“Okay.” He yawned again and then got himself scrunched back on the bed, letting the head down a little bit so he’d be more comfortable. “You won’t run off though, right?”
“Only if I need another drink or something, but then I’d be right back.”
“Cool.” He closed his eyes and he dropped off to sleep so fast he didn’t even hear Hawk leave the room. What he did hear was Hawk’s low voice conversation with the hospitalist, and that had him opening his eyes and reaching for the control on the bed.
“Ah, Caleb, I was just talking to Mr. Montaineau hereabout releasing you this afternoon.” The hospitalist, who was a nondescript guy with glasses, Caleb couldn’t remember a name to save him, gave him a big grin.
“Yeah? That’s great news, doc.” Caleb pushed the head of the bed up so he was sitting, even if it made his head swim for a minute because he wasn’t quite awake.
“Yes, I’m going to put your release papers in as soon as I get out of here. I’ve talked to Mr. Montaineau about your follow-ups and everything, but really I think you went over that with your orthopedist this afternoon, correct?”
“I did, yeah. He told me what to look for as far as complications and when to come to the ER if things were not going well. I have a couple of follow-up appointments pretty much already scheduled with him.” Caleb knew he had to take this seriously because he didn’t want to have to come back for more surgery or end up with an infection or anything weird. He just wanted to heal this up and then decide what he was going to do with the rest of his life.
“Perfect.” The doctor pulled out a business card and handed it to him. Turned out his name was Kincaid. “Now if you need anything, you can always give me a call too. I think as long as you keep your foot elevated to begin with, make sure you maintain the non-weight-bearing and take it easy before you start physio, then you’ll do great.”
“Thanks doc. I really appreciate everything.” Honestly the hospitalist didn’t have a whole lot to do with his case, but it didn’t matter. He wanted to thank everybody who had given him such good care while he was here.
“Well you just hang tight. As soon as she can, your nurse will be in to do your discharge, okay?”
“You got it. Thanks again.”
Dr. Kincaid left, and Caleb and Hawk grinned at each other. He was so fucking ready to get out of here.
“You excited?” Hawk asked.
“Hell, yes. Now I can bag my foot up and shower with you instead of doing it here.”
“I am the king of taping a trash bag so it’s waterproof. Never fear.” Hawk patted his knee as if to prove his point.
“I’m here for it. Can we get me dressed? I know it will probably be an hour or two before they get me out of here, but I’d really like to get ready.” He ever so carefully swung his good leg around and put it on the floor so he could leverage his other leg out straight on the bed and let Hawk hand him a shirt.
“Stick with me, I’ll get you there.” Hawk helped him put his shirt on and then bent to kiss him before teasing him. “You really do need a shower.”
Nineteen
Hawk thought he and Caleb were doing pretty good together. Better than he’d done when he’d first come home from the hospital, when he’d injured his knee. He’d had his family and team, of course, but for the most part they hadn’t been able to come help too much, and he’d had to have home health care come in and help him out for things like bathing to begin with.
That had been humiliating, and he was glad he could save Caleb that kind of trouble.
He’d moved some stuff around in the condo so Caleb could use his knee scooter or his walker, either one. The knee scooter got a little hard sometimes, but the walker had a nice hard metal frame, and he could just sort of hop along using one foot. It was easier than the crutches too. Hawk knew all about that because he hadn’t been able to use a knee scooter with his injury.
Caleb hadn’t been up for exploring too much the first two days. He’d slept a lot and had a shower and slept and eaten and slept. Now he was sitting on the edge of the bed, grinning at Hawk. “I want the tour,” he said.
“Sure babe, no problem. Obviously we’re not going to be able to go upstairs and see the other bedrooms and stuff, but I’ll show you around down here.” His condo was an old industrial space over an art gallery, and it was one big open room as far as the kitchen, living room, and dining room were concerned, then there was a powder room right inside the front door where guests could go; and then a walled-off area where his bedroom and the en suite bath sat.
Upstairs there were two more bedrooms that shared a bathroom and a kind of mezzanine area off to one side where he had put his workout gear.
“I know. Bring on the knee scooter. I’m ready.” Caleb had managed to get dressed in a pair of loose basketball shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt, along with a grippy sock on one side and his boot on the other. Hawk brought in the knee scooter and they started off.
It took Caleb a hot minute to get the scooter figured out but he did it by the time they left the bedroom. He laughed when they rolled into the main living area, where Hawk had pushed the coffee table out of the way and left just the sectional and the big recliner open so they could go flop on the couch if they wanted to. He’d invested in a couple of those little sliding tables he could move up as soon as Caleb sat down so they could eat at them.
“Wow, I don’t think I ever really even looked around when we first came in the other day. This is awesome, man.” Caleb stood in the middle of the room on his knee scooter, looking around at the exposed brick, the industrial piping, and the Edison light bulbs hanging from the ceiling over the dining room area.
Hawk was pretty proud of it. He liked the vibe a lot. It wasn’t like the kind of place he wanted to live the rest of his life, but for right now it worked.
“When you get where you’re getting around better, we’ll go to my house in Idaho Springs.”
Caleb blinked at him, tilting his head. “Why on earth do you have a house in Idaho Springs?”