The Color of the Season by Julianne MacLean Read Free Book Online Page A

it.
    “I saw the operation,” I told him, “but it was like I was watching from the ceiling. One of the surgeons said they were losing me, and everyone panicked. Is that what happened? Did I flatline?”
    “I wasn’t there,” Dr. Crosby replied, “so I’m not sure about the details.”
    Wouldn’t it be in the chart? I wondered.
    He patted me on the shoulder. “Rest assured, you’re fine now. The surgery went well and they were able to remove both bullets.”
    “What about my spleen?” I asked. “They removed that too, didn’t they?”
    There was no way I could miss how the nurse stopped what she was doing and looked up to meet Dr. Crosby’s eyes.
    “They did.” He moved around the bed and spoke quietly to the nurse. “Let’s order a psych consult for tomorrow.”
    Can you at least send for the third year resident with the long brown hair ?
    Leah… I want Leah.
    The drugs were making me sleepy…
    “Everything else looks good,” Dr. Crosby cheerfully said. “Now you just need to focus on healing. First thing tomorrow, we’ll set you up in a physio program.”
    “Physio?” I drowsily asked.
    “For your leg,” he explained. “The bullet went straight into a major muscle. Tore it up pretty bad. I’m afraid you’ll be off work for a while.”
    “How long?”
    “At least six weeks, I’d say.”
    Six weeks ?
    Ah, hell. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear because I’d been busting my butt lately to get a promotion.
    “Will I make a full recovery?” I groggily asked. I certainly didn’t want to end up walking with a cane, stuck behind a desk before I could really prove myself in the field.
    Though maybe I’d already done that with this fiasco.
    “That’s entirely up to you,” the doctor replied as he lowered the clipboard to his side, “and how hard you’re willing to work at this. I’ll warn you now, though—it’s not going to be easy. There will be pain, but you seem to be made of pretty stern stuff. You just have to make up your mind every day—are you going to throw in the towel, or are you going to throw one more punch?”
    “A boxing metaphor,” I said with a sigh, gazing up at the ceiling, still thinking about Carla, wondering why she had come.
    “Just remember,” he said, “half the battle’s up here.” He tapped his temple three times with the tip of his finger.
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    “Good for you. Now I have to go take care of a few things. This is Nurse Gayle. She’ll answer any other questions you might have.”
    She leaned over the bed and smiled at me.
    I had so many questions about what happened, I didn’t know where to begin—but it wasn’t Nurse Gayle I wanted to talk to.

Chapter Fifteen

    I fell asleep again not long after the nurse left, and woke the next morning when an orderly came in to deliver a breakfast tray.
    He adjusted my bed so I could sit up and rolled the tray table across my lap. I took one look at the cup of broth and the tiny bowl of green Jell-O.
    “This is all I get? I haven’t eaten in five days. I’m starved.”
    “The doctor wrote DAT in your chart,” he informed me, “which means ‘diet as tolerated.’ They’ll see how you do sipping on this, then they’ll advance you to something more.”
    “So lunch will be better?”
    “Maybe. As long as you can keep this down.”
    “Great.” I reached for the cup of broth and hoped for the best.
    o0o
    A half hour later, my mother, stepdad and sister, Marie, walked into the room. Mom burst into tears at the sight of me.
    “Thank God!” she said, bending over the bed rail to hug me. “I’m so sorry we weren’t here when you woke up. I’ll never forgive myself.”
    “No worries, Mom. You’re here now.”
    Marie moved to the other side of the bed and hugged me as well. “You are one tough cop,” she said with a grin. “Too bad you missed all the hoopla. You were all over the news.”
    “Yeah?” I replied, shaking Eric’s hand. “So I’m a celebrity