The phone slipped from her fingers, and Cujo grabbed it before it hit the floor.
“Yes.No.My head hurts.I… I think this is too much.”
“Brody, we should let her rest.Please ask for the doctor on your way out.”
Cujo informed the nurse’s station, and then headed to the elevator.Curious, he pulled up the last photograph his mom had seen before the pain.
Drea.
He thought about the night they’d shared.She’d been everything he hoped.Willing, flexible, and open-minded.And smart.And sassy.And a whole lot more.He should be home, wrapped in his sheets with Drea, trying to figure out whether their first time together was a sign of things to come, or a fluke of nature.
Not stuck in thisfuckinghospital.
What was he doing?He scrubbed his hand over his head.He’d slept with her and then poured his heart out to her.Had he just been carried along in the moment?No.That couldn’t be it, he wanted to be with her too badly.
When the elevator finally arrived, he stepped inside.
The more time he spent time with his mom, the more he was reminded that love wasn’t enough.He could see his dad’s desperation to reconnect with her, and worried about the pain it would cause him should she leave them again.There was potential for that kind of intensity between him and Drea.It was more than flirting and fun.It was fucking chemistry.
Perhaps he should ease back a little and keep a distance between them.Slow things down and see how it developed.She deserved it all.A relationship.A family.A sense of belonging.That wasn’t something he could guarantee.
Fuck.He kept coming full circle.
He exited the elevator and walked toward the parking lot.Hospital hallways were the same everywhere.He thought back to checking in for his surgery.Pajamas, paperbacks, secret stash of Twinkies for when the hospital meals didn’t live up to his standards.Trent stood with him, and the two of them checked out the nurses while his dad took care of the paperwork.
His phone buzzed.
I’m working late at the café.Want to come for dinner?Drea.
But he couldn’t.Everything his mom had told him rattled around in his brain.Might as well put his head in a blender and set it on full speed.
Only work would drown out the noise in his head.
Drea would have to wait.
***
Her shift at the café had come and gone without a response to her text.It wouldn’t normally concern her, but Cujo was usually quick to reply.She hoped it had nothing to do with his mom.
It doubly sucked because it would be a while longer before her day and night shifts colluded to provide twenty-four glorious hours off work.While a good chunk of those hours would be filled with the usual stuff, she hoped Cujo would be able to spend some time with her, perhaps even go on a date.
Drea wasn’t going to worry about him yet.Forty-eight hours ago they’d promised to stick together when it got hard, and she was going to have faith in that.
She pushed the drink cart toward the staff elevator.It was so slow, she contemplated breaking house rules by jumping in the customer elevator.
It had been difficult to rouse her mom before her shift at José’s, so much so that she’d popped home between jobs to check on her.She’d ask the doctor if there was anything her mom could take to be more comfortable.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket.Cujo, she hoped.
Gilliam.Disappointment settled in her tummy.She opened the email.Apparently the DEP person had checked the site.It was nice of Gilliam to send the report to her, but she didn’t understand most of it.The summary all seemed very positive.
… Within tolerance levels… no evidence of… satisfactory precautions…
Who was she to argue with science?
She exited the elevator and walked to penthouse suite 1480, struggling to stop the cart from pulling over to the left.Why did she always end up with the cart with the wobbly wheel?Two bottles of scotch, a bottle of vodka, and a bottle of tequila plus all the fixings, were rattling around on the tray.Assuming the guests were from the area, it would be quite the tip.Europeans were crappy tippers.
A huge man stood outside the double doors to the penthouse suite.He wore a quality suit, and a name badge stating he was ELROYKING.HEAD OFSECURITY.She felt like a lab rat under his intense scrutiny.
