Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“What are we studying?” he asks.
“Labor, delivery, and postpartum assessment checklists. I’m getting tested in the field on Monday and I need to make sure I remember everything I have to check for and monitor.”
“How’s it going in the obstetrics unit?”
“I like it a lot. It’s fast-paced, but I like that.”
The boys take their food to the basement and Magnus waits until I make a plate to get food for himself.
“How was your week?” I ask him.
“I should say it was good, I guess. That’s what people say. But it kind of sucked.”
“How come?”
He meets my eyes over the island. “I didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked, but mostly it was stress about my sister.”
“What kind of stress?”
He finishes loading up his plate, coming to sit across from me at the kitchen table before he answers.
“Elin’s three years younger than me; she’s twenty-eight. She was in a bad car accident when she was twenty and she has a TBI.”
“Oh, Magnus.” I gently squeeze the top of his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. It’s been a rough road. Elin was always athletic. She loved climbing and swimming. She was just getting into triathlons when the accident happened.”
Traumatic brain injuries can be mild or severe. It sounds like Elin’s has taken a lot from her.
“She rehabbed in Sweden for years. My mom lives about two hours away from that facility, so she was there with her often. But Elin was frustrated with her lack of progress. The TBI affected everything, physically and mentally. She’s got the heart and the will to work as hard as she has to to get better, but her body and her mind ...”
“It’s so fucking hard.”
He nods. “So we moved her to a place in Berlin. They do more intensive therapy. Elin’s happier there. She was able to walk with assistance and her speech was improving with therapy. But this week ...” He shakes his head. “The doctors said she didn’t have a stroke, but she’s lost her speech gains. She’s angry and depressed.”
“That has to be hard for your mom.”
“Yeah. And I have to keep playing hockey. I haven’t seen her since June.”
I push my plate aside, not caring about eating any more. “Do your teammates know? Does Noel?”
He shakes his head. “No, and I don’t want them to. I don’t mean to be a bummer. You asked me how I am and it just came out.”
“Never say that. I won’t tell anyone, and I’m always here to listen if it helps.”
He hasn’t touched his food either. His gaze is locked with mine, a lock of hair covering one of his eyes as he says, “Everything about being near you helps.”
12
Magnus
* * *
I want to kiss her. All I can think about is brushing her hair over her shoulder and cupping her face in my hands so I can kiss her and make the rest of the world disappear.
But the sound of feet pounding on the stairs makes us both lean back a little. Blair clears her throat and squares her shoulders.
Coop opens the basement door, goes to the counter to get some napkins, and then goes back down without another word.
“We can study while we eat,” she says. “If we can manage to not get wing sauce all over my notes.”
She goes into another room and returns with a notebook, setting it beside me. “These are the things I have to know by heart.”
“Okay.” I read her neat cursive handwriting. “What are the things you need to check in a postpartum assessment?”
“Breasts, uterus, bladder, bowel, lochia, blood clots, perineum. And keep monitoring for hemorrhage.” She gives me a quick wink. “Sexiest Friday night ever, right?”
I don’t let my eyes roam as I say, “Honestly, very sexy. Best Friday night I’ve had in many years.”
Movement near my plate catches my eye and I turn to see Dong, who has just jumped up onto the table and is heading for my plate.
“No, Dong.” Blair wipes off her hands and starts to stand up, but I scoop the cat up by its midsection and set it on the floor.
I look down at the notebook, about to ask her another question when she says, “Fuck studying. Tell me more about your sister.”
A smile tugs on my lips. “Tell me something about you first. We can go back and forth.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Is the boys’ father part of their lives?”
Her shoulders sink slightly. “No. He took off before Coop even had a chance to know who he was. Eli doesn’t really remember him, either.”
“How would you feel if he tried to come back?”
“Ha.” She doesn’t sound amused. “He won’t. But if he did? I don’t know ... angry over my boys having to know he exists and doesn’t want to see them.”
“Would you let him see them?”