Page 38 of I Still Do

Jen looked thrilled for half a beat before she realized her friend was kidding. “That’s not funny.”

“Neither is why he’s here, Jen. Keep a lid on the enthusiasm, okay? He’s here because he has an infected cut on his leg—”

“—that you heroically stitched up in a blizzard—” Jen placed her hands on her hips.

“—so I’m just going to do my job and that’s that.” When Jen started to say something, Cora held up her hand to stop her. “I’m not talking about it anymore.”

Jen tried to suppress a smile but did a poor job of it. “You keep telling yourself that, girl. You keep telling yourself that.”

~*~

Grey tried to relax while he waited for Cora. She’d seemed surprised to see him there, although she’d recovered quickly. He wondered if she’d thought about him even half as much as he’d thought about her over the last two days.

When they’d gone their separate ways at the airport, he’d done his best to be content with merely staying in touch through texts. He hadn’t wanted to push their renewed friendship too quickly. He’d been trying to decide whether he could get away with calling her or not when this blasted infection started up.

Driving the extra distance to her ER was a no-brainer. She was the one who knew how he’d cut his leg in the first place and had sewn it up on the fly. It made more sense for her to look at it now.

The moment she’d walked into his room, he knew he’d made the right decision. He had every intention of winning his ex-wife back. For now, though, he was thankful that something good was coming out of this new medical development.

When Cora returned ten minutes or so later, she brought the medication with her. “I’m going to put this into your IV. No sense in putting another hole in your arm.” She flashed him a smile. “And hopefully that’ll start to kick in soon. The doctor’s going to wait for the blood results and then we’ll get in there, clean up your leg, and get you on some antibiotics to knock this infection out.” She added a few more notes to his online chart. “Do you have any questions?”

He shivered. When people said hospitals were cold, they weren’t kidding. Of course, Grey knew his fever probably wasn’t helping him any. He wanted to ask her for a blanket but hesitated. “You’re really good at this, you know that?”

“I’m just doing my job.” She sounded casual, but there was a pleased smile on her face.

“I’m serious, Cora. You definitely found your calling.”

“Thank you.” She must have noticed the goose bumps on his arms. “Do you want a blanket?”

“That would be great.”

“I’ll be right back.” She returned a few minutes later with a blanket that she carefully spread over him. “There you go. Let me know if you need a second one.”

He nodded. The blanket was warm and immediately Grey’s eyelids felt heavier.

She started to leave again but paused and came back. With a glance to the door, she lowered her voice and asked, “So what brought you to this ER? Just in the neighborhood, or…”

“I’m pleading the fifth on the grounds that I’m in pain and now drugged.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

She gave him a “whatever” look, but a little smile graced her lips. “Try to relax for a bit. If you need me, just press this button.” She handed him the remote before leaving the room again.

Grey didn’t know how long it’d been, just that he’d dozed off and was awakened when Dr. Coalson returned with a knock on the doorframe. “Well, you’ve definitely got one stubborn infection going on, but I think we should be able to knock it out with some antibiotics through your IV and then a round of oral antibiotics. We’ll get that leg cleaned up and bandaged again, too. Let me take another quick look at your leg, and then I’ll leave it up to Nurse Wells to get you all fixed up.”

“That’ll be great. Thank you, doctor.”

“No problem.” Dr. Coalson pulled on some gloves and then sat on a chair near Grey’s bed. Once he had the bandage off, he touched the skin in several places.

Cora came in and hung another bag for his IV, this one with an antibiotic solution.

Grey flinched when the doctor touched an especially sensitive spot.

“Excellent stitching here.”

Grey and Cora exchanged amused looks.

“Alright. Nurse Wells, if you’ll irrigate the wound, use some antibiotic cream and then bandage it up again, I think we’ll have Mr. Jackson here all set.” He then gave some directions on how often to change the bandaging and when to see his doctor. “If you have any further questions, just ask for me. Meanwhile, I hope you get to feeling better.”

“I appreciate that. Thank you very much.”

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