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“Yeah, right,” I muttered, and then the ambulance stopped, and the back door opened. A rush of cold air whipped over the thin sheet covering me, and I winced, thinking of how my brother had seen me almost naked. Yuck.
At least I knew my panties were cute; my regular ones were all dirty, and I’d had to dig into my exclusive collection this morning. That was one plus for not having done laundry this week.
The gurney was pulled out, and I closed my eyes to the sunlight that was now shining down on me. I heard the hospital door open and felt the intense blast of heat from above. Oh, man, if I could only stay there for a few minutes, but I was quickly pushed into the emergency department and into a curtained area. There were a lot of people present, and my teeth began to chatter again.
I focused on Lee as he helped lift me off one gurney and onto another one, all the while talking with a large medical vocabulary that didn’t make much sense to me. Roman was right there with me, and then Lee paused and studied me.
“I’m going to leave you in their hands now. I hope you recover quickly.” He touched my arm, and suddenly, I realized he was leaving. His job was done, but I didn’t want him to go.
“When are we having dinner?” I blurted the question, and his gaze snapped to my brother before he shuffled his feet slightly. Was this where he was going to tell me that he had been joking? That maybe he had a wife or girlfriend, and there was no way he would be taking me out to dinner.
He didn’t. Instead, he squeezed my arm. “When you get better, we’ll talk about dinner.”
“Okay,” I replied, realizing that it was a brush-off statement. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, I probably looked like hell, and he was one of the sexiest men I had ever seen. The scruff along his cheeks, the blonde hair parted to the side, the beautiful blue eyes. Yeah, no way he wasn’t already taken.
He smiled at me again, glanced at my brother, and then was gone. I didn’t have much time to think about it after that. For a while, there were a bunch of people in my face, multiple hands touching me, questions being asked that I’d already answered once or twice. Through it all, my brother stood just off to the side, observing and lending me his strength.
After x-rays, they found my spine was clear, whatever that meant, but the neck brace came off, and the hardboard under me was removed. They explained that I was going to need surgery to repair the tear in my leg, but it would be a quick surgery, and I should be on my feet and out of the hospital by tomorrow.
Well, there went my client and any hope of keeping my business afloat. It was really going to sting now when my father started getting on me about putting my education to waste on a silly wedding business. God, how many times had we fought over it? He’d been happy about the business side of my degree but thought I would do better working in the hospitality industry and not trying to start a lame business to help women plan weddings that they should have been able to plan themselves.
He just didn’t understand that many brides wanted someone to lead them, help them make decisions. They wanted someone else to have the stress on their shoulders so they could just enjoy their day. That’s why I had started this. I loved watching couples plan their special days, loved watching them take their vows, and the smiles on their faces as they shared their first dances. It made me feel good, and that was why I did it. He didn’t understand, and he never would.
It was just as well because since I had lost this client, I was going to have to close up shop and admit defeat. Maybe he was right after all, and I should have gone into managing a hotel or restaurant. Perhaps I’d have to update my resume and start looking.
I sighed as they wheeled me out of the room and to the elevator. I could tell Roman to get my laptop from my car and maybe update it while I was recovering.
The bitter taste of defeat was worse than the taste of dried blood on my lips.
Chapter Four
Henley
Was she serious? Did she really want to have dinner with me? Her brother didn’t look quite so happy about it, but it was probably more about the circumstances. Jesus, he probably thought I was a dirtbag, and I’d been hitting on his sister while she was injured. He didn’t realize it had all been in jest to help her relax or that she had started the whole thing.
I’d have to find a moment to speak with him, and also her to see if she was serious. Her last comment made me think that she just might be. I was all for that, and it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that she was beautiful or had on very sexy lavender panties.
No, my professional side ignored those things, but that part of me that was very much male had taken note.
I went out to the counter and made my notes on the intake sheet, signing it and turning it over to the nurse behind the desk. I waited a few minutes as Adam finished cleaning and stocking the ambulance again, and then the x-rays were done, and the board was returned to me.
The orderly that brought it out to me said that Roxy didn’t have any injuries to her spine, and I was thankful to hear that. As much as I wanted to talk to her more, I didn’t. I’d already heard that Tom, Adam’s partner, was in now, and it was time for me to clock out and go home. It had been a long couple of days, and I was ready for some sleep.
Sadly, as I lay in bed two hours later, I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about Roxy. Her light-green eyes invaded my mind, and the sound of her voice whispering in my ear under the sheet was doing crazy things to my body.
Finally, I managed to fall asleep, and six hours later, I woke up. The first thing on my mind was how Roxanne was fairing. It was natural to wonder how a patient was doing, and many times, I’d thought about people that I had helped. This somehow seemed different though.
Maybe it was because of the conversation she’d been having with her brother in the ambulance. She’d been upset about her father coming to see her, and obviously, he didn’t like what she did. I couldn’t imagine either of my parents ever telling me I shouldn’t do what I wanted to do. In fact, they had always encouraged us to try things and do what we wanted. Hell, if one of us had said we were going into sanitation, they probably would have bought us a pair of sturdy gloves.
The only time they had hesitated to encourage one of us was when Huntley, the youngest of our brood, had said he was joining the military. There had been some serious discussions about it, not just with him and my parents, but between him, our four other siblings, and me. In the end, we knew he was doing it for the right reasons, and we wished him well.
The day he was discharged after his eight years was done had been a day to celebrate for my family. We were big on celebrating, and no party lasted only a couple of hours. Anytime the Youngs commemorated an occasion, it lasted for at least two days.
It’s one of the reasons I hadn’t moved far from home. I was a little less than two hours away, and anytime I could, I went back. The guys were used to me switching shifts to make sure I had time off, and I think some of them even envied how close my siblings and I remained even after all these years.
My oldest brother, Bradley, ran my father’s construction company. He had two kids, Tonya and Tyler, but sadly his wife had passed not long ago from a rare form of blood cancer. Kayley was the next in line, and she was a real estate agent in New York. Of all of us, she was the farthest away, but still only less than four hours, and she joined us as often as she could.
Wesley was the next one and lived less than an hour away from our parents. With his busy schedule at the local emergency department, he was the one that had a harder time getting off.
