He closed the cover and gave it back to her. They quietly exited the room. When they were halfway down the hall, Ace saw a tear fall down her cheek. Acting on pure instinct, he snaked his arm around her waist, tugged her towards him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
She sniffed and wiped the moisture beneath her eye. Her eyes were shimmering with emotion as she explained, “He said ‘as you wish.’ That’s from The Princess Bride.”
“Oh, okay.” Ace had seen that movie when he was a kid, and the line did sound familiar.
“No, it’s not…you don’t understand…” She sniffed again and another tear fell down her face. “He only quotes movies or songs to people he’s comfortable with. It’s how he shows emotions. It’s like his way of expressing himself. He has to feel safe with someone before he does that.”
Not knowing how else to approach this he went with, “That’s a good thing. Right?”
“Yes.” She smiled brightly as she nodded and another tear fell down her face. “It’s a very good thing.”
He would do anything to keep putting that smile on her face. The smile that reaches her eyes.
“Stephanie? Is everything okay?”
He looked up to see a young nurse walking towards them.
“Yeah, sorry.” Stephanie’s posture straightened as she wiped her face with both hands. “I don’t know why I’m being so emotional.”
“Oh good.” The nurse genuinely looked relieved.
Extending his hand, Ace introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Ace.”
“Oh right.” Stephanie shook her head slightly. “Ace this is Nora. She’s Scott’s favorite nurse.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” Nora took his hand and smiled a smile that quickly went from friendly to flirty. “So are you a friend of Mason’s?”
“No.” Ace slid his hand out of Nora’s and turned his attention back to Stephanie, who didn’t meet his gaze.
Instead, she hugged Nora and said, “We were just on our way out. It was nice seeing you.”
They’d made it a few feet before Nora caught up with them. “Oh, I forgot to ask, have you and Mason set a date?”
“No.” Stephanie looked at him then back to Nora and back to him again, he could see a battle going on behind her pretty brown eyes, but he had no idea what the war was over. After a few beats of indecision, she said, “Mason and I are not together. I don’t know why he said we were. I didn’t say anything earlier because Scott was confused about it and I didn’t want him to get upset if the subject was brought up and I wasn’t here.”
“Oh,” Nora pointed between Stephanie and him. “So are you two…”
“Yes.” He answered at the same time Stephanie said, “It’s complicated.”
“Got it.” Nora grinned, still looking slightly confused before excusing herself and heading back down the hall.
Neither he nor Stephanie spoke as they made their way back to the truck. Ace helped her in and then went to his side of the car. The exchange that had just transpired was odd, and he could tell that it was bothering Stephanie.
He hadn’t even got his door shut before she said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” He turned slowly towards her.
“The Mason thing. He stopped by here last week and told Scott that we were back together and getting married. I tried to tell him the truth, but he started getting upset. I didn’t want to upset Scott so I let it go. Then I didn’t feel like addressing it with Nora when she mentioned it, so I didn’t correct her at the time, but I don’t want you to think that anything’s going on with Mason and me. There’s not. I honestly don’t kno—”
“Stephanie,” he interrupted, knowing that once she got on a roll it was hard for her to stop herself. “You don’t owe me an apology or an explanation.”
Because they weren’t together. He didn’t add that part, but it was the truth as much as he wished it wasn’t. That didn’t change the fact that he wanted to find Mason and let him know exactly what he thought about him lying about his relationship with Stephanie. He’d had his hands around that weasel’s throat when he’d pushed his way into Stephanie’s house, but that obviously hadn’t made enough of an impression. Ace wanted to rectify that. But the last thing he wanted was Stephanie to sense his desire to settle things with her ex once and for all. She had enough worry and stress in her life, and Ace wasn’t about to add to it.
“Oh…” A wrinkle appeared between her brows. “I just thought…I didn’t want you to think that I would…that Mason and I were…” Her phone vibrated in her purse and he heard her curse beneath her breath as she reached in and pulled it out.
When she saw the number, her eyes closed and her head fell back on the headrest as she lifted the device to her ear. “Hey.”
He waited to see if it was Simone, Scott or work. It seemed like those were the only three calls she got.
“Yeah, I can. Give me half an hour and I’ll be in.”
Work.
She disconnected the call. “I’m sorry, that was the hospital. They are short staffed. I need to go in.”
“No worries.” He started the engine and backed out of the parking space.
They drove in silence. He could feel that she was tense, and he wasn’t sure if it was because she was still worried about the Mason thing or if she just didn’t want to go into work.
“Well, I bet that wasn’t the night you had planned.” She let out a forced laugh as she stared out the passenger side window. “Ask a girl to dinner and you get this.”
He pulled to a four way stop, put the truck in park and placed his hand around the back of her neck, tugging her gently towards him until they were a breath apart. “Tonight was amazing. I met your brother. And I saw you, in your element. In your life. It was the best date I’ve ever had.”
She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his just as a horn honked behind them. They both jumped, startled by the noise and laughed as he put the truck in gear and started down the road again. “And you’re not off the hook, you still owe me a dinner.”
“Okay,” she agreed, still smiling from ear to ear and he saw that it did reach her eyes.
She was right, it wasn’t the night he’d had planned. It was better.
Chapter 21
Stephanie rolled over and reached for her body pillow. When she didn’t feel it and she tried to drift back to sleep without it. She failed. Her inability to return to zzz-land had nothing to do with her lack of a feather stuffed sleep aid, it was because of the noise. There was a siren blaring.
Was she at the hospital?
Had she fallen asleep in an on-call room?
No. Those rooms were for residents and doctors. She wouldn’t be asleep there.
The siren continued blaring and she came to the conclusion it had to be her alarm. Her alarm was going off. She needed to change that. When she tried to open her eyes, she quickly realized she couldn’t. Her body felt weak, too weak to wake up. Sleep. She just needed more sleep.
Again, she willed herself to lose consciousness. To fall back into a peaceful slumber. Again, she failed. That alarm was too loud.
Knowing there was no getting around it she forced her heavy lids open and squinted at the red light displaying the time. It was five o’clock. She raised her hand and hit the snooze button. When she laid back down she realized that her arms and legs were achy. She ignored it, telling herself that she just needed more rest.
A second later her peace was interrupted when the alarm rang out again. She must not have hit snooze. Trying once more to silence the dreaded racket, she hit her hand where she estimated the sound was coming from and tried to disable it without opening her eyes. When the obnoxious noise continued she knew that she had no choice, she needed visual assistance to shut this sucker down. Her lids separated enough to let a tiny sliver of visibility in. She managed to locate the clock alarm and through half-closed eyes she saw the numbers that only a moment before had been a five and two zeros were now a six and two f
ives.
It couldn’t be 6:55 p.m.
Her eyes opened wider to verify the change. Yep. It was almost 7:00 p.m. Had she really fallen back to sleep for almost two hours? Her alarm was still going off and with much more effort than it should’ve taken she pushed up on her elbow and successfully shut it off. With the quiet seemingly restored she lowered her hand back to the bed. A loud pounding in her head replaced the shrill sound of the alarm. She closed her eyes and a chill rushed through her. She pulled the comforter up to her chin and snuggled into the warmth. A moment after the cool tremor, her body temperature swung like a pendulum in the opposite direction and she was so hot. As she worked to get out from under the covers the rhythmic thudding continued.
After tossing and turning and not being able to get comfortable she pushed to a sitting position and she glanced at her phone that was lit up on the night stand. It showed several texts from Ace and as she read them the reality of the situation came crashing down on her.
They were supposed to go to dinner tonight. She’d overslept. He was at the door.
She started to get out of bed and the entire room spun around her. When she lowered back down to the mattress another thing became clear. She was sick. Really sick. The virus that had been sweeping through Harper’s Crossing had finally taken her out.
The pounding, which she now knew was Ace at the door, continued. Picking up her phone she considered shooting him a text, but decided against it because the task seemed too daunting. Instead, she pressed the icon of the phone below his name.
She didn’t even hear one ring before his voice was in her ear. His tone was filled with concern. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m sick,” her voice sounded as weak as she felt.
“Where are you?”
“In bed. I was asleep. I just woke up,” she managed to explain.
“Can you open the door?”
Stephanie shook her head.
“Stephanie, can you open the door?” Ace repeated.
“Oh, sorry.” She had to use her words since he couldn’t hear her shaking her head no. “I don’t think I can go to dinner.”
“I know,” he spoke calmly. “I want you to open the door so I can come in. So I can take care of you.”
Oh, that’s sweet.
“I’m fine.” Stephanie gave her pat answer.
“I’m not. I’m not going to be fine until I see with my own eyes that you are.”
She didn’t have the energy to argue with him. “I don’t want to get you sick. I just need sleep.”
Another chill ran through her and her jaw trembled. She closed her eyes and laid back down on the bed.
“Do you have a hide-a-key?”
Ace’s voice was far away and she realized that the phone had slipped from her hand. She kept her eyes open long enough to pick it up, but then she closed them again. “What?”
“Do you have a key that is hidden outside?” His deep voice rumbled.
A key? Outside?
No. Yes, wait she did. “Umm, there’s one in the blue flower pot. It’s for Simone. She loses things.”
She felt the phone slipping from her fingers again. Her fingers tightened around it, but she still lost it. She opened her eyes expecting to find her phone on the bed beside her, instead she found Ace hovering above her.
“Hey,” he said as he brushed the hair that had fallen in her face off her forehead.
His touch felt so good. She wanted to tell him to go, to insist that he would get sick, but when she opened her mouth she just said, “Hey.”
“I’m going to get you a cool cloth and something to drink. I’ll be right back.”
“K.” She watched him walk out of her room and tried to stay awake so she could tell him thank you. Her lids were heavy and she decided to close them just for a minute until he got back.
* * *
Ace returned from the kitchen to find Stephanie sound asleep, curled up on the edge of her bed. She looked so small, so vulnerable. As much as he hated seeing her sick, he was so happy that he was there. That she wasn’t alone like she had been all her life.
When he’d shown up for their second dinner date in as many days and she hadn’t answered the door or her phone, his first thought had been that she must’ve been called into work, or maybe she had to go see Scott. But when he checked the drive and saw her car, he’d started to panic. What if she’d fallen and hit her head, or worse? What if Mason had shown up and she was in trouble?
He’d stood outside her door knocking, texting and calling her for a good five minutes. Ace had always prided himself on being even keeled and rational but if she hadn’t called him he couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t have kicked the door in. When it came to Stephanie all bets were off.
As he set the cool cloth and glass of water on her nightstand he noticed that she was shivering. He pulled her blanket over her, tucking her in. In the kitchen he’d found some medication for flu symptoms, which he hoped would help her feel better. She’d mentioned to him when he was staying here recovering that she’d decided to stock up because of the virus that was going around. She’d knocked on the wood of her dresser and said that she hadn’t gotten it yet, that so far she’d been lucky.
It looked like her luck had run out.
He debated whether or not he should let her rest or wake her up to take the medication. When he’d brushed her hair off her face earlier her skin had been hot to the touch. Knowing he needed to cool down her body temperature he decided that if she slept through that, fine, if not he’d have her take her medication.
A drip of water fell down his hand as he lifted the terrycloth hand towel that he’d run under cold water. When he laid it on her forehead her eyes remained closed. He left it there for a few minutes before removing and refolding it so that the cool side was facing out. As gently as he could he lifted her head a fraction of an inch, just enough so that he could slip the cloth between the pillow and the back of her neck.
Her eyes opened before he had it in place. Her voice was strained as she whispered, “Thank you.”
“Can you sit up?” he asked. “I have some medicine for you to take.”
She nodded and he helped lift her to a sitting position. After taking the pills that he’d found in her cabinet, she slid back down so that she was lying flat again. He tucked her back in and replaced the cloth at the back of her neck.
For the next few hours he sat beside her and watched as she tossed and turned. Every twenty minutes or so he would refresh the cloth to keep her body temperature down. When she’d open her eyes, he’d have her drink some water so she wouldn’t get dehydrated.
The entire time he watched and cared for her, he just kept wondering how many times she’d done this for someone else. Not at her job. Obviously, as a nurse she did this all the time.
He wondered about how many times she cared for the twins by herself. Last night, he’d watched as she’d calmed her brother down and helped him with his breathing treatment. How old had she been the first time she was home alone and he’d had an episode where he needed medical care? He thought about how scared she must’ve been.
Even now, as a grown man with medic training, he was worried. Seeing someone you love suffering did that to you. Even if all she had was a bug that was going around. Scott had respiratory issues on top of his developmental disorders. He didn’t know another person that would’ve been able to do what she had, much less done it as well as she had.
Her arm flailed as she turned to her side and reached out over the empty space next to her. As he’d been observing her tonight he’d noticed she had a habit of kicking or pushing her body pillow over the edge of the bed and then a few minutes later she’d blindly search for it. He’d also noted that she couldn’t sleep soundly unless she had it. Leaning down he picked the pillow up off the floor and settled it beside her. She mumbled under her breath as she cradled it and a peace fell over her face.
Never in his life would he have thought he’d be jealous of an ina
nimate object, but as he looked at the body pillow he realized that he was. He was finding out, when it came to Stephanie he could never say never. She broke the mold and because of that she broke his mold as well. He wanted to be that pillow. Not literally. Although he wouldn’t mind being nuzzled between Stephanie’s legs and held closely to her breasts, but that’s not what he was envious of.
He wanted to be her security. He wanted her to reach for him at night. He wanted to be her serenity.
Chapter 22
“Do you and Ace play naughty nurse and bad patient?”
Stephanie heard her sister’s voice before she opened her eyes. When she did she saw that Simone was in a chair beside her.
“Oh good. You’re awake,” her sister exclaimed happily. “How are you feeling? Ace said that he thought you were doing a little better today.”
Ace hadn’t left Stephanie’s side in the past two days. He’d waited on her hand and foot. She’d tried to tell him she was feeling better yesterday, but she was coming to find out that he was as stubborn as she was.
“Where is Ace?”
“He went to see Scott.” Her sister held out her hand which had two pills in it. “He said that you need to take these.”
“He did what?!” Stephanie used her elbows to sit up.
Simone glanced at her hand and then back at her sister. “He said you needed to take th—”
“Not the pills.” Stephanie waved away her sister’s hand. “You said he went to see Scott.”
“Oh that, yeah.” Simone put the pills on the nightstand. “I guess they called earlier. He called me to come and sit with you while he went to Brookside.”
“Why didn’t you go to Brookside?” Stephanie knew that her sister didn’t like visiting the facility, but in a situation like this she would’ve thought she would step up.
“I told him I would,” Stephanie lifted her hands in mock-surrender. “He said he wanted to go. That he wanted to read Harry Potter or something. Anyway, it’s better this way because I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
All He Needs – Ace & Stephanie (Crossroads Book 10) Page 18