"He needs to rest, Russell. He came close to death. The last thing he's probably thinking about is me."
"I'm going to stay down here and give you both some time. This will help you and Parker, I promise. If it goes badly I'll let you slap me again." Emily chuckled a little and then turned back towards the elevators. When she reached the floor, she saw a doctor leaving Parker's room. She stood in the hall, hesitant to go in.
Parker was hoping that Emily would've stayed. She saved his life. Now he was even more in love with her. Now that I'm okay, she has no reason to come back, and I have no reason to stay in Colorado. The soft knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. He didn't think the nurse would be here this soon to draw his blood. But when he saw Emily's tear-stained face, he slid over in the bed and pulled back the covers. She quickly removed her shoes, not even caring about how horrible she looked. She hadn't slept much in days and hadn't showered or brushed her hair. When she climbed under the blankets, her body fit perfectly against Parker's. He pulled her head to his chest and waited until her tears were through.
"Emily, you saved my life and I don't even know how to say thank you for that..."
"I didn't have a choice. When you love someone you do whatever it takes."
That was all Parker needed to hear. "You have no idea how much I love you, Emily."
Russell stopped at the nurse's station and was happy that his brother was getting discharged in the morning. He was almost tempted to call Rhonda and have the pine trees in their yard chopped down. He quietly laughed at his imagined reaction he'd get from his wife. He walked to Parker's room and heard no sounds. I'm glad he's resting. He cracked the door to peek in and found Emily and Parker wrapped up in each other's arms. Both were sleeping, and both had smiles on their faces. Today's a good day, thought Russell as he softly closed the door behind him. The smiles were definitely contagious.
"Mr. Davis? You didn't eat your breakfast and your lunch is cold." She gave Emily a harsh look. "We have plenty of chairs..."
"Oh I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep." Emily's cheeks turned red as she turned to get up.
"Stay here, Em. We'll order some take-out." Parker wanted her next to him.
"Well, the doctor put you on a diet as tolerated, and I'm here to take your IV out. You're handling fluids pretty well so I don't see why you couldn't order something healthy."
"Do I have to stay? Can I be discharged this evening?"
"Parker, I don't think you should leave." Emily got a very worried look on her face.
"But I feel really good." Parker tried to protest but he could tell he wasn't going to win.
"Please stay until the morning."
Parker couldn't resist Emily's pouty face, so he quickly gave in. "Okay, I'll stay as long as you promise me you'll go eat a good meal and get a good night's sleep."
"Deal. You'll call me if you need anything?"
"I promise," Parker gave her a genuine smile and softly kissed her lips.
Just as Emily was getting ready to walk out, Russell came in the room. "You're looking much better, Parker." Russell winked at his brother and smiled at Emily.
"I feel much better and I'd like to go home, but my idea got vetoed." Parker glanced at Emily.
"Good girl," said Russell. "Tomorrow you'll be a little bit stronger and by the next day you should be good enough to travel back to New York." Russell gave Parker a thumbs up, but you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
The smile left Emily's face, and Parker's sinking feeling showed immediately in his eyes. "Well there's lots of time to discuss all of that," he quickly responded. But no matter how hard Parker tried, he wasn't able to change the reality that quickly settled in.
"Are you taking off, Emily?" Russell was kicking himself.
"Yeah, I'm going to go grab some food, then get some sleep.
"Do you mind if I join you? I haven't eaten yet either. I'll come back and see Parker this evening. Visiting hours are almost over but I can come back at six tonight."
"Sure, I don't mind." Emily did mind, though. She wanted to be alone and think about what just hit her.
"Parker, I'll see you this evening. Love ya, man."
"Back at you...make sure she eats." He watched Emily offer a quick smile and wave from the doorway. That wasn't exactly what he expected.
Now what the hell's going to happen?
Emily drove to a Chinese restaurant close to the hospital and walked to a corner booth. She was happy it wasn't crowded. Not much was said until their food was delivered. Emily hadn't realized how long it had been since she'd eaten. Her stomach, however, turned as tight as a knot.
"I'm sorry for sticking my foot in my mouth back at the hospital. I didn't mean to even bring that up."
"Maybe I didn't want to hear it, but you spoke the truth, Russell. I can't let a relationship form when all he's going to do is leave. It wouldn't be fair to either of us."
"Parker has to be in New York. But long distance relationships happen all the time." Russell knew that was a pretty crappy response as soon as he said it.
Emily just shook her head and picked at her food. Silence loomed over them, and the longer it did, the more horrible Russell felt.
"Emily, maybe you could open up a practice in New York?"
"I don't belong in New York. I was raised here, and I don't want to just walk away from the land. That's all I have left of my family." Emily put the remainder of her food in a takeout box. She ate very little. "I have a business partner too. I can't just up and leave him."
"I understand. But think about it."
Emily drove Russell back to the hospital and then headed to her apartment. Once she got home she called to update Mick and check on the shepherd.
"I'll come into work in the morning."
"Emily, you should stay home for a few days." Mick could tell by the sound of her voice that something else had happened.
"I appreciate your concern, but the best thing for me right now is to stay busy." After she convinced Mick, she jumped in the hot shower and crawled into bed. Emily was hoping that sleep would come quickly and take her out of her misery, but sleep didn't come and the misery settled in tenfold.
When her alarm went off, she crawled out of bed feeling like death warmed over. She wasn't looking forward to the day, not even a little.
Russell walked into the hospital room to find his brother pacing back and forth.
"I'm sorry, Parker, it looks like I ruined everything."
"It's okay, you didn't ruin things. You pointed out the truth. Did she say anything to you?"
"She picked at her food and said she couldn't leave Colorado and didn't want a long distance relationship." Russell ran his fingers through his hair.
"Get me some clothes. I need to go see her."
"Parker, she's at home resting. Seriously, she's been up for a long time and needs to rest so she can think clearly. First thing in the morning, I'll bring you some fresh clothes and take you to see her."
"I'm not going to New York without her."
"Parker, listen to yourself. You obviously need more rest so you can think clearly too. You can't stay in Colorado. We have lots of work to do. Saying that we got a little behind is putting it mildly."
Parker finally agreed and said goodnight to Russell. It's going to be one hell of a sleepless night. And it was.
Emily walked into the clinic and was greeted by a very happy German Shepherd. "Look at you!" Emily got on her knees and quickly got her face washed.
"He's really doing good, isn't he?" Mick bent over and scratched the dog's ears. "Unlike someone else I know..."
"Mick, come on, give me a break today. How's the schedule look?"
"A few routine surgeries and appointments, but nothing big."
"If you want, I can stay today and you can take off. Jerry's here isn't he?"
"He should be here shortly. Emily, I don't think it's the best idea for you to be at the clinic today. You've gone through an awful lot." Mick would never stop worrying about her. Even though she put on a brave front, he knew she was suffering.
"It's all good, Mick. Thank you for your concern, but I'll be fine." Emily headed towards the front desk to check on appointments. She wasn't in the mood for any more protests from Mick.
Caroline sat at the front desk and watched as Emily came through the doors to the lobby. It was the end of the day and no more appointments were left. "Em, I hate to bother you again, but Parker Davis has called you nine times. Do you think you can call him back?" She knew something was troubling Emily, but didn't want to meddle.
"I'll call him back when I get home."
"There aren't any added appointments--"
"I'll take care of it, Caroline. Thank you." Emily was exhausted. She felt weak and still hadn't eaten very much. All she wanted to do was go to bed. She walked back to the conference room and gathered her things. Mick walked in and stared at her.
"Go get some food in your stomach, Em. If you don't start taking care of yourself, I'm going to force feed you."
"I'll stop on the way home. See you in the morning, Mick." Emily walked out the door, leaving Mick still standing there.
Caroline walked to the back with yet another message from Parker Davis. "Mick, this is the tenth time he's called. Can you find out what he wants? He keeps saying it's urgent and Emily isn't calling him back." Caroline was getting tired of taking the same message over and over again.