Page 170 of Shadowing You

But he didn’t care what Dr. Wright would say. He wanted his wife beside him. The ache from his bruises was nothing next to the one he felt when she was gone.

He’d been telling everyone he was fine for days, and he’d believed it. But now, attempting to line up the events since he’d awakened Thursday morning in the hospital, he only came back with fragments—a hand on his shoulder, a rail lowered, names offered and gone before he could hold them. Wright men with jaws that looked so much like his own. Women who teared up and didn’t seem to care that he saw. They’d introduced themselves and then talked over him because he couldn’t keep up his end of any conversation.

Mei Lin had talked with them as if she’d known them her whole life. She’d laughed with Ethan’s cousins and his half sisters and their…husbands? Fiancés? He couldn’t remember.

Mom had flown in on Ethan’s first full day in the hospital, which would have been…yesterday? No, the day before. She’d fussed over him, fixing his blanket, tidying his table, reading the chart she couldn’t possibly understand.

She’d met the family that wasn’t hers, and they’d been kind to her, kinder than they’d had to be. When the room filled up with Wrights, Mom had disappeared into the hall, pretending she didn’t mind being pushed aside.

Yesterday, Ethan had told her to go home, that he’d see her soon. She’d kissed his forehead and left. He knew he’d hurt her, but being here with Gavin’s family had to hurt, too, and she had two boys back in Arizona who needed her.

The night before, Ethan had slept soundly for the first time since…since the house on the mountain, when he’d shared a bed with his wife.

His stomach rumbled, and Mei Lin pushed up on one elbow. She glanced at the monitors, his chest, then his face. Whatever she found satisfied her, because she grinned. “Hungry?”

“Starving.”

She slid off the bed and stretched—a beautiful sight. “What sounds good? You didn’t eat the omelet yesterday.”

“French toast.”

“You need protein, young man.”

He chuckled, but a stab of pain had him pressing his hand to his ribs. “Cruel woman, making me laugh.”

“I should get you one of those terrible bars you forced me to eat.”

“A donut would be more soothing on my throat.”

She was smiling as she reached for the little book that held the options. “Pancakes?”

“Yes, please.”

“And bacon, because protein, I think.”

“If you insist.” As if he’d ever turn down bacon.

She placed the order, then disappeared into the bathroom. When she returned a few minutes later, she looked fresh and beautiful. Her cheeks were scrubbed, her hair…

“Did you cut your hair?”

“Brooklynn.” Mei Lin uttered the name as if it explained everything. “It isn’t much different.”

Ethan didn’t know hairstyles from mascara blends—did they blend mascara? But her hair had been a little…ragged before. Now, it was a smidge shorter but trimmed expertly, and the bangs sort of blended with the rest of it.

“It looks good.”

She ran her fingers through the strands and sighed. “It will grow. At least it doesn’t look like someone used a…” She uttered a word in Mandarin, shaking her head. “I don’t know the word for a knife that cuts crops.” She mimed what she meant.

“A machete?” He shook his head. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“It was so bad that Brooklynn took one look at me and insisted. We are in the middle of nowhere, but she found a hairdresser to come here while you slept because it was that bad.”

“You were beautiful before, and you’re beautiful now.”

“Ah. You’re still groggy.” Her eyes sparkled. “I’ll tell the nurses to decrease your painkillers.”

“Don’t you dare. I need all the meds they’ll give me.”