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Chapter 13
Ava slept most of Saturday. She got up occasionally to drink something and take aspirin, but that was all. Watching television was out of the question because her head hurt. By late afternoon, she got out of bed to use the bathroom. She checked her phone and saw that she had missed two phone calls from Xander. She called her voicemail.
“Sweetheart, I thought you would answer since it’s Saturday. Lidia and Brett are both awake now. The doctor thinks that if they keep progressing, they can be out of the hospital by next week. Please call me so we can discuss things.”
“Ava, where are you? I thought you would at least call me back since it’s been hours. I need to talk to you about something. Please call me.”
She dialedhis number and hoped her voice would hold. She didn’t want him to know she was sick. He had enough to worry about without having to worry about her too. The phone rang three times before she heard his deep timbre voice on the other end.
“Ava, where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you all day.”
“I’ve been busy,” her voice cracking and sounding nasal.
“Are you sick? You don’t sound good.”
“Yes, I’m not feeling well, but I’m resting.”
“I wish I was there to take care of you.” He didn’t know how much she was in agreement. He always had catered to her every need when she was sick.
“I have some news and let me speak before you say anything. Lidia and Brett are probably being discharged next week. They’re going to need someone to assist them around the house. They cannot afford an aide twenty-four hours a day.”
Ava could see where this was going and it made her feel overwhelmingly disappointed.
“They have asked if I can stay and assist them until at least one of them can get around. I have agreed. Brett has no family, and my mother is not in the best of health right now. I think I would have to be here for at least two or three months.” He suddenly stopped talking waiting for her to say something.
She sighed loudly. “It’s not the best scenario, but we have been apart for four years. What’s another three months? Maybe I can visit you if you aren’t too busy taking care of them.”
Xander agreed that three months was nothing compared to the four years they had been apart. He promised her that he would make it up to her once he got back to Manhattan. He hung up the phone telling her he loved her.
Ava lay back in bed looking at the ceiling. She was upset, but she knew that arguing with Xander was the wrong thing to do. They would make their relationship work long distance. They were going to do that anyway until he had gotten things squared away in Saratoga. Now it was just a matter of three thousand more miles and several states between them.
She took comfort knowing that eventually, they would be together all the time. It would give her time to break the news to her family and let them know that she wanted to be with Xander for the rest of her life.
She decided to get up to take a shower hoping that the hot water would help her sinuses. She couldn’t take any time off from work since she had taken so much already. Tomorrow was Sunday, and she needed to go back in whether she was well or not. She turned on the shower as hot as she could get it. The steam filled the bathroom, and she breathed it in. She wasn’t sure what happened, but she stepped into the stall and fell.
She might have passed out from her sickness or the heat of the shower. She came to and noticed a stream of blood on her forearm that mixed with the water as it went down the drain. She pulled herself up and turned off the shower then used a towel to stem the flow of blood. After five minutes the blood continued to stream. Ten minutes and it wasn’t stopping even with pressure and holding it above her head. She wasn’t sure who to call.
Her aunt and uncle were still in California with the Wilders. She needed someone close to come and help her. She didn’t want to call an ambulance. The person in closest proximity to her was Tim. She dialed his number hoping he wouldn’t ignore it because he was still angry at her. Unfortunately, it went to voicemail, and she hung up. Minutes later, he called her back.
“Ava, what’s up?” She could tell his voice was strained.
“Tim, thank God you called me back. I fell in the shower, and I’m bleeding. Can you take me to the hospital?”
“What? Are you kidding me?”
“Please, I’m not joking.”
She heard his door slam on the other end of the phone. He hailed a cab and kept her on the phone while he was on his way over. In the meantime, she dried herself as best she could and put on sweatpants and a t-shirt. It was complicated because each time she moved, the towel wrapped around her arm shifted.
The lobby phone rang, and she told the front desk to send Tim up immediately. He didn’t wait for the elevator but ran up the fire stairs instead. He was out of breath by the time he got to her door.
“Come on. I have the cab waiting downstairs. You need stitches so let’s hurry.” He picked her purse off the foyer table and she let him lead her to the elevator. He jammed his finger on the L button hoping it would get down to the lobby quickly. He ushered her out of the building and into the waiting cab while directing the driver to the nearest hospital.
On the way, he kept pressure on the wound with the towel and tried to smooth her wet hair out of her face.
“Ava, you’re burning up. You are sick aren’t you?”
She gave him a weak smile, “I wasn’t lying,” she softly said.
