Please, Consider It
Kaylin interceptedNatalie on her way to the nurses’ station. Natalie glanced over Kaylin’s shoulder, scanning the sitting security guards for Colt. He wasn’t there, either on lunch break or accompanying a nurse in another room. Kaylin snapped her fingers in Natalie’s face.
“Hey, Earth to Natalie. Aren’t you almost on break?”
Natalie checked her watch. “In ten minutes.”
“Come with me to Hugo’s; Rusty’s on another salad cleanse, and I’m craving some loaded fries. Just don’t tell him. He thinks we’re doing the cleanse together.”
“Has he lost his mind?” Natalie teased.
“Not sure. I really wish he’d care less about my health. I miss pizza rolls.”
“You sure he’s not trying to . . . ” Natalie leaned in. “You know. Get you on some sort of healthy diet?”
Kaylin laughed. “Diet—yes! To make me skinnier? You’re talking about a man who gets off on biting these.” She pinched at her love handles. “I’m not worried.”
Natalie gave a thin smile. It sounded nice to have a boyfriend who didn’t think your body type needed to change to be suitable.“I brought soup,” she said.
“Save it. I’ve missed you.” Kaylin made a pouty face. “Let’s take a short break before the next guy with a nail through his foot walks through the door.”
“Would he be walking?”
“Shut up.” Kaylin smiled. “Get your purse.” She checked her hospital phone. “No one’s dying in the ER this moment, let’s go.”
Hugo’s Bistro was only a short walk from the hospital and usually a mix of paramedics, doctors, nurses, and retail workers from the surrounding boutiques scarfing hamburgers and Monte Cristo sandwiches on their breaks. Natalie and Kaylin used to have lunch together at Hugo’s almost every week, before Gavin began commenting on the fit of Natalie’s jeans.
A host led Kaylin and Natalie to a small table at the back, the chairs wedged between a display case of black and white photos of celebrities who’d eaten at Hugo’s and an old jukebox. Kaylin pushed the menu aside.
“I don’t need that,” she said. “You still off bread?”
Natalie glared. “I’m trying to eat healthier. Like Rusty.”
Kaylin rolled her eyes. “Gavin really screwed with your head.”
“That’s not it.” Natalie closed her menu, indignant, though she knew Kaylin was right. Her phone lit up in her purse, and her stomach twisted, sure it was him. She scanned the restaurant, suddenly nervous he was there, watching her every move. Her skin crawled.
“You okay?” Kaylin asked. “You look jumpy.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” Kaylin handed her menu back to the waiter and ordered water with lemon and the meal-sized plate of Hugo’s famous loaded fries. Natalie ordered unsweetened tea and a combo of half soup and a salad, dressing on the side.
Kaylin unrolled her napkin from around a fork and a knife and spread it across her lap. “That’s what I want to talk to you about. I’m worried about you.”
“I told you not to be. Everyone goes through breakups.”
“Not like this,” Kaylin said. “This isn’t normal. Normal people don’t stalk their exes to this extent.”
“He’s not stalking me.” Natalie argued as she squeezed lemon into her tea. “It’s not like he flew out to Alabama and banged on my parents’ door.”
“He might as well have.” Kaylin tore open a package of crackers and ate one whole. “God, I’m starving.” She balled up the plastic wrapper. “Gavin is a drunk. You see every day what people who drink too much do. They lose their minds, end up in our unit after beating up the mailman for no reason. I don’t trust him.”
“Not every drunk is like that.” Natalie stuck a straw in her drink and bent the neck. “He wasn’t violent when we first met.” Her jaw throbbed as she said the words.
Kaylin wiped her hand on her napkin. “What I’m trying to say is, Rusty and I talked, and we both think it couldn’t hurt to have a bodyguard look after you for a couple of weeks. Figure out how far Gavin plans to take this. Get a restraining order if you need to. It can’t hurt to have someone watching your back.”
“A bodyguard? Are you serious?”
