Chapter Sixteen
NATALIE
For the next few days, I woke up with Jake on my mind.
I grinned when my phone buzzed and immediately grabbed it from the nightstand, pushing myself up into a sitting position.
He’d kept his promise about waking me up in the morning.
This was the third day in a row. He’d called me the first day, but I was too sleepy to have a conversation, so we’d settled on texting.
Jake: Good morning, beautiful.
Natalie: I'm up and ready to conquer the day.
Jake: I love your energy.
I felt extra feisty this morning, so I told him what was on my mind.
Natalie: This evening, I'm going to make up my mind about where I'm whisking you away.
Jake: No, you got it wrong. I'm the one whisking you.
Natalie: I thought it wasn't a date? Just someplace where I like to go. That’s whisking in my book.
Jake: Too many semantics.
I threw my head back, laughing. Oh, what a way to wake up.
Natalie: I'm meeting my best friend, Larissa, tonight for dinner. I'll brainstorm with her. She's also very creative.
Jake: I’m having dinner with my grandparents, but I can pick you up after that. We can finalize that brainstorming.
Natalie: Trust me, you don't want that. You'll find yourself questioned about stuff you never dreamed about.
Jake: I can take it.
Natalie: Oh yeah, but I can't. Thanks for waking me up. Talk to you this evening.
I was giddy the whole day. I spoke to my parents and my sisters as I went to the print shop where I wanted to look at a couple of invitations for Jeannie's party.
She'd already notified her friends via email, but she said she wanted them to have the invites as keepsakes.
She was putting a lot of thought into it, and I liked that she was striving for it to be a memorable occasion and not just a big commercial party.
She genuinely cared about her friends, proved by the fact that she was sending a photo of her with said friend with every invitation.
In the evening, I arrived at the restaurant before Larissa.
I sat down at the table, looking around.
We were trying out a new Chinese restaurant.
It had been a while since Larissa and I went out.
We used to go out for cocktails once a week.
The last time we went out was three months ago, before I became unemployed and started pinching pennies.
But Jeannie had paid me in advance for the hours I'd already invested, and I could afford this dinner.
The restaurant had great reviews, even though it wasn't terribly expensive.
It was my last chance to catch up with my friend before she left for Bali.
My phone beeped, and I immediately unlocked the screen.
Larissa: I’ll be a couple minutes late.
Natalie: Don’t worry.
At the same time, I noticed Jake had texted me too.
Jake: How’s the brainstorming going?
Natalie: Haven’t started yet. Larissa hasn’t arrived. But believe me, once you get us started, there’s no stopping us.
Jake: Sounds promising. Can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
“You've got a Cheshire cat grin on your face," Larissa exclaimed when she arrived a few seconds later.
I put the phone away. God, she was gorgeous. She had fiery red hair and bright blue eyes. She often complained that her complexion was too pale, but I thought she looked regal.
"Yes, I do.”
“It's got to do with your client's grandson?"
Larissa, of course, was up-to-date with everything going on in my life. Well, almost everything.
“Yes.”
"You've already decided where you're going to take him?" she asked.
"Honestly, no. I promised I'd text back as soon as our girl date is over."
She wriggled her eyebrows. "Hey, you can ask him to come over anytime. I'm looking forward to meeting him. You know I have a great feeling about people."
"That you do," I admitted. If only I'd listened when she told me she thought my ex was a two-faced bastard.
A waiter approached with two plates of food.
"This is a surprise appetizer from the kitchen," Mitch, per his nametag, said.
"Oh, wow. What is it?"
"Rolls with shrimp."
Larissa and I grinned. "We love shrimp."
He put it down in front of us and left.
The rolls were delicious. While we ate them, we also perused the menu.
“I think I’m going to order Peking duck,” I said, finally looking up from the menu, and gasped.
I stared at Larissa intently. Her face was turning bright red.
"Larissa, are you okay?" I asked, but I knew she wasn't. She sucked in a breath and coughed.
I looked at our plate in horror. "You think you might be allergic to something in the food?"
She nodded.
"Shit, do you have an EpiPen or something with you?" I asked, even though I knew she wouldn’t. She didn’t have any allergies, or any I knew of.
Larissa shook her head, and I jumped to my feet, looking around for help.
A waiter came running toward us, clearly noticing my distress.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Do you have EpiPens or any medicine for allergies here?"
"No." He stared at Larissa. "But you didn’t note any allergies on the reservation inquiry.”
"That's not helpful," I snapped.
I thought he might worry about my friend, but he only cared about the liability. I had to take her to the ER.
“I’m calling an ambulance,” I exclaimed, yanking out my phone to dial 911.
A few minutes later, Larissa and I were in the back of an ambulance. They administered an EpiPen, and I was worried sick. Was it my imagination, or was she still swelling up?
When we arrived at the ER, she was a bit blue in the face.
The next several minutes went by in a haze. I spoke to a nurse and then filled out forms. They took Larissa into the ER on a gurney and hooked her up to an IV.
"This way, it’ll go into her system faster," a nurse explained when I inquired why this was necessary.
"Will she have to spend the night here?" I asked.
"We don’t know for now."
I nodded. "Can I sit next to her?"
"Sure.”
The ER was lined with beds separated by curtains.
Doctors and nurses milled around. The cacophony of sounds was deafening.
Larissa was lying in one of the beds, her free hand under her head.
Thankfully, she looked much better than before.
Her color was coming back to normal, though her lips were still a bit swollen.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Much better. That was such a scare."
I nodded, sitting on a small chair next to her bed. "Yeah, it was. Do you have any idea what you reacted to?"
"Honestly, no. I've never had allergies in my life. The nurse suggested I go to an allergist and get tested."
"Yeah, you should do that." I was apprehensive. My heart was still racing in my chest. Watching her struggle for breath had been terrifying.
"You don't have to stay here. I'll wait a couple hours and then take a cab home."
"Of course I'm waiting with you. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing worse than being on your own in a hospital."
"But you don't like being surrounded by sick people."
I wrinkled my nose. "No one does, but I love you, and I want to stay here with you."
"You're a great friend," Larissa murmured. She looked tired now. Even I was feeling the adrenaline leave my body.
I kept my eyes trained on her, looking for any signs that she might swell up again.
Thankfully, she didn't. She did nod off after about half an hour, though, which left me with nothing to do, so I put in my earbuds and opened the Netflix app on my phone, starting an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
After watching three episodes, I exited the app.
I was starting to get restless, and Larissa was still sleeping. Was that normal?
I noticed five notifications on my phone. All the messages were from Jake.
Oh God. I completely forgot I was supposed to message him.
Jake: So… what’s the promised destination where I am whisking YOU?
Jake: Natalie, are you okay? Get back to me when you can.
The last one was from a few minutes ago.
Jake: I'm starting to really worry here. Please reply as soon as possible or I might come to bang down your door just to make sure everything's fine.
I replied immediately.
Natalie: That wouldn't help at all because I'm not at home. I'm in the ER.
I hadn’t even closed the messaging app when the phone beeped with an incoming call. I glanced around. There was no way I could answer here, and I didn't want to leave Larissa alone.
I rejected the call and texted him.
Natalie: My friend got an allergic reaction to something we were eating, so now she's hooked up to an IV. I'm probably going to be here for a few more hours. It’s very loud in here and impossible to hold a conversation.
Jake: Tell me when you’re done. I'll pick you up.
Natalie: Oh my goodness, are you sure?
He didn't have to do that. He was plenty busy, and he didn't have to spend his free time chauffeuring us around.
Natalie: It's probably going to be late by the time she's discharged.
Jake: It doesn't matter. Just text me when you’re done, and I'll pick you up.
Natalie: Thank you.
I was feeling warm all over. My stomach was somersaulting. I smiled for no reason at all, even though I was surrounded by sick people and the chair was uncomfortable.
Jake Whitley is picking us up.