Chapter 7
Walking through the hospital emergency department doors, Nick took the elevator to Poppy’s floor. It was late, but the place still had people wandering the halls—some in uniform and some not. He nodded and smiled and wondered if someone was going to stop him from getting in to see Poppy.
“Can I help you?” the woman behind the reception desk asked as he approached. She looked tired, and there was a stain on her uniform he was fairly sure he didn’t want to know the origin of. He checked her name badge.
“Hey, Nila. Long day?”
Her face moved into a smile and then a yawn.
“The longest.”
“How many hours left on your shift?”
She looked at the clock behind him on the wall. “An hour.”
Nick smiled.
“I’m getting drive-through on the way home,” she added.
“Nice. Look, I know it’s late and visiting hours are long over, Nila, but my friend is terrified of hospitals, and I’d like to check on her before I head home. I’ve had at least ten panicked text messages about her death if she has to stay in here. I just need to settle her down for the night.”
He had no problem lying if he got to make sure Poppy was okay.
“I’m sorry. We can’t allow that.”
“She’s in a room on her own. If she’s sleeping, I’ll leave,” Nick said, giving her a slow smile—the one Poppy said opened zippers in college.
“Well….”
“You can come with me if you like, just to make sure I’ll behave.
I’d be doing the next shift a favor. When Poppy goes off, she goes off.
No calming her when the fear takes hold.
Once, she bit the arm of a nurse and kicked another in the stomach.
Then there was that time she just took off with that thing in her arm. I had to bring her back.”
“The IV?” the nurse asked, looking worried.
“That.” Nick pointed at her. Nila looked like she was wavering, so he went for the sympathy vote.
“She had a real rough time as a kid in the hospital. It’s scarred her. If you’ll just come with me, I’ll check and then go?—”
“It’s all right, Nila. Let him see the patient. He came in with Miss Sylvester today, and I know she’s nervous.” The doctor who admitted Poppy approached the desk. By Nick’s calculations, the guy had been working for ten hours and looked about ready to drop.
“Cheers, Doc. I won’t stay long,” Nick said.
Reaching Poppy’s room, he pushed open the door and entered. Moving quietly around the bed, he looked down at her. Her eyes were open.
“Nick, what are you doing here?”
“You should be sleeping, Poppy.” She was propped up on several pillows, looking uncomfortable.
“I don’t want to stay here anymore. Smuggle me out, please.” Her voice sounded desperate.
“Have you been lying there thinking about that since I left?”
“I hate hospitals, and I want to go home.”
“And here’s me without my violin,” Nick drawled.
“Asshole.”
“True,” he said, hooking a leg around the chair behind him. Nick dragged it forward.
“What are you doing here, Nick? Surely there’s a woman somewhere waiting for you?”
“No, I gave her the night off, and the hospital is on my way home,” he lied, dropping into the chair.
“It’s late. How does being here have anything to do with going home?”
“It was Atherton night. We never finish till twelve.”
She studied him through pain-filled eyes.
“Your family has a night?”
“We tried to pass a bill through Congress, but they wouldn’t give us a whole day, so we go for a night. Every second Friday each month is for us, just siblings with no extras.”
“Extras being?” she asked.
“Cousins, partners, parents, nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, friends, and grandparents,” Nick said.
“Are they all like you?”
Nick brushed a curl off her cheek because he wanted to touch her.
“Hot and intelligent?”
“Arrogant and annoying,” Poppy added.
“Pretty much. Atherton night is held in a bar called Honey’s,” Nick said, resting his elbow on the bed beside her head.
“I bet it’s a real classy joint.” Her smile was small but still a smile.
“Honey’s is gold standard, I’ll have you know. Their spareribs covered in sauce are so hot, you need to cool your mouth down in between bites.”
“My tummy’s rumbling.”
Nick heard the yawn she tried to stifle, so he kept talking.
“Not sure if you remember much about my family, but I’m the oldest Atherton, and then comes Sam. We’re in business together.”
“What kind of business?”
“Architecture and construction.”
“I thought you studied finance in college?” She sounded sleepy and looked cute lying there in that hospital gown with her hair messy. So cute, he wanted to lie down and pull her into his arms.
“Yeah, I guess it just wasn’t my thing.” Nick picked up the curl closest and ran it through his fingers.
“But you were such a scholar,” she said in a mocking tone. Nick had hated studying; she’d loved it.
“If you’re going to keep interrupting, my family history will take longer to tell.”
“Sorry.”
“Next comes Gracie. Tall and blonde, she’s the numbers girl in the family. After her is Thomas. He’s the facts man as the family lawyer, and then lastly is the baby, Emma. She’s a teacher.”
“It’s amazing you were so arrogant, considering you had all those siblings,” she said, sounding drunk on tiredness.
“You weren’t a total picnic in college either, Poppy. Always pissed off with life and shut up tight.” As it turned out, she had good reason to be .
“You are not putting me in the same category of assholery as you, surely?”
He ran his hand over her head in soft, slow movements. This used to put Em to sleep when she was a child.
“I’m sorry if I was mean to you, Poppy, or if you felt like I took advantage of you.”
She turned her head toward him, their faces now inches apart.
“You need to stop this, Nick. I’ve hated you for so long. I’m not sure I can change my opinion this late in life.”
All he needed to do was lean in, and he could kiss her. Nick fought the urge. Now was not the time, but he vowed it would be soon.
“It can’t all have been bad. I’m sure we had some good times.”
“I used to like it when you talked about Brook and how much you missed your home and family.” She smiled softly.
“Is that why you moved here?” He’d filled out her hospital forms, so he knew her address.
Nick thought she wouldn’t answer, and then she whispered, “Yes.” It made his eyes itch to think she’d come here because of him…. Well, what he’d told her about Brook, anyway.
“Do you remember punching that skateboard boy who knocked me over, Nick?”
“Morrison Kemble. I hated him.” He remembered that day and the rush of anger he felt at seeing Poppy fall. “Do me a favor, Poppy, and don’t tell my sisters that story. They already think I have a hero complex.”
“’Kay,” she whispered. He watched as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
“I’ll be here in the morning to take you home, Poppy.”
“Don’t have to.”
He didn’t speak again, just sat there stroking her hair until she stopped fighting and fell asleep.
Nick didn’t want to leave her alone to wake up in the scary hospital, but he also knew he couldn’t stay because visiting hours were over long ago. But he’d be back in the morning.
She moved and moaned in her sleep as something in her sore body tugged.
She then resettled, arm resting on her chest. Finding a spare pillow in the cupboard beside her bed, he lifted Poppy’s injured arm onto it.
She didn’t wake, clearly exhausted. Kissing the top of her head, he then walked out of the room before he followed his impulse and stayed the night in that uncomfortable chair.