Dream Catcher (Woodland Creek)

my car. It wasn’t much but right then it was all I had. “Is my car badly wrecked?”

“We had to take the door off your car to get you out safely.” He saved my life and he was acting worried about the door to my piece of shit car. “Sorry about that.” He was even apologizing, fancy that. It was awkward in that, I knew he saved my life kind of way. I was embarrassed and wondered if visiting patients after the fact broke some kind of ethical code for him.

“It’s okay, the car probably looks better without it.” My lame joke got a chuckle from Warren. A throaty sound that made me light-headed listening to it. Old records played in my mind, telling me I was pathetic crushing on him.

“I thought you might have more injuries when I examined you, but you were fortunate out there. You could have been out there a long time if we hadn’t gotten the call.” Whoa, back the car up and out of the ditch, he examined me? I knew it happened, it was his job, but that meant he probably saw my lady bits. Oh God, was I wearing cute underwear? Frantically, I searched my mind for what I had been wearing. No. I definitely wasn’t now that I recalled putting on my not matching teal green bra and hot pink panties. I looked down at my body in the bed and wiggled under the blankets. I was pretty sure I had nothing on under this sexy hospital gown. Humiliation compounded my headache.

Sheepishly, I hoped he’d stop talking and I could disappear, maybe sink right down through the bed and into the floor. “Yeah, lucky, that’s me.” Whimpering, I was having a hard time feeling so lucky. I had to take that for what it was. God’s cruel little joke.

“Does Lucky have another name?” Warren looked me over intently and I squirmed again under the bedsheets.

“It’s Kerri, Kerri Harper.”

“It’s beautiful,” he said, and for the first time I really wanted to cry ugly tears, because nobody had ever referred to me in that way before. Not about my name, my looks, anything, maybe it was totally superficial, but I’d just got the guts to end a pretty shitty relationship the day before and I was still raw. My emotions were ripped up and adrenaline got the better of me with racking coughs followed by sobbing tears.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay.”

“No, I’m not, I’m a hot mess,” I said through fat rolling tears, my confidence nonexistent, and Warren chuckled. I worried he was laughing at me, but his gentleness said otherwise.

“No, you’re not. You’re okay.” He propped me up on some fluffy pillows, pushing the sweaty tears drenched hair off my face. I couldn’t possibly be looking beautiful then with my swollen eyes and banged up body, but he didn’t seem to care and busied himself around my little room.

“I’m s-sorry.” Stricken, I didn’t know who looked more surprised by my breakdown.

“I know just the thing to make you feel better.” Warren left, taking a leather bag with him. Looking around my little room again, I was guessing he couldn’t get away from me fast enough. Gray walls and a stupid hanging sheet blocked out any view toward the outside world. Looking over the side of the bed, I peered down at the floor. Yup, that was gray too. Taking my one good arm, I lifted the edge of the sheet and looked underneath. I was dressed in a hospital gown, some navy blue pattern, so at least that wasn’t gray.

Warren returned a few minutes later with a tray of food and a steaming cup of tea. The tea excited me, its swirling cloud of heat already warming me as he put the tray down in front of me. Tea had always reminded me of cozy sweaters and spices that make your tongue tingle and toes curl. Still a little early for anything pumpkin spice, but fall was my favorite time of the year. I was grabbing for the tea with the good hand out and my wrapped up one attempting to follow. Before he could say anything, I took a sip and almost hurled the fowl tasting liquid back out. There was nothing pumpkin or delightful about that. The sheer awfulness of it made my eyes tear up. He was cupping my mouth under my chin and little bits of liquid leaked between my lips onto his hand.

“Swallow it.” Keenly looking at me, I noticed for the first time his strong and handsome face with angles and planes that sloped in perfect arcs. His eyes, gray fathomless pools, a shade darker than everything in the room, obliged one deeply to do his bidding. I took a gulp and thought I’d prefer death first over that, whatever that was, but I did it anyway. The drink was definitely not cozy, warm or spicy. “All of it, like a good girl.” He didn’t yell or threaten, merely compelled me to listen with his unexpectedly stern voice. I glared at him under heavy lashes, letting the foulness slide down my throat with worries gagging forth.

“What the hell was that?” Gasping, I wasn’t sure I wanted to take anything else off the tray he’d given me. I would’ve scraped my tongue clean of the foul taste, but my desire to not insult him won over.

“That was a mixture of willow bark tea and herbs. I would have warned you about it, but you kind of took off on me head first. You’re rather impulsive, aren’t you?” Kindly, he laughed, pulling up a chair as he nodded to the sandwich on the tray.

“How do you know I wasn’t allergic to anything in it?” Almost panicking, he looked worried for about a second until his expression eased with something he seemed to recall but didn’t share with me.

“You weren’t, were you?” I shook my head no, slowly cupping the warm mug I would’ve rather not drunk. It was strange how I was feeling better as the minutes passed. He sat down in the chair with watchful eyes. “It’ll help bring your fever down so you can sleep. Sleep is the best way to get rid of the cough.” I was sure about it, and out of my passive nature I kept sipping the worst tea made from the sweetest gesture I’d ever been given twice in one day.

Chapter Five

*

WARREN

Officially off my twenty-four hour shift, I watched Kerri sleep, dozing off in the chair next to her bed. Leaving a handful of times to stretch, I walked around the floor of the clinic still bustling with minor injuries from the storm and medical emergencies. Mandatorily, I couldn’t get called in for another twenty-fours, so I took advantage of the reprieve. It seemed we weren’t the only ones who couldn’t get to the hospital during the storm. Woodland Creek wasn’t exactly a haven for bad weather, but heavy rains had always flooded the main road in and out of town from time to time. Another reason I wanted my pilot’s license, but that was a task for another day.

“I’m wondering why you’re still here, Mr. Boone.” Eden tapped her pen on a clipboard, looking her usual grumpy self. I let my arms stretch out and another rip rent the seam of the fabric under my arm slightly.

Crap.

“I feel like you use my last name to pull rank on me, Eden.” She snorted, flicking her braid of hair over her shoulder, rounding the corner of the nurses’ station, making notes on her charts and signing off on discharge papers.

“This isn’t the military.” Eden raised an eyebrow and the desire to torment my relative was strongly ingrained.

“You could have fooled me.” I flicked the braid of hair off her shoulder, smirking.

“Ah, I still remember the pup that would pull my tail just for fun.” Eden was my older cousin by several years and always held onto grudges when it suited her.

“Are you really still mad about that?” Crossing my arms, I stood my ground, expecting her to pounce and bite my face for something I did over a dozen years ago.