Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
CAITLIN
“Hang the fuck on. Is that Caitlin Parker? On my hospital floor?”
Grinning at the voice, I spin around and look straight into the smiling face of Sarah’s dad, my uncle, Jordan Wyles.
“Your hospital floor? I’m pretty sure your hospital floor is about six hundred miles away.
What the hell are you doing here?” I ask as he wraps me in a hug.
“You guys aren’t supposed to be in Pittsburgh until tomorrow. ”
Jordan is one of my dad’s best friends. He’s married to my mom’s youngest sister, Jo, and his brother Noah married my mom’s middle sister, Hannah.
They all live in Boston, along with their other two brothers—Emmy’s dad Cooper and Sophie’s uncle Elliot and their families.
I knew they were planning a Pittsburgh trip to hang with my parents for the weekend and to see Sarah, but the last place I expected him to be was the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital.
He presses a kiss to the top of my head and steps back. “I could ask you the same thing. The hospital isn’t exactly your usual lawyer stomping grounds.”
I hold up the briefcase in my hand. “Favor for a client. They were supposed to come in for a meeting today to sign some documents, but their son broke his leg pretty badly and is here for surgery. I needed a change of scenery, so I said I would come to them.”
A change of scenery because my office is now known as the scene of The Kiss, and I can’t be in there now without replaying that little interlude over and over in my head.
Even a full forty-eight hours later, I still can’t believe I kissed Drew.
And not in the we kissed way. In the I grabbed him and pulled him in and kissed him like the world was ending kind of way.
I have no idea how it happened or why, but I blame it on Drew being far too intuitive for his own good.
Because if I blame him, I don’t have to think about how good it felt that he was there, exactly when I needed someone to be.
His quiet understanding and the hand on my back and the steady support I didn’t need to ask for because somehow he knew to give it.
That knowing felt better than I’m willing to admit, and I’ve thought about that moment in my office approximately four million times since it happened.
It turns out you’re dead to me works a whole lot better when I can actually bury the person in my brain, but Drew is some sort of zombie who keeps resurrecting himself and it’s fucking annoying.
It also probably would have helped if I hadn’t grabbed him and kissed him like a woman possessed.
So yeah.
“Lawyer house calls. I dig it,” Jordan says with a grin, breaking me out of my existential crisis. “You look great, Cait. Hardcore lawyer professional.”
I shrug, taking a sip of the iced latte in my free hand and trying not to wince a little when I get a wave of nausea the second it hits my taste buds.
The third latte and my attempt to hydrate with caffeine was definitely a bad idea.
“It comes with the territory. So what are you doing here early? Are Jo and Hannah already here too? And Noah?”
Jordan nods. “Yep. They’re meeting Sarah for lunch in between her classes.
I mentioned to a colleague here that I was going to be in Pittsburgh for the weekend and he asked me to come early to consult on a case, so we flew in last night.
It’s a complex neonatal surgery, so they needed to call in the big guns. ”
He grins, still a cocky shit-stirrer even in his fifties, but as one of the most sought-after pediatric surgeons in the country, he has the bona fides to back it up.
He’s also deeply devoted to his family, loves my Aunt Jo in a way that is actually unbelievable until you see it up close, and is one of the best people I know.
“It’s really good to see you, Cait,” he says, smile turning soft.
“You’ll be at dinner tomorrow night, right?
I know Jo and Hannah are dying to see you, and Jo brought presents. ”
I roll my eyes. “Is she trying to get me to do the pink Converse thing again? I totally respect her love for them, but I’m not exactly a pink kind of girl.”
He flashes me a grin. “Can’t tell, she swore me to secrecy. You know how seriously she takes present giving.”
I laugh a little, thinking of my cheerful, sunshine aunt. “I’ll be at dinner. My mom sent me a calendar invite and has reminded me no fewer than four times, like she thinks I’ll forget.”
“Will you?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
I roll my eyes. “I don’t forget anything.”
Jordan chuckles and glances at his watch. “I have to run to my consult, but I love that I got to see you. I can’t wait to text Jo Jo and tell her. She’ll be so jealous.”
I eye him. “Are you a teenager?”
He just grins wider. “It’s not often I get to one-up my wife, so seeing you before she does is a big get. Maybe I’ll drop by Fireside after the consult and see Jack so I can one-up her times two.”
I take another cautious sip of my coffee, weighing his words. “You guys have a really weird relationship.”
Jordan beams at me. “I know, isn’t it great? Gotta run, Cait. See you tomorrow.”
With a quick hug and a wave, Jordan heads down the hall, and I glance at the numbered patient room in front of me before heading in the opposite direction in search of the one I’m looking for.
It takes fifteen minutes and two wrong turns to find the part of the floor I need.
I passed no fewer than ten nurses and doctors and assorted other hospital employees I probably could have asked for directions, but everyone here has a job to do, and I didn’t want to keep them from theirs while I tried to find the room I needed to do mine.
When I get to the room, I pause and lean against the wall, my lower back aching just a little and my stomach still roiling.
I really need to start drinking more water.
And to get through this meeting as quickly as possible so I can kick off these heels because they’re killing my back and probably ruining my pedicure, and my patience is at an all-time low.
Tossing my still almost-full coffee cup in the trash, I’m about to knock when a voice filtering through the heavy wood door has me pausing with my hand in the air.
“That’s, like, superhero levels of brave, dude.”
No fucking way.
The deep rasp makes goosebumps race over my skin, my stomach swooping in a way that has nothing to do with my caffeine consumption.
My brain runs on side-by-side tracks of What the fuck?
and Did that kiss affect me so much I am literally hallucinating Drew Ellicott’s voice in a children’s hospital?
and for a second, I wish I was the kind of person who was comfortable ditching clients because I have the sudden, wild urge to turn around and run.
“I know, right? It was so awesome.” The earnest voice belongs to a child, and it’s followed by the low laughter that makes me sure I’m not hallucinating and has me cursing my zealous dedication to doing the things I say I’m going to do that makes running a nonstarter.
Somehow, I think, I would know that laugh anywhere, and for reasons unknown, Drew is in this hospital room.
The hospital room I should have been in five minutes ago.
It’s the thought of being late that propels me forward despite whatever I’m about to find inside. Because I have a job to do and I am a motherfucking professional. With a deep, fortifying breath, I take the last step forward and knock on the door.
“Come in!” a female voice calls.
Pushing open the door, I step over the threshold, and like I’m some sort of fucked up homing beacon for giant, sexy football players, my eyes land directly on Drew.
He’s sitting, his big body folded into a chair that looks way too small to hold his professional athlete-sized frame, situated right next to the hospital bed.
He’s wearing jeans, a black hoodie, and a backwards Renegades hat that does crazy things to my insides.
His brown eyes flash with surprise when he sees me, and his lips tip up in a smirk.
Those eyes drop the length of my body, heat searing through me at the slow perusal even as I resist the urge to fidget.
For some reason he lingers an extra second on my black heels, and when his gaze comes back to mine, and he lifts a single eyebrow in a move that has no business being as hot as it is, the heat turns into a blazing inferno as memories of The Kiss once again invade my brain.
“Caitlin!” My client Mia Williams’ voice yanks me out of my sex haze, and even though I tear my gaze away from Drew’s to focus on her, I can still feel his eyes on me.
She stands to shake my hand, all smiles.
“You really didn’t need to make the trip all the way over here.
We would have come to you once we got Aidan home and situated. ”
I shake my head, ordering myself into professional mode. “It’s really no problem. I know how eager you and John are to sign these trust documents.”
She nods. “He just ran down to the cafeteria to grab some coffee, so he should be back soon. In the meantime, meet my son, Aidan.”
I turn to the bed, focusing on the nine-year-old clad in a hospital gown and a Renegades hat of his own, his right leg propped up and wrapped in some sort of splint.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Aidan. I heard you broke your leg doing a killer skateboard move.
” I smile and drop my voice low. “That’s badass. ”
Drew snorts and Mia chuckles. Aidan beams at me. “It was totally killer. I can’t wait to do it again.”
“No rush on that,” Mia mutters.