“Coffee,” I finally spit out and made a run for it.
45
Dylan
“You’re doing well,” the doctor said. “You’re going to have to take it easy, give yourself time to heal. Your lungs and throat suffered a lot of trauma, and you still have a long road of recovery ahead. No more heroics for a while. You are an extremely lucky young man. It was a close call in the OR. Keep the oxygen mask on at all times unless you’re eating or drinking. Liquids and soft solids only for now.”
His brows pulled in as he listened to my lungs. He frowned and made a note in the chart.
Fuck. “Doc?”
“There’s still moderate tracheobronchial edema present. Limit talking and follow the instructions of the respiratory therapist when she comes. If you cooperate with everything now, you’ll have the best chance to return to full function.”
“Prognosis?” I hated being reduced to one word responses, but damn, it hurt to talk.
“Your leg should make a full recovery. It’s too soon to know if your cardiac and respiratory systems will return to 100%, although they’ll most likely be functional.”
Fuck. No one wanted to hear that, but especially not a firefighter. This could be the end of my career.
“Thanks, doc.”
“My pleasure. You risked yourself to save that woman and child. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you make a full recovery.”
I forced a smile and reached out to shake his hand.
“Remember, limit your talking. Page your nurse if you want pain meds. I’ll be back to check on you soon.”
He walked out calmly like he hadn’t just thrown my whole world off its axis.
Was my career over? Had Sarah and Benji been the last people I’d save? What the hell would I do with the rest of my life?
As I laythere contemplating my life with a nine-to-five desk job, alone in a cubicle, without my brothers, without purpose, there was another knock on the door. Before I could respond, everyone walked in. Brady, Ryan, Liam, Taco, Driftwood, Sledge, but no Juliette.
“Did Juliette come back in here?” Brady strangely asked.
“No. She’s with you?”
“We, uh, got separated.”
“Where is she?”
“I’ll ask Cole.” Liam sent a text, then frowned as his phone pinged. “Be right back,” he said. With a look to Brady, he left.
Something was wrong. No one was making eye contact with me.
“Where is Juls?” I repeated, trying to sound demanding, but the coughs that punctuated each word belied my intent. I sucked in a few deep breaths from the mask.
Cole came in and my eyes snapped up to his. Didn’t Liam just text Cole because he was with Juliette?
I tried to pull my mask off to ask, but Cole blocked my hand. “Leave it on. We don’t know where she is. She gave me the slip when she went to the bathroom outside the coffee shop. We’ve checked everywhere we can think of in the hospital. Ethan’s headed to her house now. He’ll check in with us soon. Liam joined Moose, Penelope, and the others who’ve been searching the hospital.”
“Beth is looking at video footage,” Sledge added.
Panic welled up in my chest. My pounding heart was broadcast through the room by the beeps of the machine.
Cole placed a hand on my shoulder. “Relax before they kick us out of here for upsetting you.”
There was no way I could relax. Why would she walk away from Cole and not come back to me? It didn’t make any sense. Did someone snatch her from under Cole’s nose? Was it Kayla or Leo?