I chewed my lip as I watched Walker with the nurse. He smiled at her. Something he wasn’t doing with me. Walker laughed when she made a joke. He barely spoke to me, let alone laughed. When she took his hand in hers Walker smiled at her again.
“Have a wonderful night, Walker. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”
“Unless I get out of here.” Walker said.
I pulled out my phone. I sent Courtney a message to tell her I was at the hospital.
As the nurse walked by she smiled. “Good night,” she said with a wink.
I smiled back and said, “Good night. Enjoy your evening.”
Turning around. I caught Walker staring at me. I smiled, but he looked away.
“Walker, um, can we talk?”
“We’ve been talking every day, what makes today different?”
I approached his bed. “This,” I pointed between us. “What’s happening here? You’re treating me like a stranger. Like I’m a bother to you.”
He stared out the window. “Walker! I deserve to be treated better than this.”
He snapped his head back to me. “Exactly, Liza. You deserve someone who can actually do the things he promised you. I’m not that person.”
I sucked in a breath. “What? What do you mean?”
His eyes filled with tears as he looked into my eyes. “Our dreams. The dreams we talked about the night before I feel off that stupid horse. What if I can’t…What if I’m not able to give you all of that?”
My mouth fell open. “All I want, all I’ve ever wanted is you. I don’t care about that other stuff. I care about you. You’re walking. You’ll make a full recovery.”
He shook his head. “I just need time, Liza. I need time.”
“Time for what? Please tell me what’s happening here, Walker, because I thought you loved me. I thought you wanted…us.”
A sob escaped my throat as he slowly looked into my eyes.
The door to his room opened and his doctor began talking as I wiped my eyes.
“Well, Walker. Looks like you’re heading home tomorrow. You’ll want to use a cane for a bit until you feel your strength building back up. We’ve got you all set for outpatient rehab. I still can’t believe how lucky you were, son. Those muscles should start feeling better every day with the rehab.”
I looked out the window and could see Walker’s reflection. He was watching me. He nodded when the doctor said something, then looked at me. I twisted the double-heart ring on my finger, trying to convince myself that he was just confused and scared. That he didn’t mean to push me away.
The doctor stayed a few more minutes, then shook Walker’s hand.
“I’d say you’ll be out of here around one tomorrow afternoon so let your folks now. I’ll see you in the morning.”
The doctor looked at me as if noticing me for the first time since he’d walked in. He gave me a polite smile before excusing himself and heading out the door.
I took in a shaky breath. I attempted to plaster on a smile for Walker. “I’m glad you’re leaving tomorrow,” I said.
He nodded. “Yeah, me too. Maybe I’ll feel more myself when I get home.”
I nodded as Courtney and Reed both came into the room. Everyone started making plans for bringing Walker home.
Courtney smiled at Walker, then me. “Everything will be okay once we get Walker back home,” she said.
I gave her a weak smile, as did Walker. If only I believed those words.
I SAT ON the trucks’ tailgate as I watched Walker. He still wasn’t acting normal, and he only talked to me when he had to. Most of the time, there was nothing but silence.