Cory winked once.
Luis smiled. “I knew you’d be okay. You have to rest now.”
Cory winked again.
“Excellent. And from now on, no more flirting between us.”
This time Cory winked twice—fast, stubborn winks.
Luis frowned. “Well, not unless you really, really want me to.”
Cory winked once, a long wink.
Before Luis could respond, the doctor stepped into the room and smiled at Luis. “I hear from his nurse he’s opened his eyes and moved his leg, ahem, among other things.”
Luis smiled and said, “Is this a good sign, doctor?” He needed reassurance from a professional.
The doctor laughed. “If this guy can do what the nurse told me she saw in here a minute ago, I have a feeling he’s going to be fine.”
Chapter Twelve
After they brought Cory out of the induced coma, he started to improve with each passing day. But they didn’t remove the breathing tube right away. The doctors said they wanted to wean him off slowly, in his own time, to keep him stable. He’d suffered multiple internal injuries, serious head trauma, and a few broken bones. Though remaining on the ventilator seemed to infuriate Cory because he couldn’t speak—with two broken arms he couldn’t write—he remained in good spirits and responded to yes and no questions with his eyelids. Cory had been extremely lucky. The doctors said he wouldn’t have any permanent disabilities and he’d be back to normal with a little physical therapy and some time. But still, it wasn’t easy to watch him lying there so helpless and fragile.
Thomas von Klingensmith brought him something new each day he visited. It was as though Cory had become the long-lost son he’d never had. Thomas seemed so thrilled Cory would survive and make a full recovery without any disabilities he even bought him a new iPad so he could read and do whatever he wanted to do on the Internet. It was premature; Cory couldn’t even lift his broken arms to scratch his balls, let alone use a computer or reading device. But Luis knew Thomas meant well, and Luis had seen Cory’s eyes light up when Thomas presented the gift to him.
On certain days, Jasper and Cory’s parents drove to the hospital together. The parents would pick Jasper up at the diner on their way. On the way home, they’d often stop at the diner Jasper’s parents owned for a bite to eat. Jase worked out all the financial arrangements with the hospital. Whatever Thomas’s insurance company wouldn’t cover, he promised he’d take care of himself. He even signed forms to validate it, making certain Cory would receive the best care the hospital could offer.
In the days that followed, everything seemed to be going to so well. The doctors were starting to discuss removing the breathing tube completely and they were hoping to get Cory discharged before the end of August. But then one afternoon there was an unexpected, unexplainable setback. It happened right after Darius had paid a quick visit to Cory.
Jase and Luis were downstairs in the hospital cafeteria with Hunter having lunch. Darius had asked Luis if he could go up to see Cory for a minute before they all went back to Cider Mill Farm. The new swimming pool had just been completed and Jase and Hunter wanted to take advantage of the warm weather. Though Luis and Jase refused to do any landscaping or finishing touches around the pool, preferring to wait until Cory was released so he could handle all that, the pool was ready for swimming and Hunter couldn’t wait to jump in and splash around with Camp. As it turned out, Camp loved the water as much as Hunter.
A half hour later, Luis left Jase and Hunter in the cafeteria so he could retrieve Darius and tell Cory he’d see him tomorrow. But when he walked into the ICU, he saw Darius at the end of the hall standing outside Cory’s room, biting his fist.
“What happened?” Luis asked, with a stunned voice.
“Is he okay?”
Darius shrugged. “I have no idea. When I left the room, he seemed fine. I think he even smiled at me. He seemed so happy to see me. But on my way out I saw everyone running into his room, so I waited to see what was wrong. They said he stopped breathing. His face turned blue and I think the machines he’s hooked up to weren’t working properly. If it hadn’t been for some nurse passing by his room, no one would have known until they returned to the desk.”
“Jase is downstairs with Hunter,” Luis said. “You can go down now. I’ll find out what happened with Cory.”
Darius sent Luis one of his warm, sincere smiles. “Are you sure? I don’t mind waiting here with you in case something bad happens.”
“I’m fine alone,” Luis said, with a curt tone. “You can leave now.” He knew his voice sounded harsh and blunt. He tried hard to be polite, but for some reason, everything about Darius had started to annoy him, and the last thing he needed was Darius standing by while Cory might be going through another crisis.
“If you need me, I’ll be with Jase and Hunter,” Darius said.
Luis didn’t reply. He turned his back and stepped into Cory’s room to find out what had happened. The doctor was resetting the noisy machines, checking buttons and fiddling around with cords and wires and tubes. It was times like this when Luis wished he knew more about things of this nature.
The nurse had placed a wet cloth on Cory’s forehead. “What’s wrong?” Luis asked.
The nurse shrugged and looked over at the doctor. The doctor stopped working with a cluster of wires and said, “We’re not sure. We think something happened with the breathing tube and the ventilator, but I can’t seem to find anything wrong. I honestly don’t know. One minute he was fine, the next his face was blue and he couldn’t breathe.”
Luis moved closer. When he looked down, he noticed Cory’s eyes were wide open, bulging, as if he was trying to tell them all something important. “Is he going to be okay?”
Luis’s heart was beating faster and there was a lump in his throat.
“He’s fine now,” the doctor said. “We gave him a strong sedative to calm him down. His heart rate went up to one hundred and sixty. It looked as if he was trying to get out of bed. He probably panicked about something. There’s phenomenon called ICU psychosis, where people who have been in the ICU for a long time start to imagine things.
Tomorrow we’re going to start weaning him aggressively, then we’ll start working on getting him back on his feet.
There’s nothing to worry about now.”
“Are you sure?” Luis asked. He’d never heard of ICU psychosis. And Cory had never been the high-strung type. He was still gaping into Cory’s wide eyes, wishing he could read Cory’s mind. Something was wrong; he felt it in his bones. He could tell by the way Cory was glaring at him.