Bridget sucked in a shallow breath of air, the noise hissing through her lips. Her voice trembled as she answered. “Yes.”
“Well then.” Jerica eyed her up and down. “Would you want to perhaps go on a date with me?”
“I’m in a wheelchair.”
“Unless your prognosis has changed from when you left, you won’t be in that wheelchair forever, not that it would make a lick of a difference to me whether you were or not. While I might be interested in your body, Bridget, it isn’t the only thing about you that intrigues me.”
Bridget stared at her hard, her gaze unnerving, and Jerica almost backed off, gave in, and gave Bridget an out, but on a very basic level she didn’t want to. Jerica wanted an answer, one that was clear as day.
“Yes,” Bridget answered so quietly Jerica almost missed it.
“Really?” Jerica raised her eyebrows.
“Yes.” She sounded far more confident the second time she said it. “I’ll go on a date with you.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Jerica squeezed Bridget’s knee. “I’ll call you if you like, but we can only go on a date if you actually answer my call or text me back.”
Giving an embarrassed smile, Bridget nodded. “All right. I promise I’ll answer.”
“Good.” Jerica stood up straight. Eli came around the corner, glancing at the two of them before waiting for a sign that she should approach. Jerica gave her a confident nod before moving back to the counter. “I’ll see you around, Bridget, and good luck on your appointment today.”
“Thanks.”
“Ready?” Eli asked, her hands curling around the handles of the wheelchair.
“Where the hell have you been? You’re a crappy chauffeur, you know.”
Eli laughed the admonition off. “Sure I am. I assume you got the girl?”
Bridget’s cheeks flushed with red, and it moved down her neck.
“And I see I’m right. Catch you later, Jerica.” Eli laughed as she walked off, pushing Bridget in front of her. Jerica heard Bridget call Eli an asshole before they turned the corner. She couldn’t help but laugh at the two of them. It was the perfect way to end her work week. With a much lighter step, Jerica went back to the ER to finish out the few hours she had left and head home to make one very particular phone call.
CHAPTER6
The shaking woke her up.Flinging her arm out around her, she tried to find purchase, but her body wouldn’t do what it needed to. Her heart rate ramped up, her stomach twisting with nerves as she tried to see what was happening. Bridget pried open her eyes as the scent of cow shit and coffee greeted her.
“Chill out, Bridge.” Eli’s rough voice hit her, and Bridget calmed, lying back on the mountain of pillows they’d needed for her to be comfortable, and rubbing her hands over her face.
Even after staying there for just over a week she still couldn’t get used to the fact she wasn’t home and someone else was there. “What time is it?”
“It’s late, actually, but I don’t think you slept all that well.”
Embarrassment hit her hard, but she didn’t comment on it.
“It’s close to nine.”
“Really?” Turning as much as she could, Bridget grabbed for her cell phone. She hadn’t been able to sleep, the drugs she’d been taking to mitigate her pain were affecting her brain, and she’d had trouble quieting it down. Then when she had fallen asleep, the same damn nightmare hit her as before. At least this time she hadn’t flipped out like she had before.
“Yeah, and I’m sorry, Bridget, but they’re coming. We’ll make you look your best, you’ll push through it, and then we can break down afterward. All right?”
“What?” Bridget’s sleep-addled mind struggled to keep up with everything Eli said.
“Your parents.”
Her heart sank. She wanted to mold back into the bed and hide away. She absolutely did not want to see them, not at Eli’s, not where it was safe.
“They said they’d be here in an hour.”