I’m still shaking when he pulls up in front of the entrance.
“Go on in and find her,” he says. “I’ll park.”
I find my cousin in a bed in Emergency.
“Hey,” I say softly as I slide around the curtain.
Jake looks up from where he had his head bowed over her hand.
Dani gives me a weak smile. “Hi. Sorry to drag you away from Christmas morning.”
“Oh.” I let out a watery laugh. “Yeah, that was already ruined. Don’t worry. What’s going on?”
“She woke up bleeding this morning,” Jake says.
“I know it can be normal,” Dani adds. “But this wasn’t normal.”
I squeeze her hand. “You did the right thing coming in. They’re going to run some tests and do some imaging, and I’ll stay with you the whole time.”
“Thank you.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “How was your Christmas morning ruined?”
“I don’t want to make you laugh right now. And it’s also embarrassing and I don’t want to look at Jake when I’m telling you.”
Her eyebrows curve up. “Oh?”
Her husband pats her shoulder. “That’s my sign to go call the kids.”
I circle around to sit in the chair he vacates. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something but I’m swearing you to secrecy for now.”
Dani nods. “My lips are sealed. Please distract me.”
“Garrett and I broke up in April.”
She stares at me. “What?”
“Yeah.”
“But you’re….”
I shrug. “I know. It’s a long story that starts and ends with I’m a hot mess who can’t do much right, besides being a doctor, and um…I don’t actually love being a doctor. Apparently.”
Her brows knit together hard. “What???”
“That’s what Garrett says. He says I hate my job, and it ruined our relationship, and then we hooked up a few times—” I cut myself off. “I’m telling this very badly.”
“Oh, no, now you’re getting to the good stuff. So you’re back together?”
“Definitely not.”
“So you’re exes with benefits?”
I squirm. “Yeah. We were. Now… Now I don’t think we’re anything. Not after this morning.”
“What happened this morning?”
“Tabitha’s boys accidentally opened a present Garrett got for me. Aprivatepresent.” I grimace. “A replica dildo of, and I quote,the only part of his body that I seem to like.”
“He said that?”
