Page 92 of Away We Go

“Be that as it may, we can’t be too careful. I don’t feel comfortable sending you home unless there’s someone to watch over you.”

His eyes slide to mine as I nosily blow my nose.

Nicky frowns. “I’ll have James with me while I fly home…and then I’ll get Hannah to look in on me.”

Ah, Hannah, the wonderful housekeeper and the maker of the world’s greatest cookies. In the time I’d stayed at Nicky’s place, I’d wanted her to adopt me. She’s the best. But that’s beside the point.

“You don’t need Hannah. I’m staying with you.”

The doctor’s gaze is frankly doubting and I would take offence, but given my current state, I’d be wary to leave me in charge of a goldfish.

“I’m good,” I tell him, mustering up a confident smile. With teeth and all. “Now that I know he’ll be fine, I’m good.”

He looks between me and his patient, whose eyes have yet to stray from my face since my declaration.

“If Mr Dimitrios is good with this arrangement, then we can discharge him.”

Nicky tugs on my hand. I look down at him and am once again lost in his chocolate eyes. “You don’t have to do this,” he murmurs.

I scoff, ignoring his statement, focusing back on the doctor. “What do I need to know? What do I need to look out for? What signs or symptoms should I be concerned about?”

His expression clears and he smiles at me. “It will all be in the discharge papers. The main thing will be managing his pain. Don’t let him tell you he’s fine; he’s got significant bruising and needs to make sure he takes the painkillers when and as he needs them.”

Nodding, I give Nicky a hard stare. “Have they given you anything for the pain yet?”

He stares back at me, his lips a thin, stubborn line. “I refused to take anything.”

I sigh. “Doc, can we give him something now? I’m going to organise to get us a flight home as soon as possible and I want him comfortable for the trip.”

“I’ll get him something now and send you home with some for later.”

We continue discussing the details, leaving Nicky to stew in silence, and then the doctor gets ready to take his leave. “You were lucky today, young man. And you’re lucky to have such a delightful woman to take care of you.”

My cheeks burn and I avoid looking down at Nicky. I’m pretty sure he’s annoyed I’m taking charge and bossing him about, but it’sjust too bad. He needs to be taken care of, and I need to be the one to do it.

“I’m going to call Sue and organise our flight home,” I tell him. “You just rest.”

He grabs my hand before I can leave, running his thumb over the pulse point in my wrist. “Thank you,” he says.

I stroke my hand over his hair and lean down to whisper in his ear, “If you ever scare me like that again, I’ll kill you myself.”

A nurse bustles into the room, her face turning a violent shade of red as she looks at Nicky. “Here’s your medication,” she says in a squeaky voice, looking very star-struck as she inches towards his bed.

I know exactly how you feel, lady, I think as I duck out of the room to update James on the new plan. He volunteers to call Sue to make the travel arrangements, so I’m freed up to answer all the calls and messages flooding my phone since the crash.

“Sue’s got us a private flight leaving in an hour,” James says as I send the final ‘He’s okay’ message.

There are a lot of relieved people in Nicky’s circle tonight.

“Great. Let’s get the patient and get out of here.”

We enter the hospital room and find him staring off into the distance.

“Nicky?” I ask as I approach him. “How are you feeling?”

His answering grin is wide and sloppy. “Cherry! You’re here.”

James barks out a laugh and I give him a bewildered look. “It’s the painkillers,” he whispers, tilting his head to the patient and rolling his eyes.

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