Chapter 4

8:00 PM

Tom couldn't stand the pain any longer so he hit the call button and the nurse came and injected the painkiller into his IV. Tom was starting to drift off when he saw someone with a camera. It was someone he knew but not well but he couldn't recall why he knew this person. He tried to focus on the person and realized that he wasn't really there. It was an image floating in his head. Then he was asleep.

Lisa got in touch with the duty nurse at the admitting desk and told her who she was and said she needed to get some information about her husband and before she could say another word the nurse ask for his name.

"Tom Boyer."

Lisa was all set to argue to get the information she wanted when the nurse came back to the phone. "Let's see now. He was admitted through the emergency room at 12:30 AM Saturday. He was originally admitted as a John Doe because he had no ID on him. His current condition is stable. That's all I can tell you. You will need to talk to Dr. Jasper. He was the attending physician."

"In stable condition? He's still in the hospital?"

"Of course."

"I'll be right over."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Boyer but visiting hours are over. You'll have to wait till tomorrow after 8:00 AM. The doctor wouldn't be here tonight anyway. You can see him in the morning."

Lisa's head was spinning. Tom was in the hospital? Since 12:30 AM Saturday. If that's true how could someone have taken his picture Sunday evening at Applebee's. Lisa knew something was wrong but was too upset with the news of Tom's accident to think about anything else.

Lisa remembered that Tom had been riding his motorcycle Friday night and the roads were wet. He probably dumped his bike and banged himself up a little. Jerk. What was he doing riding that stupid bike anyway? She told herself that she would get this all sorted out in the morning. Lisa went to bed at 11:00 PM but she didn't sleep very well.

Tuesday April 29, 2003

6:00 AM

Lisa was up and showered at 6:00 AM and decided to go to her office at 6:30 to work for a while before going to the hospital After all how big a hurry should she be in when Tom hadn't made any attempt to let Lisa know where he was.

Lisa was sitting at her desk when Zack stuck his head in the door.

"How's Tom? I just got the message from the hospital. Apparently he has had a bad time of it," Zack said.

Lisa didn't want to look foolish so she just said, "I am going over at 8:00 to check on him."

Zack said, "Tell him I'll stop by later today to see him if he is up to having visitors."

Lisa asked, "When did you hear about his accident?"

"The hospital called and left a message for me yesterday. I called this morning and his doctor filled me in."

Trying to appear informed, Lisa said. "You talked to Dr. Jasper?"

"Dr. Jasper, that's right. Nice fellow. Well, just tell Tom not to worry about us we'll get by until he gets back to work."

When Zack left Lisa broke down and cried. Why had she been left out? Why had no one tried to contact her? She also knew this was partly her fault. She should have gone home Friday night like she originally planned. Then she would have been there when the police came.

8:15 AM

When Lisa walked into Tom's room the only thing she could see was Tom's head. A sheet covered the rest of his body. The first thing she noticed was that there wasn't a mark on his face and no bandages on his head. In a motorcycle accident that's what you expect to see. Tom didn't look to be all that bad off. The nurse was standing next to the bed and Tom was joking with her. Lisa heard him say. "What would I do with out you and your magic needle?"

When he saw Lisa he smiled at her and using a mock New York accent he said, "Hi, Lisa, how you doin?" Then he laughed.

"I guess a little better than you?"

Still smiling Tom said, "I'd say you are doing a lot better than me. Like on Friday night when I was here being put back together and you were God only knows where doing God only knows what. Was it worth it?"

The nurse came back into the room and heard a little of Tom's attack and she took Lisa aside.

"It's the pain killer talking. He won't even remember saying any of that in a couple of hours," she said and then she left the room.

Lisa was hurt and angry but she let it go. She wouldn't be able to talk to him while he was in that condition. The drugs would make conversation useless. She decided to leave instead and by the time she reached the door Tom was snoring.

Lisa sat in the hall and tried not to cry. As she was regaining her composure she heard someone say, "Dr. Jasper, have you got a second?"

Lisa looked up and saw the doctor talking to one of the floor nurses so she got up and moved close to them so she could get his attention when he was done talking to the nurse.

While she waited she suddenly remembered the message Tom had left on her cell phone. Now she realized that he might have thought at the time he was going to die. Typical male over-reaction to a little pain she thought.

Dr. Jasper finished answering the nurse's question and then he looked at Lisa and asked, "Are you waiting to talk to me?"

Lisa said, "Yes. I'm Tom Boyer's wife, Lisa, and I would like to know first of all why no one from the hospital tried to contact me regarding my husband's injuries."

Dr. Jasper said, "I'm sorry but we were told that the police tried to get in touch with you but were unable to locate you. When I talked to your husband on Sunday, I asked him who else I should call and he told me to just call Mr. Morgan. If I had known how to get in touch with you, I would have called."

Lisa said, "What can you tell me about his injuries?"

Dr. Jasper suggested he and Lisa go to the lounge and get a cup of coffee and then he would tell her everything."

Dr. Jasper got two cups of coffee and handed one to Lisa and then they sat down at an empty table.

"Mrs. Boyer, how much do you know about your husband's accident?"

"I don't know anything. I was away from home until last night when I got a message from the police that he had been in an accident and that's all I know."

Dr. Jasper said, "Well, if you were away you may not have heard about the accident over on 44th Avenue Friday night."

Lisa stiffened as she remembered the SUV burning in the middle of the road. But she didn't say anything.

"Basically what happened was that an SUV ran a stop sign and hit your husband's motorcycle broadside. Your husband was thrown nearly thirty-five yards through the air and he landed on an embankment, which was lucky for him because the bike was crushed under the SUV and destroyed in the fire."

That image made Lisa cringe.

"How bad are his injuries? Tom left me a voice mail message telling me he was dying and he was saying good-bye."

"What time did he call you?"

"I think it was about a quarter to twelve Friday night."

"That makes sense. He was in pretty rough shape. He lost a lot of blood and he was busted up pretty badly. If you got a message from him, why didn't you check with the police then?"

"I didn't hear the message until yesterday and I didn't know what it meant until now. How badly was he injured?"

"Your husband has two fractures on his left leg, his right ankle was badly sprained. His left arm is broken four inches below the elbow. He broke two ribs and one of them punctured his left lung. He also had multiple lacerations and abrasions. I had to read through the ER notes on him twice before we could figure out where to start on him once we had him in the OR. When they brought him in he was losing blood almost as fast as they could pump it into him. I have a copy of your husband's charts with me."

Dr. Jasper opened the brief case he was carrying and pulled out a folder and opened it. "Let's see, yes, here it is. He was given three units of blood and they were starting a forth but his BP was not responding and then at 1:05 AM Saturday morning your husband went into cardiac arrest."

"1:05 AM?" Lisa asked as she felt the now familiar cold chill run up her back.

"Yes, it was 1:05 AM. Dr. Raymond, the doctor who took care of your husband in the ER, made a note of the time because it happened just as he looked at his watch. Dr. Raymond had to defibrillate him twice to get his heart started again. He was gone for nearly two minutes and it was touch and go for the next twenty minutes. We came very close to losing him."

Lisa began to feel sick as she remembered what she was doing at exactly 1:05 Saturday morning. She wanted to cry but not in front of the doctor. She lost that battle as the tears started streaming down her face.

Dr. Jasper didn't understand the cause of Lisa's tears. He assumed it was the extent of her husband's injuries that made Lisa cry. Lisa's sadness was much deeper than that. When Tom had needed her most, when he was clinging to life by a thread she was about to let his best friend enter her. Tom was right; she may never be able to forgive herself. Tom may never forgive her either.

Lisa finally manage to say, "I had no idea his injuries were so bad. When I saw him he looked almost happy and with the sheet over him his injuries weren't obvious."

Dr. Jasper said, "His happiness is the result of the pain medication he was given. He is in a lot of pain but he resists asking the nurse for the pain medication because it leaves him so dopey. Luckily your husband was wearing a very good helmet. The helmet protected him during the initial impact with the SUV and again when he impacted on the ground. If the helmet hadn't held up the head injuries he would have sustained would probably have been fatal.

This gave Lisa one small bit of satisfaction. She had bought that helmet for Tom for his birthday. At least one thing she had done contributed to saving his life.

Lisa thanked Dr. Jasper and walked back to Tom's room and pulled a chair up next to his bed and sat watching Tom breath and wondered how this would all turn out in the end. Would she be able to get past what Tom had done and would he ever forgive her for what she had done. Lisa felt that the gravity of what she had done was magnified by what happened to Tom. If she hadn't gone out Friday to try and hurt him, Tom would not have followed her to Ben's and therefore would not have been in the accident. In Lisa's mind the driver of the SUV may have run a stop sign but the accident was her fault.

12:15 PM

Lisa had been sitting next to Tom's bed all morning. With nothing to do to keep herself occupied, she just kept rehashing the events of the last two weeks. Tom had cheated on her in Las Vegas and would not admit to it even though there were pictures showing him with the other woman. Then apparently they had gotten together in Denver and had been at Applebee's and then Tom took her to their house, all though the date of the Denver tryst was still in doubt. Whoever had sent Lisa the pictures must have gotten the date wrong but there was no doubt that it was that woman going into Lisa's house. Lisa didn't understand how Tom could have done that to her. Didn't he love her anymore?

Then Lisa thought about her own behavior. Maybe things would have worked out if she hadn't tried to make Tom jealous. One thing was certain, the accident would not have happened and Tom wouldn't be lying there covered in plaster and bandages.

Lisa was again replaying the events as though they were on videotape when Zack Morgan walked in.

"How is he?" Zack asked.

"He is in pretty bad shape. He has been asleep since shortly after I got here this morning. They have been giving him pretty heavy doses of pain killers and they knock him out."

"Lisa, why don't you take a break? Get yourself something to eat and drink. I'll sit here while your gone."

"Thanks, Zack, I am kind of hungry. I'll be back in a half hour."

"Take your time."

Lisa when down to the hospital cafeteria and had a bowl of soup and then stopped by the gift shop and picked up a couple of magazines.

When she returned to the room Dr. Jasper was explaining Tom's injuries to Zack.

"He actually died in the ER?" Zack asked.

"His heart did stop beating for a couple of minutes," Dr. Jasper said.

Hearing that again made Lisa feel faint but she managed to get to the chair she had been sitting in earlier without passing out.

"Good, you are back," Dr. Jasper said to Lisa. "I wanted to talk to you again before I went home. Your husband will probably be released from the hospital on Monday. I would recommend that you put him in a rehab center until the casts can be taken off. He is going to need around the clock care for a while."

"I want him at home. I'll take care of him," Lisa said firmly.

"Are you sure? You will have to feed and bathe him. Help him with his biological functions, keep track of his medications and control his pain medication. You won't get much rest."

"I'll hire a nurse to come in during the day and I'll be with him at night. He is my husband and I want to take care of him."

Lisa thought that by taking care of Tom that she could make up for her part in causing his injuries.

"In case you change your mind I have written down the names of a couple of good rehab centers in the area. He will need physical therapy when he gets the cast off his leg. I also need to tell you that your husbands treatment will be quite expensive," Dr. Jasper said.

Lisa put a mock smile on her face and said, "We have insurance and beside, I plan on suing the driver of the car that hit Tom. Let his insurance pay for Tom's treatment."

"Do you have any more questions for me before I leave?" Dr. Jasper asked.

"How long will Tom be in those casts?"

"We should be able to remove the cast on his arm in about four weeks. The cast on his leg will take at least six weeks. We won't know that for sure for a couple more weeks. The chest protection will probable come off when we remove the cast from his arm but he will have to wear a special vest to protect his injured ribs for a few weeks after that. I'll stop in tomorrow to see how your husband is doing."

When the doctor left Zack walked over to Lisa's chair and took her hand in his.

"Any help you need let me know. I owe Tom a lot. Tom is responsible for most of the business we have and without him this company would have been in serious trouble. Take the rest of the week off to be with him and take what time you need next week to get Tom settled at home. If you need any financial assistance let me know. I'll let people at the office know about Tom's condition. I am sure a lot of them will want to come visit him."

"Thanks, Zack. I appreciate the help."

"I'll stop by again tomorrow around lunchtime so you can go eat," Zack said as he headed out the door.

After Zack left Lisa settled into the chair and opened a magazine and began reading.

6:00 PM

Lisa had been waiting all day hoping that Tom would wake up lucid so that she could talk to him. When he finally did wake up, two of the salesmen that worked with him came in to visit. Tom visited with them as best he could and as soon as they left Brad came in.

Brad's presence made Lisa uncomfortable. She wanted to crawl away and hide while Brad talked to Tom.

By 7:30 Tom could not take the pain any longer so he rang for the nurse and within minutes he was drifting off to sleep. Lisa never got a chance to talk to Tom alone.

For the next few days it seemed that anytime Tom was awake and alert he had visitors. Lisa almost believed that people were coming to visit Tom for the sole purpose of keeping her from talking to him.

Monday May 5, 2003

10:00 AM

Tom's pain had lessened considerably by Monday morning and he was looking forward to getting out of the hospital and going home. What he wasn't looking forward to was being alone with Lisa. He knew that Lisa had insisted that she wanted to take care of him rather than put him in a rehab center and Tom appreciated that but it didn't make up for what she had done to him. It didn't matter what she thought he had done she should never have had sex with another man for revenge. Not if she wanted to save their marriage. It was obvious that Lisa was trying to make it up to him and even though he still loved her he didn't know if he would ever be able to forgive her.

Lisa wanted Tom at home but she was also uncomfortable about being alone with him. At some point they were going to have to talk but Lisa didn't know when she should do that. She didn't feel right about having such a painful conversation while Tom was still laid up in bed but she felt that putting it off might make things worse.

Shortly after ten o'clock two orderlies came and lifted Tom into a wheel chair and rolled him out to the hospital entrance. Then they lifted Tom into the mini van that Zack had loaned Lisa for the occasion. The wheel chair was then loaded into the back of the van.

Tom and Lisa didn't speak during the twenty-minute ride to the house. When they pulled into the driveway two off duty firemen were waiting to help get Tom into the house. Once they had Tom settled in bed, Mrs. Scott, the private duty nurse Lisa hired, came in and introduced herself.

While Mrs. Scott checked on Tom's bandages, Lisa made his lunch.

When the nurse left at five o'clock that evening Tom took two Darvocet as much to put himself to sleep to avoid being alone with Lisa as to reduced the pain he was feeling.

Tuesday May 6, 2003

7:00 AM

Lisa fixed Tom's breakfast and helped him eat. After taking the tray back downstairs Lisa helped Tom with his bedpan and cleaned him afterward.

While Tom appreciated what Lisa was doing for him, watching her clean him after using the bedpan was a little humiliating. It didn't bother him to have Mrs. Scott do that for him, after all she was a professional and it was part of her job but with Lisa it was different. Maybe if they weren't having their current difficulty he would have felt differently about it.

7:30 PM

That evening after dinner Tom did not take his pain pills. He decided that it was time that he and Lisa talked. When Lisa came in to take his tray Tom asked her to stay.

"I think it is time we talked," he said.

"Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Not much point in putting it off. It's not going to get any easier. Tom said and then continued with a laugh, "Besides if it gets too painful I can pop a couple of pills and check out."

"This isn't funny," Lisa scolded.

"You're right," Tom said. "Are you ready to tell me what you did? "

"I am if you are," she said. "This started with what you did in Vegas so why don't you tell me about that first."

"I guess we are at an impasse. I told you I didn't have an affair with that woman but you chose not to believe me."

Lisa had to hold herself back to keep from screaming at him.

"Then why don't you tell me what you did while you were in Vegas?"

"Okay. Each morning I went to the convention center and worked at the NTD booth. Whenever we met a potential customer I would invite them to come over to our suite at the hotel for drinks and to talk about how we could help their business. So I was either in the booth at the convention center or in our hotel suite everyday until around seven o'clock in the evening. After that I went back to my room and watched television or read."

Tom hated telling that same lie again but changing his story now would not help and besides he had promised that he wouldn't tell anyone what he had been doing at night while he was in Vegas.

"I'm supposed to believe that you stayed in your room at night in Las Vegas. That would be hard to believe even if I hadn't received those pictures," Lisa said.

"Have you ever stopped to consider that those pictures might not be real?"

"Now you want me to believe that those pictures are fake? How stupid do you think I am? I studied those pictures carefully. They are not fakes."