Matty visited me at the hospital both days, getting a ride with my dad, bringing me chocolate malts from the local ice cream parlor and teen magazines from the hospital gift shop, all of which he purchased using his own money. My mom stayed in the hospital with me, including overnight; and Matty came with my dad after lunch, staying until my dad headed back home to take care of my sisters, who the neighbors had been watching. So, he was with me for nearly three hours on both of those days; he sat by my bed and talked to me while my parents conferred with the nurses and doctors.
“That Matthew is such a nice young man,” my mom remarked after my dad and Matty had left after my second night in the hospital. “Rather cute, too, don’t you think?” She said with a smile and a suggestive look on her face.
“Mom!” I was mortified that my mother would comment on the looks of any boy I knew. “That’s gross!” Although deep down I, of course, agreed with her: Matty Boyd was, suddenly, a very nice young man. And I couldn’t deny that he was cute. I just didn’t want to hear it from my mom.
“Well, he’s quite fond of you, that’s for sure,” she said as she arranged my dinner tray in front of me. “I’ve never seen a boy that age show so much care for anyone. Actually, I’ve rarely seen many men behave with such kindness.” I remember suppressing a laugh, wondering what my mom would think of Matty had she witnessed him teasing me at school.
On the morning of my release from the hospital, Matty showed up riding in the passenger seat of my dad’s car as they pulled up to the entrance where I was waiting with my mom. I had been rolled outside in a wheelchair and was freezing cold. Matty hopped out and opened the door to the backseat for me, helping my mom with my bags while my dad assisted me into the car. Matty then got into the other side of the car to sit next to me and draped a blanket over me for the drive home. I can still remember how he tucked the blanket up around my neck to ensure it stayed on, his fingers brushing the sides of my cheeks as he did so.
Once we got back to my house, my dad helped me out of the car and upstairs to my bedroom with Matty right behind him on the staircase, carrying my bags. I remember feeling a moment of panic as I realized that Matthew Boyd was going to come into my room and see all of my stuff, but the feeling quickly passed thanks to the heavy medication I was still on. It was hard to care about much of anything with so many drugs in my system. My parents helped settle me into my bed, and then they left Matty and me alone. Alone …in my bedroom!I still remember how that shocked me, as though it were some scandalous occurrence. Leaving a pre-teen girl in bed in her bedroom with a boy? What kind of parents did that?!
But Matty had quickly earned my parents’ trust over those past few days. He had apologized profusely to them about the accident, insisting that it was all his fault. My folks did not blame either of us, realizing that kids get into trouble sometimes. They were just happy we hadn’t fallen into the pond. “You were really thinking about skating on that ice? In your shoes?” my mom had yelled at me, one of the few times she had ever done so. And I knew she was not so much angry with me as scared about what could have happened. “Seriously, Leah, you should thank God you weren’t on that ice or this whole situation could have been much worse.”
By the time I had gotten home from the hospital and into bed, I was exhausted. But I wanted to stay awake to talk to Matty. After all, we hadn’t been alone together since he’d visited me bedside the night of our surgeries. I felt rather grown up with him in my room and didn’t want him to leave.
Matty pulled my desk chair over next to my bed and sat down. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Sore,” I replied. “I don’t know which hurts worse: my arm or my back. And I’m so tired. Good thing we still have a two weeks of winter break before school starts again as there’s no way I could go back right now.” I could feel myself being lulled back into sleep, but I fought to stay awake so that I could keep talking to Matty.
“You’ll be much better when it’s time to go back to school,” Matty assured me. “And I’ll be here to help you recover!” He gave me a sweet smile and leaned over to bring my blanket up so that I was fully tucked in, just as he had in the car.
“Thanks,” I said, with a weak grin. “But you don’t have to hang around with me. I’m sure you’d rather be doing something fun.”
“This is fun,” Matty insisted. “It’s
