“What are you doing here?” she asks in a genuinely curious manner.
“Because my brother loves you. So, how are you feeling?” he repeats.
“I could be better.” Julie glances back at me. “Do you know when I can go home?”
“We just got here, but we’ll find out,” I promise.
Julie frowns. “Do you know what happened to Dwight?”
I look to Cal, who simply shakes his head. Before either of us can answer, two more people rush into the room. Julie’s frown deepens as her parents push Cal and me aside to crowd their daughter. Cal and I step over by the window to give them all space.
“Dwight’s dead,” he whispers. “There was a shootout or something.”
And Julie was in the middle of it? We’re lucky she wasn’t hurt. I can’t stop surveying her body, searching for injuries. And where is a nurse? Or a doctor? Shouldn’t they be in here checking her out? Should she even be talking to her parents? There’s a lot of talking going on.
“Stop!” Julie suddenly screams, which does cause a nurse to rush in. “Get out! I don’t need to deal with this!”
“Okay,” the nurse says. “I think Julie needs some peace and quiet. Everyone out.”
Neither I nor my brother move, but Julie’s parents leave the room. The nurse faces us with a resting bitch face.
“They can stay,” Julie tells her before she can try to get us to leave.
“Fine, but you need to rest.” The nurse glares at Cal and me, as if we had anything to do with Julie’s outburst, and then she leaves.
Julie falls back onto her uprighted bed with a sigh. “I love my parents, but they just don’t know how to act sometimes.” She frowns and winces. “I forgot to ask when I can leave. If I never come back to Florida again, I’ll be just fine.” Jules looks over at me. “Is it okay if I sleep?”
I walk over to her bed and take her hand. “Get all the rest you need, Jules. We’ll be right here when you wake up.”
“Thanks, Collin.” Her eyes close and then she peeks them open again. “You too, Cal.” Her eyelids fall shut and within seconds she’s knocked out.
Collapsing into the nearby chair, I look at my brother.
“She’s safe; there’s nothing else to worry about,” he says.
“I know. Do you want to let everyone know she’s with us now?”
Cal nods and steps out of the room. For the first time in what feels like months, I relax. There’s still much ahead to be tackled, but the worst is behind us.
Hopefully.
Julie is discharged the next day. All she has talked about is going home, so the airport is our first stop. She’s been quiet, but that’s expected. After a police officer came by to check on her, gather her statement and informed her of Dwight’s death themselves, she’s had even less to say. If she’s not sleeping, she’s attached to my hip, not that I’m complaining at all.
Her head rests upon my shoulder as we fly home, her hand in mine. “How are you doing?” she asks quietly.
“Fine,” I reply, a little confused.
“But everyone knows now and you were worried about that.”
Oh. Damn. With everything that’s happened to her, she was still able to find out how my picture at Trace’s office made its round on social media. Someone in either his or Dr. Gressley’s office leaked why I was there because Dr. Gressley’s name came up and my anxiety issues were blasted.
And now she’s asking how I’m doing?
“It doesn’t even matter, Jules. The team’s PR people have been handling it for me; I don’t care. I’ve been focused on bringing you home.”
“That’s good.” There’s a pause and then, “Do I still have my job?”
“Yeah, Jules. Don’t worry about that. We’ll get home, you can rest, and then you can think about working.” Hell, if she wanted to hole up in my apartment for a few weeks, I wouldn’t say a thing. She needs to decompress and find a way to put this behind her, to start that process.