Date Next Door

“You’ve got some other minor cuts, none of them deep enough for stitches, and you’ll have some spectacular bruises. A particularly nasty bruise on your right shoulder, where you took the brunt of the fall. For the next few days you’re going to feel like you were beaten up, but that’s the extent of it. You were very lucky that you landed on a slope and rolled rather than hitting a solid surface and having debris fall on top of you.”

She sort of remembered Joel getting to her while she’d lain on the ground, dazed and not yet feeling the pain that would hit in the ambulance. He’d sounded frantic when he’d said her name, more rattled than she’d ever seen him. He’d have felt the same way about any of his friends, of course, but she remembered how safe she had felt at knowing he was nearby and watching out for her.

“No broken bones?” she asked just for reassurance.

“No, thank goodness. Anyone else might have been badly hurt after a ten-foot drop, but I’ve always said you were the toughest woman I know.”

She smiled faintly. “And don’t you forget it.”

“Not likely.” He leaned over to brush a kiss across her forehead. “You scared the stuffing out of me.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what I was hoping to do,” she murmured, letting her heavy eyelids drift downward again. “I’ve been planning it all weekend. Just to make the reunion a little more exciting, you know.”

He chuckled softly, but there was an odd little catch in the sound. “Next time let’s just keep things nice and dull, okay?”

She started to tell him that there wouldn’t be a next time. By the time his next class reunion rolled around, she and Joel would be living different and very likely separate lives. But suddenly it just seemed like too much trouble to try to form the words. She made a murmuring sound and closed her eyes.

Joel brushed her hair back again, his fingertips barely touching her skin. “Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll be close by if you need me.”

That reassuring thought made it easier for her to slide into sleep, the feel of his light touch on her forehead overriding the pains assaulting the rest of her body.

Chapter Eleven

Even though he hadn’t been hurt in the lanai collapse, Joel ached all over as he walked slowly to the waiting room. He dreaded what waited for him there and would have preferred to be alone for a little while to process everything that had happened that morning.

No such luck, of course. Heidi limped toward him the moment he appeared in the waiting room doorway, her face pale, her eyes huge. “Joel? How is she?”

“She’s going to be fine, Heidi. She was very lucky.”

“Lucky?” Heidi pressed a hand to her generously rounded chest. “How can you say that after she took that terrible fall?”

“She’s banged up some, but she’s going to be okay. Trust me, it could have been a whole lot worse.”

“She saved my life. She could have jumped to safety, but she grabbed me instead.”

She had been saying words to that effect almost without stopping since the lanai fell. “She’s a cop, Heidi. She’s trained to jump into dangerous situations when others are at risk. She would have done the same for anyone.”

Heidi shook her head. “As grateful as I am to Nicole, I’m glad you and she are only friends, Joel. I can’t imagine you living every day with the anxiety of worrying about her safety, especially when she doesn’t seem to think twice about throwing herself into hazardous situations. First the fight at the game and then this morning…it’s a miracle that she hasn’t been seriously hurt yet.”

For someone who proclaimed herself undyingly grateful to Nic, Heidi seemed awfully critical. But maybe he was just getting a little cranky.

“Why don’t you head on home, Heidi? I’m sure you could use a rest. Nic’s going to be sleeping for a while, so she really doesn’t need visitors. I’ll tell her you were here to check on her.”

Heidi’s husband stepped forward to take her arm. “He’s right, honey. Let’s go home so you can take a long bath and soak those sore knees. Joel will make sure his friend is cared for properly.”

Reluctantly Heidi allowed herself to be drawn away after giving Joel Nic’s canvas tote bag, which Heidi had been keeping safe. Joel spent the next ten minutes dispersing other friends who had gathered in the waiting room to make sure everyone was okay.

It was with a great sense of relief that he watched the Watson twins and their wives, the last of the group, move away. They had made him promise to call them if he needed anything at all, but he doubted that it would be necessary.

Looking forward to a few minutes of solitude, he turned—only to come face-to-face with his brother. “Ethan. What are you doing here?”

Ethan motioned toward a couple of empty chairs in one relatively quiet corner of the waiting room. “Mom called me. She thought you’d want someone to keep you company. She and Dad thought about coming themselves, but I told them to sit tight and I’d keep them updated.”

“Thanks.” Joel was frankly relieved that his parents hadn’t come. His father was much too restless to sit still for long in a waiting room, and his pacing and grumbling would eventually get on everyone’s nerves. As for Elaine, she was such a worrier that she’d be wringing her hands and fretting—and getting on Joel’s nerves. As much as he loved them, his folks weren’t exactly the rock-solid types during times of trouble.

Ethan was just the opposite. His calm, practical demeanor was a reassuring presence during any crisis. Joel couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his older brother truly rattled by anything life threw at them. Their mother worried sometimes that Ethan suppressed too much, cutting himself off from the joys of life as well as the anguish. But who was to say Ethan’s way wasn’t better in the long run?

“You want some coffee or something?” Ethan asked as they took their seats. He motioned toward a couple of carafes in one corner of the room, maintained by hospital volunteers.