“What do you remember?”
“I don’t … I remember being on the phone with you,” Sophie said, searching her memory. “I remember I was being followed. The rest is a little fuzzy.”
“Whoever it was hit you,” Grady said, a muscle twitching in his jaw. “You got spun out into traffic and hit by another car.”
Sophie was horrified. “Was anyone else hurt?”
“The driver of the other car had minor injuries,” he said. “They were treated at the scene and released.”
“What about the driver of the SUV? Did the police catch him?”
Grady shook his head. “He got away.”
“How?”
“I’m not sure,” Grady said. “We’ll deal with that later.”
Sophie sighed, running her hand up her head. She winced when her fingers detected the pronounced bump at her hairline. “Ouch.”
Grady shifted closer to the bed, capturing her other hand between his shaky fingers. “Do you want me to get a doctor?”
“I don’t think so,” Sophie said. “I’m just a little achy.”
“The doctor says you need to take it easy for a few days,” he said.
“The doctor talked to you about my case? What about medical ethics? That could be a story.”
Grady groaned. “Leave it to you to think about work at a time like this.”
“Well, I’m just saying.”
“The doctor told Mandy,” Grady said. “I think she sweet talked him.”
“Mandy was here?”
“She’s still out in the lobby with James,” Grady said. “I think she’s been trying to keep Marge off of her man.”
Sophie knit her eyebrows together – immediately regretting the facial movement associated with the expression. “Marge? What is she doing here?”
“Other than tracking James like a bloodhound in heat? I think she came with your editor,” Grady explained.
“Conrad is here?”
“Yeah. I guess they heard about the accident on the scanner.”
Sophie considered the newsy tidbit. “I still don’t understand why Marge is here. She hates me. I was really mean to her earlier. She probably came in the hope I would die.”
“Let’s not mention the possibility of you dying right now,” Grady said, pressing her fingers to his mouth. “Not even as a joke.”
“Too soon?” Sophie teased.
“Never is too soon.”
THE DOCTOR reluctantly agreed to let Sophie leave against medical advice. Grady promised she would stay in bed, and that he would check on her regularly. He had no intention of leaving her side, so the promise wasn’t a hard one to make.
James and Mandy stopped at an area market to buy food supplies and reading material (Mandy insisted gossip tabloids were a must) and then left the duo alone. James had made noises about sleeping on the couch to stand guard, but Mandy had managed to talk him out of it, which Grady was eternally grateful for.
Grady was convinced there was more talk of underwear in that little manipulation than he’d been privy to – but he didn’t want to find out.
Once they were gone, Grady made sure the doors were locked and climbed the stairs to Sophie’s bedroom. She’d stripped out of the scrubs provided by the hospital (her clothes had been ruined) and Grady had drawn her a warm bath while he dealt with the groceries downstairs. She was out of the tub and wrapped in a robe, standing next to her bed with a lost look on her face, when Grady entered the room.
“What’s wrong?”
Sophie jumped at the sound of his voice. “Nothing. I was just kind of … zoning out.”
“That’s just the medication,” Grady said, swinging into the room. “You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
“I hope so.”
“You’ll probably be sore tomorrow, too,” Grady said. “The doctor wants you to stay in bed.”
“We still have all those documents to go through,” Sophie replied. “We should be looking at those.”
“All you’re looking at is the television and those trashy magazines Mandy picked out,” Grady said. “James and Finn are going through the documents.”
“What if they miss something?”
“Then hopefully Mandy will catch it,” Grady said. “The only thing you’re thinking about tomorrow is getting better.”
Sophie bit the inside of her lip. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Well, you’re going to.”
“No, I mean I really don’t think I can do that,” Sophie said. “What about my car?”
“Tell me who handles your insurance and I’ll deal with that tomorrow. Finn is picking up a police report, and that will tell us who took your car and where it ended up.”