Love Today (56 page)

Everyone in the room just
gaped
at her, even the doctor.

“Do you understand what I’m telling you, Doctor
Glenn
?”

He seemed to, but still wouldn’t respond.

“I know you’re just doing your job,” she kept on, “but I just want you to be aware of the situation.”

“I’m now aware, thank you,” he said at last. But it was without any true appreciation. “And you’re
right; I’m just doing my job. And I’m sorry, but r
ules are made to be followed
, Missus…?”

“Hartford,” my mom replied. “I’m the ‘other’ mother.”

“The
real
mother,” I heard Jack murmur.

Doctor
Glenn
barely nodded and turned to leave.

“Wait,” I said, touching his arm. I was very grateful for people to stand up for me when I was too frazzled to do it myself, but there was still more to be done.

He faced me with either a very annoyed look or the
resolve
to take on more verbal
abuse
.

“Thank you for coming to speak with us. We don’t mean to
stone
the messenger it’s just… Well, could you give Jocelyn a message for me? Please?”

He looked unsure but curious at the same time. However, he did nod and said, “I’ll try.”

I released the breath I was holding. “Thank you. Um, could you just tell her that I’m here and that…I’ll be here for as long as it takes
until I can see
him
.
And ask her to please not keep me from Jared; he wouldn’t want that. Please tell her how badly I need to see him.”

He waited to make sure I was done and then nodded. I watched him leave,
even though I felt
like I had more to say.

But whom I really needed to say it to was Jared’s mom.

Chapter Forty-
Two

I woke to one of the usual sounds: someon
e returning or leaving the room,
someone opening a package of food or throwing it away.

I moved
from
where I was
, sitting
on a stiff couch. Jack was leaning up against me but my movement didn’t wake him. I glanced across the waiting room t
o see what had broken up my ten-
minute
snooze
.

Kurt had tried to get up and must have bumped the garbage can next to him. He tried to silently reposition it and then attempted his exit from the other couch. I could tell he was in pain.

I stood to help
him and he startled;
he didn’t realize I was awake.

“Here,” I said, holding out my hand. He took it, almost reluctantly, and together we pulled him to a standing position.

“Thanks,” he said quietly.

I knew his leg was tightening up again and he needed to move. It wasn’t exactly a good thing though, since his other leg contained a
swollen ankle the size of
a
softball
. He was told to keep off the sprain, but he couldn’t bear the muscles in his
other
leg
stiffening
up.

“I don’t need help,” he said quietly as he shuffled out the door.

When we were both on the other side of it, I shut it behind me. “I know, but I needed to move too. I’m not very good at being idle.”

He took that into consideration and his mouth twitched. Finally he said, “Well, it’s pretty shitty that they won’t let you see him. You should have gone to the hotel with your mom.”

“Nah, I’m ready
to
fight Jocelyn when I finally see her.”

That made him
chuckle
and I was glad for the light moment. He’d been avoiding me
all night
. I understood he felt guilty
about the accident since he
’d been the one
driving, but I didn’t want him to think I was mad at him. I
figured he
knew I wanted to question him more. I was aware that Jared had a punctured lung, four broken
ribs
,
two
fractured
fingers
, and a dislocated shoulder
. But other than the injuries, there was something else I wanted to know.

“Was he conscious?” I finally asked. “After it happened, was he conscious?”

Kurt barely looked at me but he sighe
d. He didn’t want to talk about it, but
I knew I just needed to wait for his answer.

“Yes, he was conscious.”

He started to walk a little, so I walked with him. We were headed down the hall with the
security
guard at the end, but neither of us cared to acknowledge the new guy on duty.

“
Uh, I think I swore a few times befo
re I really understood anything,”
Kurt
added
.
“
Jared barely made a sound, but when I finally looked at him…” The tears welled up in his eyes
and he took a deep breath
. “There was a lot of blood,” he said, trying to control the sob that was about to escape. He let himself take a few
more
breaths before he continued. “I’m just… I’m not used to seeing stuff like that, you know? It scared the shit out of me; I didn’t know what to do. He just looked at me like…
And
I wasn’t sure if he was even alive…”

The tears were unleashed on my face and I didn’t even try to stop them from coming.

“I think I finally said something, like his name or… I don’t remember. But he said, ‘I can’t move’, in just this…barely a whisper.” He took another deep breath. “God, Taryn. He was pretty much dying right there in the car and I just sat there. I knew my arm was broken but shit…he was-he was…”

He leaned up against the wall for balance. I put my hand on his shoulder just in case. The police officer was about thirty feet away from us but he pretended like he
wasn’t watching
us. I was pretty sure he couldn’t hear us since there were other sounds in the hospital that were louder than we were.

“He asked me if he was bleeding anywhere,” he chuckled sarcastically. “I wanted to scream at him that he was bleeding
everywhere
but… He said something like...
stop the
bleeding. I mean I could barely look at
-
I couldn’t even tell.
I think it was his right side. Then he said, ‘Okay, buddy, just d
o one thing
then
… Tell Taryn how much I love her…’ ”

That sent another
set
of tears down my face.

“I guess that kind of hit me, you know?” he said. “I guess something clicked that he wasn’t dead and I could do something about it. But by then there were people to help and I just… I let them take over, I guess. I thought he would be okay, but when they loaded him in the ambulance…”

I didn’t make him finish. I understood that’s when Jared crashed and they had to bring him back.
But I could feel Kurt’s pain. To be the driver of the car, run a red light, and then feel like you couldn’t even help your best friend…

“I’m sorry, Taryn. If anything happens to him because of my stupidity…”

“Kurt, it’s not your fault. There are so many things that can go wrong in an traumatic experience like that and… And you heard what the docto
r said. They’ll pull him out of heavy sedation
when he’s ready. For now his body had been mended up and… He starts the road to recovery.
He’ll be okay.
You guys just need some time to heal and everything will be okay…
”

Even hearing myself say it out loud didn’t convince me to b
e optimistic. I was
scared
sick
.
What if there was
something wrong with
Jared
that the doctors
hadn’t
determine
d
yet?

It was an endless sea of the unknown again.

“Mom, you should probably just head home. There’s no need for you to be missing work.”

“Taryn, I don’t care about work.” She looked ticked that I would say that.

“I know, but what good is waiting around with everyone else going to do you? I mean obviously Jocelyn isn’t go
ing to change her mind on Day Two
.”

My mom looked like she was ready to fight the woman right then and there. She’d expressed repeatedly what a terrible thing it was for her to keep me from Jared.

She sat down on the bed in the hotel room. “Honey, I know you’re headed back over there, but isn’t there anything we can do to challenge it?”

I’d arrived at the hotel only thirty minutes ago just to shower and change my clothes. I didn’t intend to stay long and was ready to return to the hospital with the hopes that I’d be magically granted a pass to see my fiancé.

“I’m going to see if I can get a hold of his dad,” I finally told her.

She looked like she wanted to fight
me
at that moment. “Don’t you dare talk to that man,” she scolded me. “I don’t want you to have anything to do with him.”

“Well news flash, Mom. He’s going to be my father-in-law.” I chuckled sarcastically and shook my head. My life sounded so messed up except for one thing.

Jared.

“You act like he was a child molester or something, Mom. Rachel was a grown woman when she was in a relationship with him.”

“He’s twenty years her senior,” she stated, as if I didn’t know.

“I don’t want to talk about John Miller,” I mumbled.

There were some things that my parents just didn’t understand, and even when all of that came out about John, they suddenly became
uncomfortable around
Jared.
It was upsetting, and it was
why I didn’t bring it up in the first place.
The truth was that I really did believe that John loved my sister and I couldn’t
disregard
that. Sure it was awkward for certain reasons, but I knew firsthand that you couldn’t always help whom you fall in love with.

I busied myself with other things to avoid a continuation of the conversation. I headed out a few minutes later and ended up walking to the hospital instead of taking the ride in the car waiting for me. One of the bodyguards, Milo, got out and walked with me, keeping a few paces behind. I was waiting to hear back from Michelle with a new number to reach John at. Jared’s phone didn’t have a number in it and my only hope was calling in a favor. I used Michelle’s guilty conscience to play in my favor.

She called when I arrived at the hospital
,
and I was
thankful to have something to focus on while reporters were kept out of my face. I knew everyone else had left except Jack
, and now it was his turn to shower and change in his own hotel room
. We decided that at least one of us would
always
be there
for Jared
just in case anything changed.

Or just in case Jocelyn Miller lost the ego.

But I was surprised that John was there in the waiting room
with
Jack.
The last I’d heard, no one could get a hold of him because he’d changed his number. But there he was, looking just as haggard as everyone else.

I’ll admit the reunion was awkward, but being that he was the only person that could help me at that moment, I was going to allow myself to be desperate.

“Please let me see him,” I pleaded. “You have a say because you’re his father and—”

“Of course you can see
him
,” he interrupted. “That’s why I’m here
waiting for you
. I know that Jared wouldn’t want me here, and I respect that, but he is my son and I love him. I want him to be okay. I want him to have whatever it is he needs.
I know that’s you, and it’s always going to be you.
”

I could tell he was being sincere, and I took a deep breath. He motioned for me to follow, and even though I could have insisted that Jack come along too, I was thankful that he waved me to go without him.

The officer at the door was the same one from the morning before. He
sort of
smiled, and I felt like he was happy that I was finally being allowed to see Jared.

I followed John to a private wing of the ICU, neither of us speaking a word.
I almost asked if Jocelyn was going to be in the room but John pushed open a door that a guard was standing at, and I noticed the empty
quarters
.