“Thanks.”
Kelly appears a moment later to give me a tetanus shot, and we’re finally free to go.
“Thanks again for coming,” I tell Drew as we walk out of the ER. “I’m pretty sure if you hadn’t shown up, I’d still be waiting.”
“No problem.”
“I can take that now,” I say, reaching out to take my backpack from him. “I should head upstairs.”
“Upstairs?” Drew asks.
“To work. I’m still on my three month probation, and I’ve basically missed the whole morning, so?—”
“Ally, you’re not going to work today,” he says. “You just fainted?—”
“Almost fainted,” I correct.
“And you’ve just had stitches,” he continues. “So you’re not going to work. Sophie can write you a note if you need one. Have you told Heather what happened?”
“Yeah, I called her this morning, before you showed up.”
“What did she say?”
“She said I should take the day off,” I admit. But I’d still planned to show up for the afternoon, even though I haven’t been given any real responsibility yet. If I’m going to get ahead, I need to show I’m committed to the job.
“Great,” Drew says. “That’s taken care of, then. Let’s go to my office to talk about the plan.”
I’m not sure what he means by the plan, but I follow him to his office anyway. When we get there, he gives me his chair and sits in the cheap Ikea one he keeps for visitors.
“So.” He hesitates and clears his throat. “About what I said in the ER. That you were going to stay with me?”
“Oh, I get it,” I say quickly. “Dr. Kaminsky thinks I’m your girlfriend, so when I said there was a flood in my apartment, you had to say it. And it’s no big deal, because she’ll never know if I’m staying with you or not?—”
“No,” he interrupts with a frown. “That’s not why I said it. I think you should consider staying at my place. You can stay as long as you need, until your apartment’s sorted out.”
“What?” I blurt.
“There’s a pull-out couch in my home office,” he says quickly. “You’d have your own room.”
“Oh.” I hesitate, trying to collect my thoughts. I wish I hadn’t mentioned the flood. I wouldn’t have, but I was feeling stupid for falling off my bike, and I wanted to explain why I was starving and frazzled.
I look up to meet Drew’s gaze. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. My apartment’s not that bad, more of a puddle than a flood. I got most of it cleaned up this morning.”
“Really,” he says skeptically.
“Yeah. And my landlord said he’d look after the rest of it.”
Which is true. Robbie said he’d fix the water damage and get the foundation waterproofed. He just didn’t say when he’d do it.
Drew sighs. “Look, Ally, I’m not trying to pressure you into anything. But the offer’s there, if you want it.” He hesitates. “It would just be a place to stay. I promise I wouldn’t try anything.”
I nod, turning it over in my head. The truth is, I’m tired, and my arm is sore. Falling off my bike shook me up. And the thought of going home to my basement apartment, that probably already smells like mildew, is not appealing.
I thought of going to my parents’ for a few days, but it would feel like admitting I can’t look after myself. I have some friends in Somerset, but they’re not close. My best friend is in France, training for the French Open, so I’d have to get on a plane before I could crash on her couch.
But Drew is here, offering to let me stay at his place, and I doubt his condo smells like mildew. It would fit right in with our pretend relationship, and I trust him when he says it would just be a place to stay. In the ER this morning, he made an effort to look away whenever I had to lift up my shirt.
“Okay.”
