Page 9 of Holiday Love
A frustrated exhalation from her because Gwen’s smart. She knew I was right. “I have to be there for him,” she’d said plaintively. “Mom can’t come back from Japan. She’s still teaching. Brandon’s got a big trial going on. I don’t trust any of Teddy’s so-called friends. I bet they’re the ones that got him into this mess.”
Her helplessness hit me hard.
I had stepped in without thinking. “I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“Me. I’ll take care of Teddy.” The words had solidified as I said them. “I’ll check on him at the hospital. I’m here anyway, working. I’ll drive him home when he gets discharged. I can pick up any prescriptions he needs filled.”
“I don’t know…,” Gwen had said. “That’s a lot to ask.”
“It’s okay,” I’d insisted. “I’ll keep you updated. I’ll send photos and text messages all the time. Promise.”
There was a long silence as Gwen thought. I’d stayed quiet, knowing there’s only one conclusion she could come to.
“If you’re sure? It would be hard to leave Carter and work right now, but if Teddy needs me I would do it. Just say the word.”
“I’ve got this. You can trust me.” A whisper of uncertainty in the back of my mind. I hadn’t been trustworthy with Teddy the last time I saw him. After all, I’m the one who kissed him first.
“I do trust you to take care of Teddy for me,” Gwen said. “Treat him like you’re his sister. Like he’s your own family.”
Like I’m his sister.
A flashback of Teddy naked in the moonlight, whispering filthy, dirty things into my ear. The way he tasted when I kissed him, the way he groaned when he came.
My stomach flipped, butterflies doing somersaults.
Sister?
Yeah, that might be a problem.
Now I sit next to Teddy’s bedside and stare at the monitors, counting each beep. The room smells like antiseptic and stale air. In the distance I hear the sounds of the hospital—phones ringing, voices talking, pages called overhead—but it’s all muffled by the thick closed door.
In here, it’s just me and him.
Why didn’t you call me, Teddy?
Were you ashamed of us? Of me?
I push that painful thought aside like I have many times over the past year and rise to my feet. Restless, I prowl around the room. It’s identical to every other one on this floor. White walls. Scuffed linoleum floor. A peek out the window shows the crowded parking lot two stories below. Too bad Teddy isn’t on the fifth floor where there’s a glimpse of the ocean, a sliver of blue on thehorizon. Guess it doesn’t really matter. Teddy’s out, and I’ve seen every view this place has to offer.
I turn my attention to the man in the bed, cataloging the bruise on his cheek, the pale cast to his skin, and the tangle of his hair, stiff from dried salt water. My gaze lingers on his arm muscles and the tattoos on his arms. There’s the atom tattoo on his left forearm, which he’d just gotten when I first met him, a tribute to his father, who was a nuclear physicist before he passed away. There’s a new tattoo of stylized ocean waves splashed across his bicep, spreading over and below his elbow.
I want so badly to trace the swirling lines of ink but hold back, reminding myself of the tightrope I’m walking here. I’m his sister’s friend, and I’m his doctor. Sort of. If anyone checks the hospital policy manual and the unofficial friendship manual, I’m straddling all kinds of boundaries.
Still, what’s the harm in one little touch? Just for a second. No one has to know. My hand lifts toward Teddy, close enough to feel the heat radiating off his skin, so warm just like I remember…
Leslie, one of the ICU nurses, comes bursting in and I yank my hand away before it makes contact. My heart is pounding, and my cheeks burn with a guilty flush.
“Dr. Chu!” she says with a startled step backward. “I didn’t know you were here.”
I glance at the large clock on the wall and see it’s been five hours since my shift ended.
“Yeah, I’ll leave soon,” I tell her.
She looks at Teddy, her gaze lingering on him in a way I don’t appreciate. “You know him?”
“His sister is my friend.” Remembering the ‘no treating friends and family’ policy, I’m quick to add, “I don’t reallyknowhim, though. I’m just here as a favor to the family.”
