Now he was irritated. “Why not?”
“Because, Matthew, if your wife was having a panic attack in front of your eyes, I am absolutely certain that you would not have given her the keys to your car,” she answered, holding an intense gaze on him.
Matt swallowed, turning away. He shook his head slightly. His mother’s support had always been overwhelming.
Ben appeared out from the corridor. “I found her other phone in her duffle bag,” Ben announced, disappointed.
It bothered Matt for Ben to be acting like nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t done the most horrendous thing you could do to your brother and then have the nerve to stand beside him on his wedding day, handing him the bands that would forever bind him with the woman Ben knew betrayed him.
“Look, it doesn’t matter, okay. I know Liz wanted to leave today so I’m going to go pack, and—” He saw his mother open her mouth in protest before holding his hand up. “And after dinner, we’re going to head back.”
His mother gave him that square look again. “And then what?” She asked.
Matt considered what she was asking, then glanced at Ben. “I don’t think it would be right to discuss anything with you before I talk to my wife,” he retorted.
His mother nodded. She picked up the basket of folded laundry and started to walk out before Matt’s cell phone rang. He hadn’t even looked at the caller ID before answering. The unfamiliar official female voice quickly brought him out of his irate state of mind. “I… I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
Chapter 6
LIZ
She woke up with a blinding headache. Mostly on her left side. Eyes still closed, she went to touch it, but it was wrapped.Why was her head wrapped? She blinked her eyes open, only to realize that had been a big mistake. The overly bright room had intensified the ache by about a thousand times. She quickly shut them again.
She moaned and shifted in discomfort. She hadn’t intended on it, and in fact, wished she would stop. But her erratic movement was almost involuntary. There seemed to be an endless number of thin blankets over her, and she just wanted them off. She began blinking rapidly until her eyes adjusted to the light and observing the small, bright room. A single square florescent light was flush with the ceiling above her. A worn, pink two-seater sofa rested to her right, by the enormous window framing the dark night outside.
There were several murmured voices in the room. She was able to pick them out through her own humming and shoving of fabric laying over her. One of the male murmurs she heard was clearly directed at her. As he came closer, his voice became clear. He gently placed his hands on both her legs calming their restlessness.
As her vision sharpened, she was finally able to make out the hazy images around her.
“Okay, it’s okay, we’ll take care of that.” The middle-aged man in the pale green scrubs and matching cap said gently. He wore a white coat over it and a gold name tag was pinned near his breast. She was unable to make it out since she couldn’t get herself to stop fussing over the wires and material that covered her from head to toe.
“What?” she asked, confused. And suddenly very cautious of this man.
He lifted her arm. A needle resting inside her skin under a few layers of scotch tape. She suddenly realized what he was doing and yanked her arm away.
To her relief, he instantly let go.
Another man, younger and dressed in plain clothes rushed to her side. He’d been talking to the nurse by the door. He wore blue jeans, and a light gray, long-sleeved t-shirt. He had a strong build, short dark hair, chiseled features and was much better looking than the other doctor.
“Lizzy, it’s okay, Dr. Harmon is just giving you something to calm you down.” He looked right into her eyes, gently taking her hand. She held his gaze for a moment. The man’s eyes were filled with genuine concern. Though his warmth was somewhat comforting to her, she frowned at him. Why would this man think she should take his word for anything? She slowly pulled away and realized that her involuntary fidgeting had stopped, and her body much more relaxed than before. She spun her head to her left, where the doctor had been standing. This time he was facing away, discarding the sharp object.
“What did you do? What was that?” she shouted, feeling a lot more panicky than her soft voice made it sound. Whatever they gave her was taking effect quickly. She looked back at the second man who held her hand while the first one had injected her and glared at him. “You tricked me,” she accused angrily.
“What? Lizzy, no... I—”
“Why are you calling me that?” He flinched, and she ignored the hurt in his eyes. “Nurse, please get these doctors out of here.” She saw the men exchange looks and chose to ignore that too. “And get thesethingsoff me,” she gritted, pulling at the translucent wires.
The nurse quickly ran to her bedside as the doctor in the scrubs stepped aside.
“Hun, if you don’t stop, we’ll need to give you something stronger. This one just went into your IV so it’s a slower release,” the woman warned.
Her head still pounding, she struggled to look behind her bed to confirm the IV had indeed been feeding into her arm. She observed the men once again. The first man, who she now understood to be Dr. Harmon, had been hastily scanning through a chart. The other man, sitting beside her, searched her eyes—or hoped that she would find something in his.
She avoided the strange man and focused on the nurse adjusting the adhesives on her arms. “What happened? Where am I?” she asked, unable to control the shakiness in her voice.
“My name is Bridget, I’m your RN. This is Dr. Steven Harmon. Everything is going to be ok,” the nurse reassured with a smile. “Just let the doctor ask you some questions.” The nurse gave the man sitting next to her a sympathetic look as she walked back to the clipboard at the end of the bed.
“Liz, can you tell us who this man is?” Dr. Harmon asked, pointing to the man sitting beside her.
