Free Love Immortal by Linnea Hall Page A

I’ve been in bed for a week, I’m
so tired I can’t think straight.”
    His uncle laughed.
    “I cringe every time I hear someone coming
through the door,” he continued, then paused wondering how much he
wanted to share with his uncle, or more specifically, how much he
wanted to share about Jewell. He decided a little bit of
information wouldn’t hurt. “But there is one nurse. Her name is
Jewell. She comes and sits with me every day. I really look forward
to her visits.”
    His uncle made a small grunt as he assessed
Collin’s eyes. He knew the look, he’d had it himself once. It was a
look of longing, of unconditional love. “Let’s see what I can do
about getting you out of here,” he said as he pushed himself up
from the only chair in Collin’s room. He was out the door before
Collin could reply.
    In about an hour, his uncle came back in,
grinning like a Cheshire Cat. “It’s all taken care of. An ambulance
will be here in a bit to take you to a small, private continuing
care center where you can heal. It wasn’t too hard to convince them
to let me take you, Dr. Babineaux was a big help.”
    “How long?”
    “How long what? Until you can leave? Don’t
get your knickers in a bunch. The ambulance should be here in a
couple of hours and then we’ll be on our way.”
    Collin glanced at the clock. It was just
before one in the afternoon. It would be several hours until Jewell
had promised to come by. He had to see her before he left. He had
to let her know that he would be back for her. Collin didn’t even
know Jewell’s phone number, or where she lived. “Can we wait until
after six?”
    “What, is the food so good here that you want
to stay for another meal?”
    “No. I really wanted to say good-bye to
Jewell. She’s been so nice; I just wouldn’t feel right leaving
without saying something to her.” He could feel his throat tighten
at the thought of not seeing her again.
    His uncle assessed the emotion in his
nephew’s voice, appraised the look in his eyes. He hated what he
was doing, hated to hurt his nephew like this, but he knew it was
better this way; for both of them, Collin and Jewell. Before they
got too close, before their feelings could really grow. This was a
relationship that wouldn’t work. “Sorry kid. We have to leave when
the ambulance gets here. I’m going to go check on the
arrangements.”
    Collin watched his uncle leave. He could feel
the tears building. He was embarrassed that he was acting like
this, crying over some girl he had just met. He rubbed angrily at
his eyes. But Jewell was different. Somehow, he felt as if he’d
known her forever. It was like waking up one day and realizing that
you’re in love with the girl next door. The girl you grew up with,
that you ate mud pies with, that you threw rocks at, the one that
you chased around the playground at school making kissing noises,
your best friend.
    After a while his uncle returned with a
couple of orderlies. They transferred him to a gurney and pushed
him through the hospital towards the exit. Even though Collin knew
there was no chance that he would see her, his eyes searched
anyway. If he could just see her one more time, let her know that
he loved her. He didn’t care if she didn’t feel the same way about
him; he just had to let her know.
    The orderlies loaded the gurney into the
ambulance, his uncle climbing in behind. He was facing the wrong
way to look out the door, but he could hear the doors on the
ambulance slam, closing the doors shut on any possible future he
might have had with Jewell.
    * * *
    Jewell’s father was home when she came in; he
wasn’t working today. He was watching something on the television,
probably golf – how he could watch that game was beyond her.
“Jewell, is that you?”
    “No dad, it’s armed robbers, come to kill you
and steal your twelve inch tube TV.”
    Her father laughed. He didn’t watch a lot of
TV so he didn’t see any reason to buy anything bigger. As far as