“I will. Thanks for everything. You’re the best.”
The nurse wheeled the empty chair away from them and went back inside. Nate told the cabbie Sophie had a ride, and then he glanced across the lot.
“My truck is parked about halfway down that first row. If I go get it, will you still be here when I drive up?”
Sophie closed her eyes momentarily against the light-headedness from standing. She’d done almost nothing but lie around for two days and was weak as a kitten … and detested that feeling.
As she waited for the dizziness to level out, she felt Nate’s hand, firm but gentle, on her arm, steadying her. She opened her eyes to find him inches away, frowning with concern.
“I’m okay. Just rusty at this standing thing. I can make it to your truck as long as we don’t sprint.”
“I’ll drive up.”
“It’s not that far. I can walk.”
“I could carry you.” He grinned and raised his brows, letting on he wasn’t serious, and that alone saved him.
“I have a head injury and charbroiled lungs, not a broken leg. I want to walk.” She swallowed and stiffened her spine, feeling steadier now, and more determined. The sooner she could start walking, standing, doing anything besides lying in a hospital room, the sooner she’d get her strength back.
Nate looked about to say no, so Sophie tried a different tack. She wrapped her hand around his upper arm and held on. “Please?”
He took her bag from her and nodded. “Let’s go then.”
When they got to his truck, an older but well taken care of Ford, she let him help her up into it and sank into the seat, way more tired than she should be from walking a few hundred feet. Recuperation was going to get on her nerves.
Nate climbed in on his side, shot a quick, assessing glance her way, then started the truck. The radio blared out a country song, and he hit the power button to silence it. “Where do you live?”
“Sea Breeze Condominiums on the island. Do you know them?”
“They’re at Sea Breeze Drive, right?”
She nodded, and he headed toward the bridge that would take them across the bay to San Amaro.
“Don’t think you’re off the hook for trying to ditch me this morning,” he said lightly as they drove over the shallow bay.
Damn. Busted. She’d been hoping they could just gloss over that. “I’m sorry. They released me, and you weren’t there, so—”
“So you left me hanging. Or would have.”
“I didn’t know if you’d show up,” she said quietly, voicing only one of her numerous concerns. Another was that he would show up. And here she was, torn between being annoyed and grateful. And more.
It was the more that scared the shit out of her.
“I said I’d drive you home. Of course I’d show up.”
“I get that now,” she said sheepishly. “I apologized. What else do you want from me?”
“Dinner.”
That.
That was exactly why this was a bad idea.
“I’m supposed to be recovering, not going out.”
“Who said anything about ‘out’? I’ll leave you alone to sleep all day, and then I’ll come back at dinnertime to cook you something. That will save you from having to cook. See? All about recovery.”
“You’re hard to argue with.”
