“Yes, you were brought in earlier today…do you remember what happened?”

“No…my mind is completely blank”

“You were brought in for alcohol poisoning, the cleaning lady at the motel you were staying at found you”

Then everything came back to me.  I remembered how I had left Bette and the vodka I had used to drown my pain.

My eyes filled up with tears.

“Hey, it’s ok” she said putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“So how are you feeling, any pain or nausea?”

“My throat hurts”

“It’s because they had to pump your stomach, they brought a tube down your throat so it may be soar but it will pass quickly” she smiled.

“So I will go talk to the doctor and then I’ll be back later to check on you, ok?” She said.

“Yeah…ok” I whispered.

An hour later the door opened and I expected to see the nurse again but instead the most stunning woman I had ever seen entered my room.

“Bette” I whispered.

“Tee” she whispered back with a sad look on her face. She looked tired and I could see she had been crying.

She stood in the doorway looking uncomfortable.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her weakly.

“They called…I’m still listed as your emergency contact” she smiled sadly.

“Oh…I’m sorry”

There was silence as nobody said anything for a couple of minutes.

“You can come in if you want, you don’t have to stand in the doorway” I smiled at her.

She looked relieved as she walked into the room standing at the foot of my bed.

“I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me again” she whispered.

“Bette…” I sighed looking down at my hands.

I looked up again and the eyes that met mine were full of hurt, fear and sadness, but in them I also saw love. It broke my heart to see what I had done to this woman that did nothing but love me.

I started crying uncontrollably and in the corner of my eye I saw Bette looking unsure of what to do.

I reached out my arms to her and she came over sitting down on the bed and enveloping me in her arms as she too started to cry. I brought my arms around her holding on for dear life.