After the Christmas Party(138)
That he could light up her world she had no doubt. In the past week she’d smiled and laughed more than she had…well, maybe ever. The man was a nut. And brilliant. And kind. And generous. And…
She was getting way too dependent on him. It was barely a week since he’d kissed her under the mistletoe at the hospital Christmas party and every free waking hour had been spent with him. When she wasn’t with him, she was thinking of him, dreaming of him.
“Sorry, I’m fresh out of sleighs and there’s not a bit of fog in sight.”
If spending a week with him could have her feeling so clingy, she really needed to get a hold of herself before she did something silly. Like fall in love with him. That would be nothing short of a tragedy.
And something she needed to guard against.
“This Santa is flexible. How about we grab a bite to eat then catch that new Christmas movie?”
“Not tonight.”
His smile morphed into a frown. “You have other plans?”
Trying to keep a straight face because he read her way too easily, she nodded.
“Am I invited?”
Was he invited? What kind of response was that to a woman saying she had other plans? Really, the man was too much.
“Do you want to be invited?”
“If you’re going to be there? Yes, I want an invitation. A VIP pass even.”
Although she was pretty sure she’d just scolded herself for being so dependent on him, she found she couldn’t say no, didn’t really want to because to say no would mean depriving herself of the twinkle in his eye, the mischief in his grin, the wit in his words.
“Fine. You can go with me.”
He grinned and she wondered if that meant he’d known he’d get his way all along. “Where are we going, princess?”
She had no clue because she’d just made up that she had other plans in a panicky moment. She should have known better.
“It’s a surprise.” To her too since she probably would have just gone to her place for grilled cheese sandwiches and a rerun of some TV series. She still might.
“Aw, are you taking me caroling?” he teased.
She squinted at him in a forced glare. “That would be a surprise, now, wouldn’t it? But, no, I’m not a caroler. That would contradict that whole don’t-like-Christmas thing I have going.”
“But you do sing,” he pointed out, leaning against the counter.
“In my shower doesn’t count.”
“I’d like to be the judge of that for myself. You could give me a private viewing tonight. Now, that would be a surprise.”
She rolled her eyes again and ignored him and the images of them in the shower flashing through her mind.
“You also sing karaoke,” he reminded her.
“Only under the influence of alcohol, which I’d never knowingly do.” She made a pretense of being busy.
“It’s okay to let loose every once in a while and just enjoy yourself.”
“I don’t need alcohol to enjoy myself.” She winced at how harsh her voice had been. She hadn’t meant to bite his head off, yet she definitely had. Unable to just stand still, she headed to a patient room. Anything to escape him.
Unfortunately he followed her, catching her just outside the door. “I didn’t say you did. I was just saying it was okay for you to relax and enjoy life. Talk to me.”
She didn’t want to talk. They were at work. Only Karen was near, but anyone could see them, could hear them if they wanted to eavesdrop. Even if they’d been in private she wouldn’t have wanted to have this discussion, but she sure didn’t here. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Sorry.”
“Okay.” He sounded confused. “You want to explain why you jumped down my throat on that one?”
She shook her head. No, she didn’t want to go there. Not at any point in the next century or so.
He appeared to weigh his options. “Okay, I’ll let it slide.”
They both heard his unspoken “for now”.
Trinity pulled the covers off Jewel Hendrix’s legs to asses them for edema.
“They’re only swollen a little compared to what they were when I checked into this joint,” the seventy-two-year-old woman with end-stage congestive heart failure said a bit breathily. “I can actually move my toes again.”
She wiggled them back and forth.
On arrival in the emergency department, she’d been retaining so much fluid that her skin had been too tight for her to flex her toes. She’d had weeping from her skin on her shins and calves and had had crackles in her lungs. Had she not been brought to the hospital, she would have drowned in her own body fluids.
“There’s still enough fluid that I can’t make out your pedal pulses, though.” Hopefully after another round of diuretics the swelling would go down even more.