“Ouch,” I groaned, my world tilting as I tried to stand. My head pounded painfully.
“Hope! Are you okay?” Tyler immediately knelt beside me.
“I hit my head,” I said, my hand going to my forehead. When I pulled it back, it was covered in blood. The skin just above my right eye had been cut open, and blood was flowing freely.
“Hold on, Hope,” Tyler said quickly. “We’ll look at it in the light.” He gently helped me to my feet, pressing his hand against my wound to help stop the bleeding.
Tyler supported me through the last few steps as the noise from the deck grew louder. Soon, the glow of the fire pit and the chatter of our coworkers came into view.
“We need help over here!” Tyler called out, and to my dismay, everyone’s heads turned in our direction. Macey was the first to react, rushing over to us.
“Oh my gosh, Hope! What happened?” Macey exclaimed. When she reached us, she gently pulled my hand away to inspect the wound.
“She tripped on the stairs. It’s bleeding pretty badly,” Tyler explained.
“It was so stupid—my shoelace got caught.” I groaned, hating that everyone was looking at me.
Macey examined the cut with her perfectly manicured fingers. “Oh gosh, Hope. You’re going to need stitches. This isn’t something we can fix with just a bandage.”
She grabbed some napkins off the table and helped me press them to my head to slow the bleeding.
“Let me look.”
Jay suddenly appeared, his voice more commanding than everyone else’s. The tone sent my heart racing even faster. Macey stepped back, and Jay came closer, reaching out to cup my face so he could inspect the wound.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Keep holding these here,” he instructed, referring to the napkins. “Alright, everyone, listen up. The party’s over. Hope needs stitches. It’s getting late anyway, so it’s probably best to call it a night.”
Jay reached into his pocket and handed his keys to Devin, who was standing just behind him.
“Devin, can you drive everyone back to the office? Make sure they all get home safely.”
Devin took the keys with a small jangle. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“No, I don’t want everyone to have to leave because of me,” I said, hating that I’d put a damper on the night.
“He’s right, Hope. It’s late, and we were about to wrap up anyway,” Macey assured me, patting my shoulder.
“Thanks for coming, everyone. See you on Monday,” Jay said, and with those final words, everyone began gathering their things and heading back toward the van.
“Feel better, Hope,” Jenn and Erica called as they disappeared around the side of the house.
“Keep me updated,” Macey said, squeezing my shoulder one last time before following after Shelby and Devin.
Jay started walking toward the cabin. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up and stitched.”
Tyler was still beside me, hesitating to leave.
“Go. I’ll be okay,” I said, turning to him and giving areassuring smile while still holding the wad of napkins to my bleeding head.
“You sure?” Tyler asked, looking between Jay and me.
“Yeah. I’ll text you,” I said, forcing a smile.
Tyler nodded, finally relenting. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
