Bring Me Back by Taryn Plendl Read Free Book Online Page A

do.”  
“Ian, do you think I could have some water?”  He looked around the room and then turned back to me.
“I’m not sure, I’ll go check.”
How did it get to this? I feel so guilty that a man who was just a stranger to me a few days ago has been thrown head first into my crazy dysfunctional life.  I’m used to taking care of myself, but now I am dependent on someone who didn’t ask to be in this situation. In his eyes, I see that same lost and distant look that I see in my own mirror.  The fear I saw in his car was very real.  Whatever it is, the last place he wanted to face it was here in a hospital with me.
Ian came back in with the nurse in tow.  “Hi Ally! I’m Trina, your nurse.”  Wow she is bubbly.  “I’m going to get some vitals from you and then if everything looks good, we’ll get you sitting up and drinking.”  She attached a blood pressure cuff to my left arm while watching the beeping monitors above my head.  “How are you feeling?”  She asks without looking away from the monitor.  “Um, I’m sore, but otherwise I’m okay.”  She looks satisfied with my blood pressure and leaves.  Moments later she walks back in with a pink colored pitcher and a Styrofoam cup full of ice.  She pours me some water and sticks one of those bendy straws in it.  “Here you go!”  She smiles as she adjusts the bed so that I am sitting up.  “After you drink that, we will try to get you up walking.”  “Walking?”  I ask.  “Yup!  The sooner you walk, the sooner you get to go home!”  She smiles as she practically skips out the door. 
I look at Ian and can tell he is lost in thought as he looks out the window.  His blonde hair is disheveled from the constant running of his hands through it.  Pieces of it stick out every which way. 
“Ian?”  I almost jump when he springs to his feet when I say his name.  “Ally, are you okay?”  Walking toward me with his eyebrows pulled together n a frown.  “Um, I’m fine. I just...I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”  “Sorry?”  He is looking at me confused.  “Yes.  I’m sorry to drag you into this.  I um, I don’t do well out of my….well, I am just sorry.”  I can’t look at him anymore.  He is looking at me with concern, when I have put him in a situation that he is so very obviously uncomfortable with.
When the nurse comes back in, Ian has returned to the window, and I’ve closed my eyes, not because I’m tired, but because I was hoping everyone would think I was asleep and leave me alone.  It doesn’t work.  “Ready to get up?”  This woman is too happy .  I take a deep breath and open my eyes. “I guess.  Can I use the bathroom before walking?”  “Of course!”  She proceeds to help me sit up, which has me feeling like my insides have been pulled apart.  Fortunately she lets me get my bearings before continuing. 
Knowing that this is what’s going to get me home, I push myself.  I’ve been in pain before—I know I can get through this, so I walk.  I walk and make it look like it doesn’t hurt a bit.  After what feels like I’ve walked a 5k, the nurse finally returns me to my room.  Ian is asleep in the chair.  The nurse is impressed with my progress, and tells the doctor so, because shortly after lunch, he comes back into the room to let me know I will be discharged by dinner time.  Ian lets out an audible sigh, and I can’t help but look at him.  He nods at me, and I return the nod—our own small communication.  He needs out of here just as much as me.
     

Chapter 18
~Ian
It is close to 7:00 p.m. when I finally get Ally loaded into the car.  She is in more pain than she is letting on and I can see it in her movements.  She thinks she is covering it up, but when you spend months watching someone try to make it through pain, like I did with Laney, you tend to pick up on even the smallest indications.
I swing by the drug store and pick up Ally’s pain medication and