Yesterday Is Ours (The Yesterday Series Book 3) Page 6
“Ber—” I raise my hand, pointing at the door.
Jessie nods. “Yeah, she was your surgeon. Checked on you every day.”
I shake my head back and forth, screwing up my eyebrows.
“You’ve been out two weeks, man.”
A new doctor enters the room. Jessie talks to him like they are old friends. I ignore all of it, still confused as hell. The man tries talking to me. I answer his simple questions and do the reflex tests, tugging and pushing on his hands the best I can do.
The overload of information drains my already exhausted body. I can’t handle any of it. A nurse enters the room, pumping something into my IV with a needle and syringe.
“You need your rest, Cody. You’ve been through a lot.”
And just like that, my eyelids grow heavy with slumber.
Chapter 8
Cody
“You’re getting released today.” Britt’s bright smile lights up the dim hospital room.
“You seem a bit too excited about that,” I respond, tossing my journal to the side.
“Well, you’re kind of a grumpy asshole,” she whispers, overexaggerating the last word.
Britt was a welcome gift after the Hitler-type nurses in the ICU. I swear I couldn’t rip a fart or burp without one of them rushing in. I’ve lost count of how many days I’ve been in this shit hole. Recovery has been hell since I should’ve been up and walking after waking up from the surgery. That didn’t happen, and now I genuinely do feel like a ninety year old who lived life damn hard. I’m able to walk but not without someone guarding me as if I was a toddler with wobbly legs under me.
Relying on pain meds to get back up and going or the need for home care for a few weeks isn’t something I like to boast about. Guess when you flatline on the operating table, people take that shit serious. The battery of tests they’ve put me through have been grueling.
There haven’t been any other complications since I came to. Jessie and Jules have visited as much as they have been able to and should be on their way to take me home. Bertie has been a ghost. I’ve seen her in the hall, but she’s diverted her gaze at every meeting.
Her message before the surgery is the one thing that’s remained crisp and clear in my memory. Everything after that is a blur. I gave up. I was done. And now here I am, irritated and exhausted and ready to go home. I can’t wait to get my bar back up and going. Get into the swing of things where my mind will remain busy. I have plans, and I have been jotting them down in my journal. There are plans that are realistic and plans that will never happen, but it does help writing them out, as much as it makes me sound like a pussy.
Britt checks my vitals, grabs the tray of shitty-ass food from the delivery person, and slings it onto my bedside table. Then she pushes my mug of water in front of my face.
“Drink up. Don’t want you all constipated again. Because you were meaner than mean.” She winks at me.
Before she exits the room, I holler at her, “Thanks for everything, Britt.”
“It’s my job. Don’t go getting a big head.” She grips the side of the wall, worrying her bottom lip. “You really should talk to her before you leave.”
“Britt,” I grit out.
“Fine, asshole.” She slaps the wall.
Britt has grown to be a good friend. My first instincts about her were right. She’s a good person through and through. She mentioned Bertie once, and I let her talk but then told her to never mention her name again. Turns out the two of them are pretty damn good friends. Bertie overreacted that first day in my room and has since apologized. I could sense Britt wanted to tell me more about the situation, but I didn’t allow it.
The phone connected to my room rings, and I know who it is. I give Britt one final wave.
“What do you want?” I growl then smile, knowing going home is a matter of hours away.
“See you’re still a little bitch.” Jessie’s chuckle echoes from the other end.
“I got your bitch,” I banter back, glancing out the window at the late snow storm pouring down.
“Bad news.” He pauses. “They closed the interstate and no idea when they’ll open it again. We are about three hours from ya, and the roads are hell.”
Silence streams between us. This has to be a nasty, cruel punchline to the joke from hell.
“Okay,” I stutter out.
“Jules is calling the hospital to see if you can stay a bit longer until they open the roads.”
“No.” I shake my head.
“Yes,” he replies.
I hang my head for a moment, the tension in my knuckles building as I grip the phone. “Hell no. I’ll check myself out and hole up in a hotel room until this shit passes.”
“No, you won’t,” I hear Jules holler from the other end of the phone.
“Jesus, I’m fine, you guys. You brought my wallet and credit cards back the last time you were here. Shit, they’ll have better food than this place. Drive back home and text me when you’re there safe.”
“No, he can’t do that.”
Jessie cuts off Jules’ momma bear rant. “Call us when you get settled in. Man, I feel like shit about this.”
“Nah, don’t. Nothing has gone right since…” I don’t finish my sentence. Nothing has gone my way since rushing into that fire. If I’m being honest with myself, nothing has happened the way I wanted it for years upon years. “I’ll be good and jingle ya in a few hours, man.”
“Sounds good.” There’s a silent pause.
“Don’t, Jessie,” I warn him. He’s been on the damn Bertie train as well.
He clears his throat. “Love ya.”
“You too. Talk soon.” I hang up the phone, scrubbing the stubble on my face. The clean-shaven, slick manwhore is long gone. I push away the tray of dog food, swing my legs over the bed, feeling the stiffness that has settled in, and reach for my cell phone charging on the counter. I damn near fall off the bed before I grab it.
You’d think Jules was my own damn mom. She packed everything for me on their last visit from my wallet to three clean pairs of boxers. You’d think I was going to shit my pants a couple times on the way home. I didn’t give her hell, though, because she also brought home-baked goodies that were gone in a matter of seconds.
I search hotel rooms, not wanting to spend the night at the cockroach throne, and come up with a master plan to fool the discharge nurse. It won’t be an easy task, but I’m a determined man. I want more than anything to chill out in a bed in a pair of my boxers, chowing down on greasy delivery pizza.
Once my bags are packed and I’ve flirted enough with the discharge nurse, she leaves me at the curb of the hospital. The stars must have been aligned for once—she was paged to a code red. The wet snowflakes fall on the tip of my nose, and even though the air is chilled and freezing, it exhilarates every part of me. I relish the freedom for a few beats before pushing myself out of the wheelchair. Didn’t need that son of a bitch, but it was hospital policy or some nonsense.
I rest against a pillar, downloading the Uber app because God knows I’m Uber in my parts and don’t even get paid for that shit. Once it’s downloaded and my payment is connected, I’m about to press the button for “request a ride” when I hear my name.
I turn to see Bertie wiping tears away from her swollen eyes. “What are you doing out here?”
She tugs a hood over her head with most of her features being swallowed up by the huge snowflakes. Her blonde hair I love so much and hunger to run my fingers through is hidden under a purple hood that’s now white.
I shrug, not having the energy to lie anymore. “Interstate is closed. Jessie and Jules had to turn back home. Gonna find an Uber to take me to the Best Western.”
“Cody.”
Then there’s peaceful silence floating between us with the sparkle and glitter of the snow surrounding us.
“What?” I glance down, unable to look her in the eye.
“You can’t be alone. You know this. A hotel?” The ti
ps of her boots crunch on the snow and come into my vision.
I glance up at her. “Remember, you don’t give two shits about me, Bertie. I’m not your problem.”
“Cody, not now.” She crosses her arms. “You’re on strong pain meds and still recovering. You can’t be alone.”
“I’ll order room service. They can check on me,” I spit out.
“No. Why didn’t you just stay in the hospital until this storm passes?”
“Again, not your worry, Bertie. Or should I call you Roberta?”
“Enough!” she screams, getting up in my face. “I am sorry for what I said to you before the surgery. I am sorry you flatlined under my hands. You have no idea what I’ve put myself through, Cody.”
I’m taken aback by her words. She was so damn adamant that I was nothing but trash in her life. Hell, not even a memory according to her. I remain silent, having nothing to say.
“You have two options right now, Cody.” She takes the tiniest of steps back. “You can march your stubborn ass back in that hospital and tell them your circumstances or…” Her determined words die off as she nibbles on her bottom lip. She squares her shoulders and raises her chin high. “Or you can come home with me until Jessie can make it up here.”
“Excuse me?” I cough on my words, knowing this has to be some damn hallucination or shit.
“You heard me. I cannot and will not allow you to check yourself into a hotel room. Not gonna happen.”
“Stop me.” I push off the pillar, walking a few steps and feeling the ache begin in my hip. I shake the snow from my overgrown hair, confused as shit.
“Security,” Bertie hollers over her shoulder, catching the attention of a guard who just walked out of the hospital. She cups her hands around her mouth, hollering the word again.
“What the hell are you doing?” I take a long stride toward her. “I’m fine. Go home to your fiancé.”
That was a low blow. I can even admit that. I heard the nurses chatter and rattle on about the break-up. They kept it pretty much hush around me, but in the hospital, nothing seems to be a secret.
She turns toward the security guard, not acknowledging my nasty comment. I watch for few seconds before I realize what she’s doing. Bertie is marching her ass right over to the security guard.
“Stop,” I holler, leaving my bag at my feet and walking as fast as I can, which is slow as shit, especially on the slick sidewalk. The last thing I need to do is fall on my ass.
“Is there a problem?” The towering guard with salt and pepper hair joins the conversation.
“No,” I blurt out.
He rests his hand on his hip, near his gun, not believing me. I don’t blame him with the look of exasperation on Bertie’s face and her swollen eyes. The entire scene doesn’t look good at all.
“Go on.” He sounds annoyed.
“My car’s battery is dead, and we were just troubleshooting here,” I offer, knowing I just signed away my freedom to Bertie.
Bertie darts an eyebrow up. “Yeah, I’m just going to give him a lift. I was going to see if you had jumper cables.”
“Well, I don’t,” he says, taking his hand off his hip and relaxing a tick. “Do you two know each other?”
Bertie nods. “Long-time friends.”
I control the snort desperate to escape from me.
“Well, you two travel safe.” He goes back to his post under a large awning, avoiding the snowfall. Bertie and I weren’t as smart; we were now covered in a thick layer of snow.
We don’t exchange any more words as I follow Bertie to her car. I do my best knocking off all the snow before taking my seat, embarrassed how long it takes me to get settled in and buckled up. I glance in the back seat without thinking, spotting the bright yellow booster seat and random stuffed animals. There’s so much I don’t know about Bertie. She made it damn obvious I don’t deserve to, either, and I can’t argue.
Bertie grips her steering wheel, staring straight forward. “You never told Jessie the truth about us.”
I flop my head back on the headrest, letting out a loud exhale. “No, I didn’t.”
“Why?” She continues staring forward, showing no emotions.
“Sounds ridiculous now, but I was protecting you. I never wanted it to get back to you.”
She snorts at that. “Bethany made sure I knew.”
“I know it doesn’t matter, but I’ve beat myself up over it for years.”
“I know,” she whispers. “I really wish you would’ve told me back then. I think it’s something we could have worked through. I may have been absorbed in my studies, but I wasn’t blind, Cody. I knew how she was.”
“Doesn’t make it right.” I roll my head to study her, but she’s clutching her cards in a firm grip, revealing nothing.
“No, it doesn’t.” She wipes a stray tear from under her eyes and finally glances at me. The pain that is obviously ripping her in half torments me. “Cody, you died. Everything flashed before my eyes. I’ve never been so scared in my life. If I’m telling the truth, I’m still rattled.”
I reach over and grab her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Bertie, it’s not your fault. None of it is, and it’s killing me you’re sitting here beating yourself up over any of this.”
She offers me a gentle smile, clutching my hand. “Do you think we can start over?”
I freeze, knocked down with a tornado of shock. A miracle has been placed before me, one that I knew would never happen. I nod then clear my throat. “Yeah, I’d give anything for that.”
“No need to give anything.” She squeezes her eyes shut. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I swear the universe is pushing us back into each other’s lives. Me being put on your surgery, you nearly dying, and now this storm. I think we better listen to what the higher powers are telling us.”
“Thank you, Bertie, thank you so much. I’ll be the best houseguest and friend you could ever ask for. No leaving the toilet seat up and I’ll always do a courtesy flush.”
This gains a giggle from her, lightening the mood. “Always the gentlemen.”
“Now can you start the car? Because I’m freezing the family jewels off.”
“Cody Sterling, you haven’t changed a bit have you?” she asks, turning the key to start her car. Music blares on the highest volume as cold air blasts me in the face.
“Jesus.” I turn down the air while Bertie lowers the volume of the radio. I reach over and turn the radio up a bit and wink at her. “Nice song.”
We sing every word to “Fast Car” on the short drive to her place.
Chapter 9
Bertie
I manage to give Cody the short tour of my home and get all his stuff settled in before Nell and Cody burst through the door. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t have the chance to give either of them a heads up. Nell has never been one for being subtle. I cringe, thinking about the train wreck that’s about to go down.
“Mom!” Cody squeals as she flies down the hall. “Second day and I didn’t have to flip my card. I ignored everything mean people said. Oh, and at the learning center, I even passed a test and got candy.”
Cody rattles on and on. I let her get everything out, praise her, and then scoop her up in my arms. “Hey, I need to tell you and Nell something.”
“I’m in the kitchen,” Nell hollers. “You don’t have shi—crap for food.”
Even after years of being around Cody, Nell still catches herself cursing all the time.
I round the corner. “Okay, listen up, girls. We have a house guest.”
Nell drops the jar of pickles onto the counter. “You, we, what?”
“Who, Mom?” Cody inquisitively stares at me, running her tiny fingers through my messy hair.
I clear my throat. “My friend was going home today, but the snowstorm closed down the interstate and…”
Cody, the sinfully sexy man, rounds the corner at the same exact moment. Nell’s mouth falls open, and Cody wiggles in my arm.
Cody smirks, limping into the room. He’s doing really well as far as his recovery but still has lots of PT to get through.
“You got me.” He raises his hands in surrender.
“Come meet my dog!” Cody wiggles out of my arms, racing towards the yapping, high-pitched barks from Scotty.
Cody follows like a diligent little soldier. I make a mental note to talk to her about letting Cody rest.
“What the hell is going on?” Nell hisses.
I lean a hip on the counter, crossing my arms, ready for this battle. “He was going to stay in a hotel until the interstate opened back up. He can’t be by himself. He needs care.”
“Okay.” She overexaggerates the word, urging me to go on.
“So I invited him here.” I shrug. “Actually forced him here. It’s the least I can do.”
“You don’t owe him anything, Bertie. I have no idea why you have that messed-up idea bottled up in you. No freaking idea.”
“I don’t owe him anything, but I want him here, Nell. I’m sorry if you don’t understand that. He needs help. Yes, we have a past, but I damn well know he’d do the same for me if I was in the same situation.”
“And exactly how are you going to help him when you work minimum…” she drags out the last word, “…forty hours a week?”
“I have that figured out.”
She shakes her head, still reeling in shock. “Be careful.”
I’m grateful she’s too focused on lecturing me and doesn’t ask about my plan.
“I lost my best friend for nearly a year last time he was in your life, Bertie. You were so hurt and curled up in yourself. You can’t do that this time. You have a daughter.”
“Nell.” Her name comes out in a warning tone. “If you think I’d ever do anything to put my daughter at risk, then I think you need to leave.”
“Stop.” She walks over to me, wrapping me up in a hug. “It came out wrong. I’m an ass. I should’ve said just don’t get hurt again.”