Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

BECCA

Becca was pulling into the parking lot of the hospital closest to the American Airlines Center after listening to Sports Radio, where they made an announcement that caused her heart to skip a beat.

Travis Giroux is being hauled to the emergency room to have someone check his injuries.

I should say so, Jim – did you see the amount of blood pouring from that kid’s face?

There’s a reason the players wear helmets.

And even then, sometimes the protective gear is just not enough…

I agree – and Thibodeaux is out the remainder of the game, possibly the season depending on what Giroux’s status is. If he’s got a broken nose and just bleeds like a stuck pig, he’ll be back. But if the skull is fractured or there is a brain injury, that could be an entirely different matter altogether.

“Ohhh my gosh… brain injury?” Becca wailed, nearly rear-ending another car on the highway as she drove frantically and took the next exit. Her phone dinged, causing her to almost hit another vehicle as she looked at the screen distractedly.

Allo, Rebecca – this is Travis’s teammate, Theo. His uncle is meeting him at the emergency room and he wanted you to know he was okay.

Which hospital?

And let out her breath in a massive sigh of relief, realizing she’d guessed correctly. Tears collected in her eyes as she stared at her phone, second-guessing herself. The last time she’d been at the hospital, her father had passed away, and that was such a hard thing to experience despite it being years ago. She could still smell the disinfectant and knew deep within her heart that she was going to face this ‘beast’ head-on because everything within her was screaming to be near her friend’s side.

Gathering up her courage, Becca made her way into the emergency room, looking for any sort of sports uniform or indication that Travis was there. The only signs were a few cameras and reporters circling the reception desk like a bunch of vultures.

“Excuse me,” she mumbled, trying to get one of the nurse’s attention. She was in the process of telling the cameraman to back away.

“Sir, get back – please – and shut off that thing. We cannot have you violating H.I.P.P.A. or recording anyone out here. It’s a violation of privacy, and you need to take it outside.” The woman looked irate and kept pointing at the doorway, griping at him, only for her eyes to land on Becca. “What do you want?”

“I’m looking for Travis Giroux,” Becca began – and every camera swung in her direction as several lights turned on in a flash. She put her hands up in front of her face to block the glare, hearing the nurse yelling now.

“Everyone out! Honey, everyone here is looking for him – and claims they are related to him, dating him, or work for him. Unless you’ve got some proof or can whip out a birth certificate, NOBODY IS GOING BACK THERE!” the nurse roared angrily.

In the silence that followed, she heard a single voice – a man’s voice… and it wasn’t Travis.

“Becca?”

She turned and saw an older man standing there at the doorway, looking awfully concerned with red-rimmed eyes. Just as she was about to open her mouth to reply, one of the reporters flung up her arm and hollered, “I’m Becca!”

“The heck you are,” Becca snapped, not caring that the blinding lights were now focused in her direction once more as she walked past all of them toward the older man. “Do you need to see my license?”

“No,” the man chuckled. “Travis wondered if you would know what happened, so I guess you were watching the game, or Theo texted you. I’m his Uncle Davy. It’s nice to meet you, young lady – I just wish it was under better conditions.”

“Me too,” she replied immediately, grabbing his arm as they walked through the automatic doors and then apologized. “I’m sorry. I hate hospitals. Is Travis okay?”

“Let’s hold off talking for a moment,” Davy muttered, pointing over his shoulder where the automatic doors were closing. She saw two security officers at the end of the hallway, standing guard at a door. “Travis is down there being evaluated right now and in a lot of pain. He took a puck straight to the face, and I’m thinking it looks worse than what it is, but I’m no doctor.”

“Oh my gosh,” she breathed and realized he stopped walking, looking at her with a firm kindness to his weathered face.

“I need you to be upbeat and don’t start bawling the moment you see him. There’s a lot of blood, and he’s swelling already; are you up to this?”

“Yes,” she whispered, steeling herself for whatever lay behind that door. A moment later, Travis’s uncle was walking her in and making small talk like it was nothing.

“Hey, kiddo, look what I found roaming the hallways,” Davy said easily, and Becca got a glimpse of Travis. Sure enough, his upper lip was swollen and torn from the impact. His nose looked broken, and he was terribly groggy, turning slightly on the hospital gurney before tensing.

“Nooo,” Travis groaned, and it sounded more like a drawn out ‘moe’, causing the heart rate monitor to start beeping frantically. Becca moved to his side and took his hand in hers, almost like it was instinctive.

“Hey,” she crooned, smiling tearfully at him. “I couldn’t wait for our date, so I thought I would swing by and say ‘hello.’ What can I say? I’m impatient when I’ve got some guy going out of his way to charm me all the time – besides, I hear this place has the best coffee in the world and even better company.”

He started to say something and winced, swallowing slowly as his drugged eyes met hers.

“Shhh,” she whispered, leaning forward to brush his hair from his forehead. “You need to rest and let them take care of you.”

“Torry… Ecca…” he breathed, trying not to move his mouth – and she nodded, trying not to cry. He was going to end up with stitches for sure. They would need to set his nose and would probably have two black eyes – if he didn’t lose his front teeth. Seeing his form sliding across the ice had really done a number on her. Looking at him now, she kept seeing that charming, flirty smile when he’d first said hello to her in the stands, remembering all his text messages and phone calls fondly.

“Do you mind if I stay here for a bit and keep you company?”

“Ew ture?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” she smiled and saw Davy bringing a chair over to that side of the room. “Davy and I are going to have a nice little chat about all the embarrassing things you did when you were a child – and you’ll be helpless to stop us. ”

And treasured his pained laugh, before he winced again.

“Wip… my tace… awtul…”

“I know your lip hurts. I’m sorry I made you laugh. I just wanted you to feel better,” she hesitated guiltily, pulling away and releasing his hand – only to have him grab her wrist.

“Tay…”

“I’m staying,” she smiled, feeling her lips wobble precariously at the fear in his eyes – and leaned down to whisper in his ear. “See, when you treat someone like a princess, it’s pretty hard to get rid of them. I hope you understand what a can of worms you’ve opened, my friend. I kinda like the attention from you.”

Feeling brave, she dropped a brief kiss on his temple, feeling his hand give hers a gentle squeeze as she backed away.

“Guh,” he tried to say and hesitated. “Guuuhhd.”

She sat down in the chair beside the hospital bed, holding his hand still as Davy looked at the two of them.

“This is downright cozy – even if there are other places I’d rather be,” Davy teased emotionally. “Miss Becca, how do you take your coffee, sweetie? I’ll go get us a cup and give you a few minutes alone.”

“Typical,” she replied nervously, silently reciting her usual order of a pumpkin spice latte with extra whip cream because I’m a total Starbucks addict? “A little sugar, a little creamer, and black like my soul.”

“Ha! I doubt that if you are putting up with this golden boy.”

“Ah… tunny,” Travis volunteered, attempting to mock his uncle, making the older man laugh. Obviously, between his reaction, her brother’s stories, and Davy’s reaction – Travis was not what anyone would consider a ‘golden’ boy for quite some time. Then again, was Becca ever shocked at some of the gossip about sports players in the media? Who was dating who, So-and-so was dating this starlet, who was getting di vorced, who was sleeping around, etc.… maybe that was what made her so nervous about trusting him because she was expecting the worst and hadn’t found it yet.

Davy left the room to go for the coffee and Becca sat there silently beside Travis, who closed his eyes – obviously exhausted from all of this. She simply held his hand, unsure what to say or do… and realized it didn’t matter.

None of it did.

She just needed to be here for him, and she wanted him to know she was. Life wasn’t always fun and exciting. It was raw, humbling, and humiliating at times, and pain always showed their vulnerability. They hadn’t even been on a date yet, and the panic in his eyes told her he was scared she’d brush him off. A broken nose could change his appearance, but only slightly. If his jaw was broken, he could need surgery. His lip would obviously need stitches, and the good ol’ ‘hockey players have no front teeth’ myth could actually be very real.

And she didn’t care.

So long as Travis was okay, they could roll with all of it – and she knew it. Deep down in her soul, she knew everything would be okay, somehow. The doctor entered the hospital room not two minutes later and nodded at her.

“Mrs. Giroux?”

“No, I’m just a friend.”

“Ah, well, okay. Mr. Giroux, do you have someone here to speak for you – we need to discuss your X-rays and treatment,” and she felt Travis’s eyes on her before he uttered her name brokenly.

“Ecca?”

“Me? Oh Travis, um…” and saw the fear in his face and the way he was trying to keep from moving his mouth. “Yes. Hi. You can talk to me, and I’ll speak for him,” she whispered nervously. “His uncle is here too, so the both of us can help Travis.”

“Sounds good to me,” the doctor shrugged, almost in a cold, matter-of-fact fashion. “I’m going to stitch up his lip and set his nose, but yo u are a very lucky man. I expected to see the orbital bone fractured or at least the maxilla, but both are intact. I see a mild concussion, which is not unexpected from the impact. You’ll need to take it easy and see your dentist. You could still lose those front teeth due to trauma, but that is for the dentist to decide.”

“So just stitches, set his nose, and rest?”

“In a nutshell – yes.”

“Oh, thank heavens.”

“It looks worse than what it is – and with all that swelling it’s traumatizing, I’m sure. I’m going to keep him overnight to make sure nothing else is going on, and we’ll get some icepacks on there to help keep the swelling down.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“Do you have any questions, Mr. Giroux?”

Travis tried to make a noise and was obviously struggling to form the word, flinched and looked at Becca, helpless.

“He’s in a lot of pain – can you do the stitches first?” she said, speaking up and saw his grateful look as he squeezed her hand gently in a silent communication before she continued. “Some salve for his lips so they don’t dry out – and plenty of painkillers and ice packs for when you set his nose. We need ‘the works’ so Travis can relax and sleep this off.”

The doctor nodded, chuckled, and patted Travis on the foot.

“Don’t you worry – we’ll make sure you don’t feel a thing.”

Less than twenty minutes later, they shuffled Becca out of the hospital room so they could suture his lip. She stood up, brushed his hair back from his forehead, and spoke to Travis.

“They’re going to get you all fixed up and feeling much better. I’ll be in the hallway with your uncle. Just let them do their magic, and I’ll be here when you wake up. ”

He nodded as a tear streaked down his cheek.

“Shhh,” she whispered emotionally, wiping it away. “We’re going to get you some really good drugs so the pain goes away.”

“Uuhhhdly?”

“Huh? Ugly? Oh no, Travis,” she whispered in suddenly understanding. For someone in the limelight, his looks were probably everything and kept him there. She’d seen her friend’s reaction when he skated up to her to say ‘Hi’ at their first meeting. Now that she’d actually knew him, she recognized him on a billboards near the highway. He was worried if his looks were going to run her off – or possibly ruin his career.

“When I look at you, I don’t see any of this – but just my friend in your eyes,” she breathed. “This is just a shell, and the man I’m supposed to be dating is more than just a pretty smile. You said you were my boyfriend, right?”

He made a noise, his Adam’s apple moving as he swallowed, and she nodded.

“Then trust me to be your girlfriend. I’m here, and a little scar isn’t going to scare me off,” she promised. “You’ll be fine and will look almost the same. If it was me, would you leave?”

He slowly shook his head once as he gazed at her. Poor thing , she thought silently. His pupils were large in his eyes telling her he was higher than a kite on painkillers, as they wheeled in a surgical tray with all sorts of needles, syringes, and gauze.

“See you soon – okay?” and kissed his brow once more, trying to reassure him.

Hours later, Travis was sleeping in his hospital bed with his nose braced and bandaged, his lip stitched and also covered with a dressing, with a cooling water mask lying across his face. He honestly looked like the character, ‘ The Man in the Iron Mask’ and would keep t hat opinion to herself forever. He was finally sleeping when the nurse came to check on him and tell them visitation was over for the evening except for one family member.

Davy looked at her and smiled knowingly.

“I am assuming you are staying, so can I bring you some coffee in the morning?”

“You don’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

“I appreciate that, Davy – and anything will do. I’m not worried about my comfort, just his.”

“Which is the only reason I feel comfortable leaving you with my nephew. He’s crazy about you, and I’m starting to think it might be the same.”

“It is,” she whispered nervously.

“Be good, and just try to rest while you can. I’ll see you in the morning, Becca. The security guards will be at the door all night if you need anything at all.”

“Thank you, Davy.”

The older man nodded before leaving the hospital room. Becca just sat there, her mind whirling at how much had happened in the last few hours and the emotions within her. There was so much going on right now, and a part of her wanted to believe that this was all real. That some gorgeous and famous hockey star had singled her out, wanting her to fall for him, but that little voice in her head was saying quite a bit differently. That voice was brutally honest – and she needed to listen to it.

You’re convenient…

He’s trying to get you into bed…

He’s just happy to see you because he’s in a bad spot right now…

Travis was in rough shape.

There was no doubting his injuries, and mentally, she kept seeing his prone body sliding across the ice rink before hitting the wall, completely unconscious. His poor face looked so raw and beaten at what she could see under the bandages. This would heal eventually, and it would take time, but if she allowed herself to fall for him – how long would it take if he broke her heart?

Swallowing, she grasped his hand once more and felt him give hers a faint squeeze.

“Sleep, Travis, and let your body heal. I’ll be here,” she whispered in the silence and heard him make a noise before sighing. He was cognizant of her being there despite the medication. “That’s right, let the drugs work for you and rest.”

Hours later, Becca took her own advice and put her head down on the hospital bed beside his leg, still holding his hand, and managed to fall asleep.

“Becca?”

She lifted her head groggily. The room was dim with a fluorescent light flickering in the distance like some haunted house. She hesitated, trying to place where she was and what was going on. This wasn’t her bed. Was she about to have some guy with a chainsaw run after her, or…

Travis!

“Hey,” she began immediately, pushing her hair out of her face and wiping her chin nervously just in case she drooled. “What’s wrong? What do you need? Do you need a nurse?”

Apparently, the cooling device that they’d put on his face earlier, the medication, and the stitches had helped with some of the swelling. His eyes were darkening like she’d suspected, but he was looking a little bit more like himself despite the bandages.

Infinitesimally so…

“You’re… ‘ere?” he whispered, and she managed to make out the words that had the faint sound of a lisp.

“Of course I am,” she replied gently, squeezing his hand. “I said I would be. ”

“Date… tonight.” The tone of his voice was so dejected, so down, that she couldn’t help the sleepy smile that touched her face as he cracked open his eyes to look at her. “Sorry…”

“You have nothing to apologize about – besides, there is no reason we can’t have chicken broth here together or some orange Jell-O. I mean, while it’s not you showing me around your nerd-cave or,” she heard his halted chuckle and saw him wince, realizing he was trying not to smile because the stitches were pulling at his skin. “Or completely impressing me with your culinary skills – rest assured that our date can still happen.”

“No… kiss,” he whispered hoarsely, caressing her hand and lacing his fingers with hers. “Hate that.”

“You might not have gotten a kiss on the first date anyhow,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood as she glanced at the clock. It was nearly four in the morning. “Besides, you’ve already gotten two on your forehead.”

“Not the same,” he replied, sounding exhausted.

“You should go back to sleep - it’s barely four, and you need to rest.”

“I know,” he muttered. “I can’t go this weekend to meet your family…”

“I already canceled for us,” she replied quickly. She hadn’t, but she would text her brother immediately as soon as Travis was back to resting comfortably.

“You go… have fun,” he uttered, struggling to enunciate the words without hurting himself. Why was he being so chit-chatty when he should be resting, she thought silently.

“There is nothing more fun than teasing someone who cannot laugh right now,” she said softly, hoping he realized she was playing with him. “Why would I leave your side?”

“Why… ‘tay?”

Those words hung between them as she hesitated, meeting his soulful eyes. He was having a rough patch and had to be worried about his job, his physical condition, getting better, just everything – including im pressing his girlfriend. You didn’t have to be a vain person to wonder if you would look the same after something significant happened. That was a valid concern for anyone but more so for someone who was on television and had endorsements all based on his skills on the ice – and his looks.

“I like you,” she admitted quietly in a low voice, not looking away from him. “I don’t think I’m ready for any earth-shaking declaration, but I do like you… a lot. Can we leave it at that?”

“I like you too,” he nodded slowly and winced. “A lot.”

Becca got up from her chair, despite the orange tint of antibacterial used to clean his face when they did the stitches, she leaned forward and dropped an awkward kiss on his chin, causing him to chuckle slightly as he gave her this wry look. That expression only seemed to be more exaggerated by the bandages taped to his skin for the injured nose.

“I can’t kiss your nose or your lips, but maybe your chin is the next best thing – for now,” she whispered tenderly, touching his cheek gently. “Please rest… for me?”

“Stay?”

“Yes, I’m staying.”

“Tell your brother… I can’t wait to meet him.” She smiled at him, nodding as his eyes sagged closed once more. Yeah, it would take some time, but he would be fine. He could meet her family some other time when they were both ready for the fiasco that would be involved. Ten minutes later, she texted her oldest brother, Jason.

Hey, I’m not going to be there this weekend after all. My friend that I wanted to bring with me is injured. Can we do this in a week or two?

You realize what time it is?

Usually, a text message at this hour is never good – but considering your alive, I’m not going to call your phone and start yelling.

That’s good because I wouldn’t respond well, and we both know it. Relax, Jason – I was trying to be nice and let you know ASAP that I’m not going to make it this weekend. #respect

I appreciate that. So, is it true, then?

What?

Matthew blabbed that you were bringing home some hockey player to meet us. Is it true? Are things serious?

For me, it is…

Becca swallowed as tears stung her eyes, admitting something so personal to Jason. He might be a jerk or a grump, but she wanted his approval just like any other younger sibling. He was always larger than life to her and that still was the case.

I really like him Jason, and I hope all of you do too.

As long as he treats you well and makes you happy… Now, can I get some sleep? I’ve got two hours before my day starts.

Sorry – love you.

XOXO… ya’ little twerp

Becca chuckled gratefully. That was Jason’s way of saying he loved her and would support her. He was always gruff, roughing around, but when push came to shove – she knew unequivocally he would have her back, even if it came with a bunch of ‘I know better, so listen to me’ comments.