Free A Mended Man (The Men of Halfway House Book 4) by Jaime Reese Page B

towel that barely covered his bits in one hand and a cocked gun in the other was enough to initially terrify the nurse and subsequently trigger a wave of giggles that still lingered in his wake when he walked down the hallway.
    Nancy waved her hand, shooing away his comment. "The nurses love to gossip about you. They think you're the sweetest man to walk the face of the earth the way you watch over him."
    "I've been called a lot of things, sweet isn't one of them."
    "Maybe no one dares call you that to your face."
    "Maybe." Aidan looked up from the laptop screen with a half smile. He liked Nancy. Jessie was always the first patient she checked in on at the start of her shift and the last one before she left the hospital. That scored her some major points in his book.
    A soft knock sounded at the door. Amy entered and walked over to Aidan's table, handing him a super-sized cup. "Extra hot, quad shot, white chocolate mocha. Just the way you like it."
    He took the cup and sipped from the opening in the lid. He'd downed enough of the liquid caffeine fuel in all varieties throughout his life—from the plain, bitter, tasteless tar to the gourmet homegrown beans that shot a jolt of adrenaline straight into a vein. He didn't care if it was straight up caffeine or some fancy-pants blend of java, but for some far-off and silly reason, drinking a blended coffee always reminded him of those days when Jessie would bring him one of Cam's latte art drinks from the diner so long ago. It was silly, but anything to keep that connection with something Jessie-related was all that mattered. "Mmm. Perfect." He reached over to his wallet.
    Amy waved him off. "Gift from the nurses. We're all anxiously waiting for Dr. Green's news because we all want to meet Jessie," she finished with a blush then turned to leave the room.
    Aidan took a sip of the liquid heaven and moaned, sneaking a glance at Nancy who watched him with a smile.
    "See, you're sweet."
    "Only because I'll be on a sugar and caffeine high after this," he said with a quiet laugh.
    Nancy finished making her notations in Jessie's chart then exited the room.
    He stole another glance at Jessie, making a mental note of the unchanged place markers. He blew out an exasperated breath. Soon, hopefully soon. He could only keep his shit together for so long before something would give. He glanced up at the wall clock and still had a few minutes to spare before the scheduled call. He pulled out the files for the two cases they were ready to discuss and made a few notes. Maybe things would be timed perfectly. Maybe he'd wrap up the call and the doctor would arrive with the test results and finally give him the news he'd been anxiously waiting to hear for two weeks. He could hope. After all, without hope to tether him to his sanity, he would have lost it long ago.
     
     
    * * * *
     
     
    Aidan jerked his head upward after having nodded off. He rubbed his face and leaned forward, digging his elbow into the bed again and resting his head in his hand. He willed Jessie to move. Something. Anything. He laid the palm of his other hand against Jessie's fingers and tucked his thumb under Jessie's palm, hoping to detect the slightest movement if Jessie's fingers twitched at all.
    Dr. Green had stopped by for his visit and delivered the news they had anxiously awaited. Finally, they were weaning Jessie off the meds. They'd tested his breathing and all went well enough to finally remove the breathing tube. Now, here they were, days later, and still nothing other than the unnerving silence now that the whooshing and rhythmic clicking of the ventilator was gone.
    He cleared the sleep from his throat. "Do you remember the first time we met?" he asked, not expecting to hear an answer but still not losing hope that Jessie would jump into the conversation.
    He hated the way his voice echoed in the solitary room. He usually couldn't handle the heart monitor beeps reminding him of how much time he took to compose