Page 13 of Somebody To Love

I stopped immediately to answer it. Who would be calling me at this time of night?

“Don’t answer it,” Brock said. I couldn’t see his face in the dark, but his voice was thick with desire. I shimmied off him trying not to notice how hard he was as I slid my body off his.

“I have to answer it,” I said, still breathless. “It could be Meredith.”

Quickly, I reached for my purse, answered the number which I didn’t recognize and said, “Hi, this is Piper.”

“Hi, umm, Ms. Piper, we have your niece here, Meredith—”

“Oh my god, is she ok? I’ll be right there—”

“She’s ok. We think she might have hurt her ankle though. Can you come get her? We’re in—”

“I’ll be right there,” I said reaching for my purse and forgetting completely about Brock.

“Wait, where are you going?” he asked, climbing off the bed as I opened his hotel room door.

“Meredith hurt herself, I have to go. I’ll call you—” And with that I sprinted down the hall and didn’t even bother to wait for the elevator. I found an exit sign and sprinted down the stairs as fast as I could go.

In a matter of minutes, I was on the same floor as the kids’ club. I found Meredith at the entrance looking bummed.

I instantly kneeled in front of her. “Honey, are you okay?”

She nodded. “I told them not to call you. It’s just a little sprain. Look I can walk fine,”

She stood up, took two wobbly steps and then almost collapsed. I caught her and steadied her weight against me.

“Hold on to me. We’re going home. Well, first, we’re going to a hospital and then we’re going home.”

“A hospital? It’s not that serious.”

“You can barely walk.”

“I’m fine. I think I just twisted something.”

The employee who managed the area piped up, “There’s an urgent care about ten minutes from here. You guys could go there.”

Grateful, I said as much and then helped Meredith hobble to the elevator. “How in the world did this happen?”

“One of the bigger kids ran into me. Practically ran me over.”

“Did he apologize at least?”

“No,” she said and I could tell she was trying not to tear up. I knew the other kid didn’t do it on purpose, but I still was too angry to speak.

“You’re going to be fine,” I brought her close to me and kissed her forehead. “I’m going to take care of you. You’re going to be fine.”

An hour later, we were out of the urgent care facility and making our way back to our hotel.

“See, I told you there was nothing to worry about,” Meredith said for like the hundredth time. She had been right, although deep down I knew she had been worried too. She was fine. Her foot wasn’t even sprained. But it was a little sore still from where the kid had connected with her.

“You should just call Brock and continue with your date. I can watch Netflix or YouTube in our hotel room.”

“Nope. I’m not leaving you alone ever again.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Nope. Never. End of story.”