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Once they arrived at the hospital, he helped her out of the truck and into the emergency area. She gave her medical information to the lady in the reception area. Her lightheadedness and weak knees caused her to continue leaning against her neighbor; she feared she might actually fall over without him there. Oddly, she didn’t seem to mind his proximity. He smelled good, kind of woodsy.
A nurse rolled a wheelchair toward her, and with Joe’s help, she took a seat then was whisked off to an examining room.
Elizabeth lay on the examining table staring into the massive bright light shining down on her. She could hear the doctor talking as he stitched her up, but she couldn’t understand what he said, and wondered why he couldn’t talk more clearly.
The scent of rubbing alcohol stung her nostrils. She hadn’t noticed that odor when she entered the room. Suddenly, the doctor’s speech cleared up, and she could understand him. Her vision came into focus. Unfortunately, the reality of the events that occurred, leading up to her trip to the hospital, rushed back to her as well. Humiliation cloaked her as she recalled throwing her cards on the table like some sort of spoiled child who can’t stand to lose. But no, she didn’t stop there either, she furthered her temper tantrum by blaming her neighbor for causing her to spill the bottle of wine. What was she thinking, and why was she acting so childish around him?
She blew out an exaggerated sigh. She didn’t have time to deal with this kind of petty stuff right now so it would be best to simply distance herself from him. Yes, avoidance, that was the best way to handle this issue. And she’d do just that, as soon as she got through this hospital ordeal.
Six stitches later, the nurse returned her to Joe who still sat in the waiting area.
“All fixed up?” he asked with caring eyes and a warm smile.
She nearly smiled in return, forgetting her ‘avoidance’ plan, but her defensive wall rose up and she caught herself. “Yes, like you care? This is entirely your fault you know,” she accused.
The smile faded from his face and he whispered, “Contrary to what you may think, I was sorry to see you hurt yourself, but I hardly think this is my fault. I don’t know why you think I’m some evil, mean person.” he paused, but held her gaze as if waiting for some response from her. When none came, he shook his head. “Let’s go, I need to get back to my kids.”
Joe turned on his heel and headed toward his truck. Elizabeth simply followed. During the silent ride home, she wondered why he helped her, and what he wanted in return. In her experience, people were only nice to her when they wanted something. She’d learned long ago to distance herself from people to avoid being used. The simplicity of distance made life easier.
Joe parked his truck in his driveway, hopped out, and quickly walked to the passenger side of the truck to assist her. “Do you need help to your house?”
“No, I got it,” she said quietly as she turned and walked toward her house without looking back.
She wanted to look back, hoping to catch a glimpse of his dark, chocolate eyes, the very ones that showed sincere concern for her at the hospital, before she’d managed to stomp all over him, causing his warm gaze to dissipate. In shame of her behavior, she focused her gaze forward and moved her feet toward her house.
Chapter Six
Elizabeth woke to the sound of her 5:00 a.m. alarm. She quickly sprang from her bed, and threw on her exercise clothes; a simple task made awkward due to her injured, clumsy hand.
Hopping onto the treadmill, she wanted to get her three miles in, clean up, and be at the office by 7:30 a.m., hoping to arrive there before anyone else so she could relax, read the daily paper, and have some coffee. It didn’t take but a few minutes of running before her stitched hand started to throb, but she forged on anyway.
She arrived at the office early as planned and spread the newspaper out on her desk. As other staff members started to filter in, she glanced at the clock on her wall. Nearly 8:00 a.m., and time for her meeting with Mr. Kent. They planned to discuss their late morning presentation to a potential client. She was excited about this new client opportunity. The investment portfolio was roughly eighty million and could be her company’s foot in the door for municipal clients. If she could break her company into the municipal market, she would be sure to secure a Managing Director position someday.
She and her boss wrapped up their meeting with the municipal client shortly before noon, and after recapping the appointment with Mr. Kent, she felt good about how the meeting flowed. The potential clients asked all the right questions, and from the looks in their eyes when she answered, she could only assume her responses pleased them. But now the anxiety associated with the waiting game started. The Palmer James Company was not the only firm the client was interviewing, and it could take weeks to find out if they would land the account.
Elizabeth met Holly for lunch shortly after noon. Her friend ordered a cheeseburger and fries and though Elizabeth longed for the burger and fries, her rigid conscious forced her into ordering healthy food, a grilled chicken salad.
