Page 9 of This Time I'm Keeping You
“I’m too weak to argue with you,but tomorrow I’ll hate that I didn’t.”
Nick snorted.“You?Weak?Give me a break.”
“If I say I forgive you, will you go?”Poppy said.
He looked at her lying there, hurting.She’d lost the brother she’d loved, and he hadn’t known or cared.He wasn’t walking away from her now.
Chapter4
Nick had spent the hour Poppy had been gone for X-rays sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chair that was too small for a man his size.He was currently reading a pamphlet about thorough handwashing, which, as it turned out, he’d been doing wrong his entire life.
“Hey, you.”He got out of the chair as a nurse wheeled her in.
“It’s sprained, not broken,” Poppy said, pointing to her arm that was now in a sling.
“We’ve stitched her head wound, and the doctor would like to keep her in overnight,” the nurse said.“We need to monitor her concussion.”
“No.”Poppy shook her head and then winced.
“Yes,” Nick said.“She’ll stay,” he added, overriding her.
“I don’t want to stay.”
“Tough.”
“Excellent, someone will be along shortly to take you to your room.”The nurse hurried out like all hospital staff, with ten things to do at once.
“Before you launch at me, you’re going to listen to what I have to say, Poppy.First off, these people are medical professionals.You are not.”
“It’s my decision, Nick.I’ve been making them for years, and I don’t need any help from you.In fact, you have no say in this.”
She’d clamped her lips together, making her look like one of his nieces or nephews when they were pissed about something.
“I’m pretty sure these people have a few letters after their names that suggests they’ve done years of study to back up their decision to keep you overnight.”
“I can look after myself.”She couldn’t cross her arms, so she continued to glare at him.
The woman was way too cute, with her messy hair now out of its clip and eyes a little unfocused with pain.
“Second, if my memory serves me well, and it usually does, you studied law in college, not medicine.So, I’m going with the doctor’s diagnosis.Third,” he said, lifting a hand as she opened her mouth, “you’re pale, sick, and have a head injury, and unless you can assure me you have someone with a medical degree waiting to care for you at home, you’re not heading there any time soon.”
“I hate hospitals, I don’t want to stay, and you’re not the boss of me,” she added, sounding like a kid.
“Answer the question,” Nick said, looking down at her.
“No, there’s no one at home, medical degree or not.”
Nick shouldn’t feel relieved there was no one waiting at home for her.No man, he clarified silently, but that didn’t mean she had no boyfriend.They may not be living together.But then, if she had a boyfriend wouldn’t he be the first one she called?
“Any family nearby you can call?”
She shook her head, and he could tell she wanted desperately to lie to him, but lying wasn’t in her nature.Something he’d always respected about her.
“Close friends?”
“No,” she muttered.
He didn’t want to feel sad there weren’t a dozen people for Poppy to call on like he could.Not many people had their siblings, all living within spitting distance, and enough relatives to populate a small island.
