Chapter 2

Tamara arrived with a duffel bag less than thirty minutes after she had hung up on Kat, and she carefully hugged her friend and set the bag down on the bed. 

“You really do look like you have been to hell and back!” she remarked. “Come on. Let’s get you in the shower. Do you need any help?” 

“No, I’m ok, I think,” Kat responded. “But we can talk, so come keep me company in the bathroom.” 

The warm water was pure bliss and Katrina began to feel the effects of the painkillers the doctor had given her before Tamara arrived. The throbbing in the cheek seemed to subside as she showered away all the blood, mud, and soot. While she scrubbed, she told Tam everything that had happened, and Tamara listened without interrupting once, which was very unlike her.

When Kat finally emerged from behind the shower curtain, Tamara handed her a towel with a scowl. 

“What were you thinking, Kat!? The car was on fire!! You could have died!” 

‘‘I know,” Kat agreed quietly. “I guess I wasn’t thinking at all. There wasn’t any time.”

“You have Joey to think about!” Tamara continued, clearly upset. 

“I know,” Kat’s arms and legs were starting to feel sluggish and her speech was a little slurred, so Tamara realized this wasn’t the time nor the place to give her best friend a hard time. 

“Damn you,” Tamara stated as her final sentiment on the matter and then took a deep breath. She remained quiet and helped Kat into a pair of comfy flannel pajamas and brushed her tangled hair.  “Get some rest.” She gently pulled a blanket up over Kat’s flannel-clad body. 

“Thanks, Tam,” Kat offered with a tired smile. “I don’t know what I would do without you!” 

She was asleep before Tamara could snap back that today it had been a closer call that SHE would have been the one who would have had to do without Katrina. The thought scared her to death. She gently squeezed her friend’s hand and shook her head with relief as she quietly left the room and closed the door behind her. 

The next morning, Katrina was woken up by a different nurse who took her blood pressure and temperature.

“You will be happy to know your husband’s surgery was successful.” The nurse smiled at Katrina, whom at this point had given up on correcting everyone. Surely her insurance card would have given it away by now. He couldn’t possibly have the same last name as her but played along for now. 

“Is he awake?” Katrina asked.

“I’m not sure,” the nurse responded. “But the Doctor will be in soon enough to talk to you.”

Kat really didn’t feel like sticking around longer than necessary, so she got out of bed, brushed her teeth and called Rose to check on Joey. Reassured that everything was well on their end, she packed up her belongings and with her small duffel bag over her shoulder she left the depressing hospital room behind her. She was only seconds away from a clean escape when she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

“Mrs. Collins, your husband is awake and asking for you.” 

“Uhmm, ok,” Katrina said with a small sigh and followed the doctor down a corridor with green painted walls. He stopped outside a closed door and gestured for her to go ahead and go inside before turning and walking away and disappearing through a set of double doors. 

Kat sighed again. She could probably still escape she figured and looked down the corridor in both directions. Empty. But she was curious, she admitted to herself. She wanted to see how he was doing. Steeling herself to what she might find on the other side of the door, she quietly turned the handle and entered the room. 

Kat had forgotten how big he was. The small bed barely managed to contain him. He seemed to be sleeping, but instead of leaving, she closed the door behind her and walked a couple of steps closer to him. He stirred and then moved his head and looked at her. She tried to smile, but she was pretty sure it ended up being a grimace. The guy looked hideous. The bruises and cuts on his face were bad, but the swelling is what really made things look scary. Kat swallowed loudly and tried to not stare. 

“Hi,” she said and took a few more steps closer.

“Hey.” His voice was deep and sounded a bit groggy. His head had been shaved and bandaged. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked, knowing that it was a stupid question.

His chest rumbled a little as a pained laugh escaped him. It turned into a cough and then another sigh of pain. “I feel as I look, I suspect,” he finally replied.

“You don’t have to talk.” She moved a chair so she could sit down next to him for a bit. “Just rest.”

He smiled briefly and then just looked at her with the same dark eyes as the day before. They were hazel she noticed now. Hazel eyes set in a face that was black and blue and swollen. 

“Thank you,” he said, and she felt him reach for her hand again. She took his hand and held it.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kat shrugged. “Anyone would have done the same.”

For a while, the room was silent, and Kat wished the closed curtains covering the window had been open letting some of the sunlight in. She felt him looking at her with those intense eyes, and it made her feel both insecure and uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and looked at everything in the room except for him. 

“I don’t remember anything from the accident,” he finally admitted. 

“I think that’s normal.” 

“But I remember you,” he added then, and she looked at him somewhat surprised. 

“Oh,” was the only response that came to mind, but he didn’t seem to notice her lack of conversational skills.

“Why did you tell them I was your wife?” she asked curiously. It did seem like an odd thing to do with a stranger.

“I... I am not sure,” he confessed with a crooked grin, and she thought she saw a trace of embarrassment on his battered face. “I guess I wanted you with me.” 

“Well I’m here,” Kat smiled at him. “I can’t stay for too long though.” 

“I understand. I do remember you were bleeding a lot. Is your cheek ok?” he asked, and she saw him looking at the bandage covering her stitches.  

“I’m fine. I think it was the glass from when the windows blew out of the car.”

She saw a muscle in his jaw tighten and then he looked away and nodded. He was obviously getting upset, so she changed the subject.

“You will be happy to know MY car made it home in one piece!” she joked and was rewarded with another rumble of a laugh. He was like a huge bear of a man and that deep voice fit him perfectly. 

“Well that IS a relief,” he chuckled. “So since you are my wife, do you think I could possibly have your name?”

Now it was Kat’s turn to laugh.

“I’m Katrina. Most people call me Kat.”

“I’m Theo.” 

“Nice to meet you, officially,” Kat offered and squeezed his hand a little. 

He smiled at her and then reached up and gently touched her eyebrow. “It got singed I think?” His hand dropped back down and grasped hers firmly again. 

“Oh did it?” Kat reached up and felt her eyebrow. “I didn’t notice.”  

“You might be the first woman in history to not check the mirror a hundred times after something like this happens.” 

“Well, I would love to feel that special, but I was d****** up last night,” Kat grinned. 

“But not this morning…” Theo stated, and Kat blushed even though she had no reason to feel embarrassed. She didn’t know this guy, and he didn’t know her. There was a light knock on the door, and a nurse entered the room ready to check on her patient. 

“Mr. Collins, Mrs. Collins,” she greeted them courteously. Kat looked at Theo and rolled her eyes, and she saw his mouth twitch as he fought a smile. The nurse proceeded to pull the cover down from his chest to check on his wounds. The gauze wraps covering his stomach came off, and even though Kat smiled at Theo in conspiracy over the married couple joke, the sight of the enormous stitched up cut on his stomach caused her to draw her breath and swallow hard. 

“It’s a good thing your husband is so fit, Mrs. Collins, or the outcome could have been quite different,” the doctor stated when he entered the room about a second later. 

Kat couldn’t bring herself to respond. 

“I really have to go,” she said instead and pulled her hand out of Theo’s firm grip. 

Both the doctor and the nurse looked at Kat curiously, but Theo couldn’t do much else than nod and let her go. 

“Feel better,” Kat added in a small awkward voice as she tried not to look at his wound, and then she escaped from the suddenly claustrophobic feeling room. 

She really hated hospitals, she thought to herself as she almost jogged toward an exit sign. She really hated blood too. Normally if she cut herself, she had to sit down to prevent herself from passing out. Not very macho at all. That poor guy was stuck in bed with cuts all over, and she couldn’t even stay long enough to take his mind off of it because she was such a wimp. 

“Humanitarian award for me!” she muttered to herself with a scowl. 

Kat followed the exit signs down the long hallway but paused when the nurse from the previous evening called her over.

“Let me show you to the side door,” she offered quietly. “You might want to avoid the front where the press is camped out.”

“The press?” Kat asked curiously but followed the nurse to a side door marked for hospital staff only.

The nurse pushed the heavy door open and peeked out before confirming that the coast was clear. Kat shrugged, somewhat confused, but she played along. It’s not like the past twenty-four hours could get any more bizarre. Waving a quick goodbye to the sweet nurse, she quickly made her way down the street where she found a Starbucks. Kat ducked inside and borrowed a cell phone and called Rose, who immediately dispatched her husband to come pick Kat up.