” “Television” “Volume” “Lights”
I hit the television button and held the lights button until the room went completely dark. As luck would have it, the TV was already set on HGTV and a marathon of one of my favorite shows—Yard Crashers was on.
I lay there in bed for hours, watching them remodel yard after yard, until I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore.
“Do you think she wants that Jell-O?” “Probably not...She’s never really liked Jell-O.” “Do you think she wants that chicken?” “We could just ask the nurse to bring her some more...”
I opened my eyes and saw Ashley and Caroline taking spoonfuls of my green Jell-O. I tried to sit up, but Caroline shook her head and gasped. “Stop. You’re only going to hurt yourself. They told us you’re not supposed to move.”
Sighing, I nodded and cleared my throat. “When did you get here?”
“Last night. Jonathan flew us in right after we talked to the nurse.” “He got us a room at the Marriott across the street.”
So he knows I’m here and he’s not by my side?
“Oh...” My throat hurt. “Well, that’s great.”
They exchanged glances, and as if they could read my mind, Ashley poured me a glass of water and Caroline adjusted my pillow so I could sit up and drink.
“Grandma’s on her way over too.” Ashley said. “We all came by earlier today but you wouldn’t wake up...Are you in pain?”
“No...”
“They told us you’re going to have to stay here for a few more days and that you’ll have to wear a sling for a couple weeks.” “They say you’ll be healed in time to walk down the aisle...”
I’m not walking down the aisle... “They told me that too...”
“They did?” Caroline smiled. “Well, when you get a chance maybe you can explain that to Jonathan. He seems to think they’re lying. He wants them to run every test they have.”
I wanted to laugh, but even that was too hard. And there was nothing funny about Jonathan Statham right now.
“We’re going to run down to the cafeteria.” Ashley looked into my eyes. “Can we get you anything? Soup maybe?”
“No thank you.”
“I think we should get her some anyway.” “Me too, she’s probably too tired to realize that’s what she wants.”
I rolled my eyes as they walked out of the room, and before I could turn the lights off, I saw Jonathan standing in the doorway.
I looked away and stared straight ahead, pressing the TV button on my mini remote. I would have rather watched the paint mixing show than talk to him right now.
“Claire...” His voice was low.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t believe he’d ignored all my calls for two weeks, couldn’t believe he hadn’t called after not hearing from me in almost two days.
“Claire, how are you feeling today?” His voice was hoarse.
I turned the volume up.
“You’re not talking to me?”
“I’ve been calling you for two weeks.” I kept my eyes glued to the TV. “I’ve clearly been trying to talk to you.”
I heard him walking closer to me, felt him brushing a hand against my cheek. “I’ve been calling you as well. I called as soon as you didn’t call me on the hour like you’ve been doing... You didn’t answer.”
“No. You didn’t.” I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to lie. Just admit that you’re fucking selfish and you wanted to continue making me suffer.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I ignored the pain in my throat. “I can understand you being mad about me talking to Ryan, really I can. And I am so sorry that I hurt your feelings by talking to him at all. It was a mistake on my part and I shouldn’t have given him a second of my time, but that was last week and you haven’t called me at all this week. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Claire...”
“Even Ryan has called me since I’ve been here—fucking Ryan! And apparently he’s the reason why I’m in here!” I noticed his eyes were blazing. “I haven’t called him back and I’m never going to, but...You haven’t called me since I got here—here in the fucking hospital, Jonathan. I’ve been here for two days and...” I tried not to cry. “You just...Didn’t you think something was wrong when all my phone calls suddenly stopped? Huh? Or are you that self-absorbed to where you can only focus on your anger? Even when your so-called fiancée is in the hospital?”
He sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
“How long were you going to let me stay at that hotel by myself? How long were you going to keep sending me note-less flowers and ignoring my fucking calls?”
“Claire...”
“You want to know why no one got their wedding invitations in the fucking mail?” I didn’t care that he was narrowing his eyes at me. “It’s because I didn’t like the goddamn paper invitations, Jonathan. They weren’t us, so I thought I would do something different. I called everyone we invited and told them the date and venue information. I said we weren’t sending out formal invitations, and that they would get something a few weeks before the wedding...I told them not to say anything to you about it because I wanted it to be a surprise...”
“I’m aware of that now, Claire. Just listen to me.”
“No...Do you know how much time it took for me to design five hundred sea hooks? Five hundred sea hooks that’ll form together as one huge sea hook with our initials across the front? Do you know? Do you?”
He sighed.
“As far as our cake goes...” I wasn’t backing down. “I don’t know what the hell happened with that, because I only meant to cancel one of them...And do you honestly think I would wait until the last minute to design your wedding band? Really? I didn’t want to use Valenti’s—I wanted to find a place on my own. But you—you wouldn’t even listen to me. You didn’t even give me a chance...” My voice cracked. “I can’t believe that you’re so selfish...As a matter of fact, I don’t want you here right now. Get out...Tell Greg to come in so I can thank him for being here for me. He’s been in the waiting room since I got here, where you should’ve been.”
There was hurt in his eyes as he tucked me underneath the covers.
“Get out, Jonathan. I only want to be around people that care right now...”
“I made it to the hospital before you did, Claire. “ His voice was low. “I was waiting on you to get here...”
What? I tried not to look shocked, but I could tell he’d read my mind.
“I was on my way to the Fairmont to talk to you so we could make-up because being without you—whether I’m mad at you or not, is still unbearable...I was twenty minutes away when I got a call from my security team telling me that you’d been pushed down the steps.”
“I don’t have any missed calls from you.” I said flatly.
“I was using Greg’s phone. He smashed mine.”
“By accident?”
“Greg never does anything by accident.” He rolled his eyes. “I was trying to call a few special people that would beat the shit out of Ryan and dump his body in the sea. He ran off once the medics came, after he told them that he didn’t mean to do it—that it was an accident...”