by Regina Kyle
“Then we’re taking your car.” Ivy snatched the keys back and dropped them into her purse. “It’s faster.”
* * *
CADE TURNED HIS head at the whoosh of his hospital room door. A nurse in pink scrubs strode through, followed by Cappy, Sykes and Hansen, still in their turnouts, their faces streaked with dirt and worry.
“Two minutes,” the nurse admonished them, hands on her hips for emphasis. “That’s it. He’s heavily medicated and he needs rest.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cappy answered for the rest of the crew.
The nurse gave him a curt nod and left.
“How’s the cat?” Cade tried to smile, but his face felt numb.
“A damn sight better than you,” Sykes joked, moving into the room to Cade’s bedside.
“And before you ask, the two bystanders you saved are fine, too,” Hansen added, joining his partner.
“Thank God,” Cade croaked, his throat dry.
“They want to thank you.” Cappy stopped at the foot of the bed. “The department’s already talking about an awards ceremony.”
“I was just doing my job.” A job he wouldn’t be doing for the next six weeks, minimum, Cade thought, grimacing at the cast on his left leg.
“You know how the brass is.” Cappy sighed. “Always willing to cash in on a chance for some publicity.”
“The press will eat you up with those movie-star good looks,” Sykes teased.
Hansen nodded. “They’re camped outside, waiting for you to be released.”
“Well, they’re going to be waiting a while. We’re keeping him overnight for observation.” The nurse was back with a cup of water and some pills. She handed both to Cade. “Take these. They’ll help you sleep.”
With a groan, he propped himself up, popped the pills into his mouth and washed them down. “Thanks.”
Then he collapsed against the pillow.
The nurse checked the chart hanging by the bed and turned to Cade’s guests. “Time for you boys to leave. I broke protocol to get you in here after visiting hours, but that’s only because I’ve got a soft spot for first responders.”
“No problem, ma’am,” Cappy said.
“Call me ma’am again and there’ll be a problem.” The nurse’s smile softened her snappy rejoinder.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, Cade.” Hansen gave the blanket an awkward pat.
“Let us know if you need anything.” Sykes clapped Cade on the shoulder. “Like booze. Or broads. Or dirty magazines.”
“Very funny. Now get out of here and let me sleep.”
Cade closed his eyes and listened until the only sounds were the beeps and whirs of the monitors.
His head ached. His leg throbbed. Broken in two places, the doctors said. They also said he was lucky it wasn’t worse. Both clean breaks, no need for surgery. No internal bleeding, all his vital organs intact.
But he didn’t feel lucky. He felt like shit.
Six weeks in a cast meant six weeks out of work. Maybe longer until he got cleared for more than light duty.
What the hell was he supposed to do until then? He lived the job. He was the job. His days and nights, work and free time, all revolved around the station.
Fucking pathetic.
It was no surprise that the guys from B Company had been his only visitors. His own parents hadn’t even called. The hospital had left a message for them as his next of kin, but as far as he knew they hadn’t bothered to respond. And Ivy...
Ivy.
Did she even know he was hurt? It wasn’t like he could ask the nurses to call her, with their relationship a better-kept secret than the formula for Coca-Cola. And he didn’t have a clue what had happened to his cell phone.
He reached for the nightstand and fumbled around. No phone, but he did manage to knock over a plastic pitcher of water and the TV remote.
Cade sank back onto the pillow. His eyes drifted shut again and his breathing slowed. Whatever the doctor had given him was working, that was for sure. And that meant whatever he wanted to say to Ivy would have to wait for morning.
Until then, he’d have to be satisfied with dreaming about her.
It could have been ten minutes or ten hours later when soft voices pierced his semicomatose state.
“Are you sure this is okay?”
Ivy?
“Sure, I’m sure.”
The pink-scrubbed nurse.
“I don’t want to get you in any trouble.”
Yep. Definitely Ivy.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. If anyone asks, just tell them you’re his fiancée.”
His what?
“His...what?” Ivy said, echoing his thoughts.
“Fiancée. They won’t bother you then.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“My pleasure. The pictures you took at the ribbon cutting for the new pediatric ER were great. My supervisor loved them.”
Rubber soles squeaked, the door whooshed and the scrape of wood on the linoleum floor told Cade the nurse had left and Ivy had pulled up a chair next to his bed. Her hand rested lightly on his arm just above his IV, and the sunny, springy scent he’d come to associate with her mixed with the pungent, antiseptic smells of the hospital.
He cracked open one eye slowly, hesitantly, afraid to find out he might still be dreaming.
“Hey.” Nope. Not a dream. The hand on his arm trembled along with her voice. “You’re awake.”
He opened both eyes, blinking against the glare of the hospital’s harsh fluorescent lights. “You’re here.”
“Is that...okay?”
“Of course it’s okay.” He gave her a weak smile that he hoped she read as reassuring and not scary clown. “It’s better than okay.”
“I heard some of the guys from the station came by.”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and struggled to sit up. “My parents...”
“I spoke to them.” She cut him off. “They’re in Edmonton. You dad’s giving the keynote at a botany conference and your mom’s working on a paper she’s coauthoring with a professor at King’s University College. They wanted to know if they should cut their trip short and fly down.”
“God, no.” His stomach rolled at the thought. He’d never hear the end of it if his little accident interrupted their precious careers.
“That’s what I told them, after I reassured them your condition wasn’t life threatening.”
“Thanks.”
“They’re idiots.” She squeezed his hand.
“I know.” He squeezed back. She got him. She really got him. Anyone else would spout some crap about how his parents loved him in their own way. Not Ivy. She knew better. And so did he. He was barely a blip on their radar, an afterthought in their busy lives. On the rare occasions when they did remember his existence, it was to rehash what an embarrassment he was to them. His lack of ambition. His blue-collar job. His parade of women.
He half closed his eyes and let his head fall back. It was starting to pound again, no doubt thanks to his parents and the lighting.
Ivy released his hand and stood. “You’re tired. I should go.”
“Stay.” He reached out to her, eyes fully open now. “Please.”
She shuffled her feet and tugged on the hem of her shirt. “What will people say?”
“What people?”
“It’s a small town. People talk.”
“So don’t listen.” He ignored the pounding in his head and stared at her, his eyes starting to water but his gaze unmoving.
She hesitated for a second before reclaiming her seat and his hand. “Okay. Until you’re asleep.”
He closed his eyes and let out his breath on a long, slow, pain-infused sigh. “Good enough.”
For now.
10
WHEN CADE WOKE up the next morning, Ivy was still there, sprawled in the chair, head back, mouth open, snoring adorably.
The corners of Cade’s mouth curled into a smile. Who knew snoring could be cute?
“I see one of you is awake.” A nurse, this one in lime green, came in with a tray of brown-and-gray institutional food. She wheeled a table over the bed, set the tray on it and pressed a button on the bed rail to raise the head until he was almost in a sitting position. “Eat up. You’re being released. The doctor will be by in a few minutes with your discharge papers.”
“Great.” Six weeks of daytime talk shows and bad reality TV. Maybe he could convince Cappy to let him come in a couple of hours a day and do paperwork or something.
Ivy sat up and yawned, revealing a strip of creamy white skin between her waistband and the bottom of her shirt. “I’ll make sure he follows doctor’s orders and takes it easy.”
What was she, a mind reader?
He reached down to adjust the blanket. His leg might be immobilized, but other parts down under were working just fine.
“I have a feeling that’s going to be a challenge.” The nurse smiled at Ivy then turned back to Cade. “I’ll go get the doctor and your morning meds.”
“I can hardly wait.”
“Don’t be such a grump,” Ivy said as the nurse left. “You’re getting sprung from this place. You should be happy.”
“Yeah, happy.” He picked up his fork and pushed around a pile of goop that he suspected was some sort of potato. “I’ll get to catch up on Jerry Springer. Learn to play the guitar. Reach level one hundred in Candy Crush Saga.”
“You could always study for the lieutenant exam.”
He froze with the fork halfway to his mouth. “How do you know about that?”
“I saw the books in the backseat of your SUV.” She rolled her neck one way and then the other. “When is the test?”
“Cappy gave those to me.” Cade shoveled in a forkful of gooey potato and grimaced. They tasted more like the dirt they were grown in than any spud he’d ever encountered. “I’m not even registered.”
“So get registered.”
“You might have left Stockton in the rearview mirror and forgotten half of high school, but I haven’t.” He peeled back the lid on a plastic cup of orange juice, needing something to rid his taste buds of the sticky residue of the potatoes. “Test taking isn’t exactly my strong suit. I wouldn’t have graduated high school if it wasn’t for you and Gabe pulling me through.”
“I haven’t forgotten Stockton. Or you.” She lowered her head, but not before he saw the mist in her eyes. “And who’s to say we won’t pull you through again? You said it yourself, Cade. We’re friends. We’ll always be friends. And friends look out for each other.”
She stood, stretched and disappeared into the bathroom.
Cade scowled at his plate. Now she was the one throwing the F word around. And he was the one who didn’t like it one damn bit, something he didn’t want to analyze too closely.
Talk about ironic. Alanis Morissette had nothing on him.
“Holy crap.” Ivy’s voice drifted through the open door. “Why didn’t you tell me I looked like Ursula the Sea Witch? My hair’s all over the place.”
“I’ve always thought Ursula was kind of hot.” He sipped his juice, grateful for the change of subject. “She’s got a great rack. So do you.”
“Thanks for noticing.” She popped her head out the door. She’d tried to tamp down her curls with water, but all she’d succeeded in doing was creating a hotter, wetter mess. “You must be on the mend if you’re ogling my breasts.”
“Honey, I’ve been ogling them since the calendar shoot. There just wasn’t a polite time to mention it until now.”
He winked at her, and she ducked back into the bathroom. He downed the rest of his juice, pretty much the only edible thing on the tray. He was even a little afraid to try the coffee.
“How’s our patient doing this morning?” The doctor picked that moment to not-so-conveniently interrupt, bursting through the door with the nurse trailing behind him. He plucked Cade’s chart from a hook next to the bed and flipped through it. “Ready to go home?”
“You bet.” Cade tried to hoist himself up and was rewarded with a blinding bolt of pain that shot from his knee to his ankle.
“Good.” The doctor handed the chart to the nurse, pulled a pad from the pocket of his lab coat and started scribbling. “I’m writing you two prescriptions, a painkiller and an antibiotic. No baths or showers for the next two days. Then you can clean yourself up, but cover your cast with a plastic bag and seal it to keep out any moisture. Elevate the leg whenever you can, and don’t be afraid to ice it if it starts to swell. Diane will get you some crutches, but I’d prefer that you stay off your feet as much as possible. And if your bedroom’s on the second floor, you’ll want to set up something downstairs until the cast comes off.”
Cade swore under his breath. “That’s gonna be a problem. My apartment’s on the second floor of a two-family house.”
The doctor put the prescriptions on the bed table and stuck his pad back in his pocket. “Is there somewhere else you can stay while you’re recuperating?”
Cade shook his head. “I don’t think...”
“He can stay with me.” Ivy came out of the bathroom, her hair a little tamer. “There’s a guest room on the first floor. It’s perfect.”
Perfect? More like letting the fox in the henhouse. Not that the fox was complaining.
“Ivy, you don’t have to—”
She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “I know I don’t. I want to. Besides, what choice do you have?”
She had a good point. He didn’t really have any other options with his parents AWOL, Gabe in the city and his buddy Trey’s place in worse shape than his own.
“Then it’s settled. As soon as Diane goes through the rest of your discharge instructions and makes you a follow-up appointment, she’ll release you to your girlfriend’s care.” The doctor extended his hand, and Cade shook it. “Good luck, Mr. Hardesty. We’ll see you in a few weeks.”
He left the room, followed by the nurse, who stopped and turned at the door. “I’ll be right back with a pair of crutches, your valuables and some information from the nutritionist.”
The door swung shut behind her, leaving Cade alone with Ivy.
“I’ll be in this thing for six weeks.” He sat up, swung his good leg over the side of the bed and thumped his cast with his fist. Bad idea. Pain radiated down his leg. He did his best to ignore it and plowed on. “Will you even be here that long?”
“My dad’s nowhere near ready to go back to work full-time.” Ivy sat next to him on the bed, giving the cast a wide berth. “And I promised the shelter I’d be here for their benefit on Labor Day weekend when they unveil the calendar.”
“We’d be living together.” He eyed her, remembering her words from the night before. “What will people say?”
“I thought you weren’t worried about small-town gossip.”
“I thought you were.”
She gave a halfhearted shrug. “We’re friends, remember? Friends help each other. No one has to know any more than that.”
There she went with the F word again. But even that wasn’t enough to stop Cade’s heart from doing a celebratory jig. Six weeks under the same roof as Ivy. Suddenly his forced incapacitation didn’t seem so much like a prison sentence. It’d be like old times, when he, Ivy and Gabe had spent hours hanging out in the Nelsons’ basement, watching TV and playing video games.
Except minus Gabe. And swap out the video games for screwing like rabbits.
“I can be pretty demanding,” Cade warned.
“I can handle demanding.”
“How about sponge baths?” He leaned in to her, barely resisting the impulse to bury his face in her hair, sexily mussed from a night of sleeping in a hospital chair. “Can you handle those?”
“Sponge baths?”
“You heard the doctor. No baths or showers.”
“For two days.” She playfully pushed his shoulder. “Not six weeks.”
He pushed back. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
&n
bsp; “Um, do you have any clothes?” She craned her neck to catch a glimpse of his exposed back. “As attractive as that hospital gown is, I don’t think you want to walk down the hall with your backside hanging out.”
“Check the closet when you’re done checking out my ass. I think they put the stuff I was wearing under my turnouts in there.”
She went to the closet and opened the door. “Nope. Nothing.”
“Could you run by my place and grab me a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt?”
“What about underwear?”
“Optional.” He fell back onto the pillow, crossing his arms behind his head.
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“You just want to get your hands on my skivvies.” He grinned. “Again.”
“Aw, shucks.” She grinned back. “You got me.”
“You’ll have to swing by the station first. I left my keys there.”
“No problem.” She scooped up her purse from the floor and fished out her cell phone. “I’ll call someone to come get me. I’m sure Noelle’s long gone by now.”
“Hey, roomie.” His voice made her stop rummaging and look up. “One more favor.”
“Name it.”
“If you’re going to rifle through my delicates, I’m partial to the bright blue ones with Pac-Man on the crotch.”
* * *
“HERE WE ARE.” Ivy fumbled with the key, her hands damp and shaky. After a few tries, she managed to get it into the lock and let them in. “Home, sweet temporary home.”
“Thanks.” Cade planted his crutches and maneuvered his way into the entryway with more ease than Ivy could have managed if she’d have been using the darned things for half a century.
She picked up the duffel bag she’d stuffed with clothes when she stopped at Cade’s apartment and followed him inside. “Let’s get you settled on the couch in the living room. I’ll show you your room later.”
“I’m not a cripple.” He looked down at his plaster-encased leg and frowned. “Well, I am, but I can hobble a few steps to the couch under my own power.”
“Stubborn man.”
“Persistent woman.”
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.” She dropped the duffel in the foyer and continued to follow him into the living room, smiling at his back as they went. “My house, my rules.”