Desperate Times (Boys of Silver Ridge 2)

“No. Trauma centers treat injuries. Sometimes people are sick on top of an injury, or illness develops through their weakened state, though we don’t see that too often since everyone knows how important it is to wear PPE to protect not only ourselves, but our vulnerable patients.”

“I still don’t know how you do that almost every day. You’re a real-life hero.”

“It’s my job.”

A few seconds of silence pass. “Sam?”

“Yeah?

“You can go. I know it’s boring here.” Her body relaxes against mine. “I’m gonna take a nap until I’m released from prison. Go hang out with your family for a little bit.”

“I told you, I don’t mind staying.”

“You should go to my dad’s and gather up our stuff. It’ll make leaving later easier.”

She has a good point. “Do you want anything from the house? You could be here another few hours.”

“I know,” she groans. “I might pull a Mason and just leave.”

“Leaving against medical advice can make it really difficult to work with your insurance, you know.”

“I didn’t, but it makes sense. I guess I’ll stay. I’d rather not pay full price for any medical bills. We really need universal healthcare.”

“I don’t disagree.” I kiss her neck. “I’ll go to the house and get things put together and straightened up.”

“Thank you. And then hopefully we can leave right after that. I’d like to sit by the lake one more time before we leave.”

“Yeah…that would be nice.” I swallow hard. It would give me a chance to tell her—finally tell her—the truth.“This is ridiculous,” Chloe grumbles. “I swear they’re taking their sweet time on purpose just to charge me more.”

“There’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than you realize,” I tell her. “But this hospital doesn’t seem too crazy busy so I’m starting to agree with you.”

Chloe is up and dressed, and we’ve been sitting here waiting for the nurse to come back with the rest of the discharge paperwork.

“What do you want to do for dinner?” Chloe asks, zipping up a black hooded sweatshirt that has a triple-moon symbol on the breast, along with her series slogan Fight like a girl underneath. “Go to your parents?”

“I’d like to be alone with you.”

“I can’t argue with that.” She smiles but looks even more exhausted than before. “Our options for takeaway are pizza or something from Silver Cafe, right?”

“The Cantina does carryout now.”

“Ohh, a taco sounds good,” she says.

“As soon as we’re actually leaving, I’ll call and put in an order,” I tell her, and it ends up taking another twenty minutes before we finally leave. Chloe stays in the car while I run in to get the food, and she’s asleep when I get back. Neon lights from the bright sign on the building illuminate her face. She’s so fucking beautiful. My heart lurches in my chest and it’s stupid how emotional I’m getting right now…but it’s really not.

Because I love Chloe with every fiber of my being, and even if we do work things out, nothing will be the same.21Chloe“Chloe.”

Sam’s hand lands on my thigh and I sit up, blinking my eyes open. I forgot where I am, and it takes me a few seconds to remember I left the hospital and fell asleep in Sam’s car. We’re in the driveway, and the porch lights from Dad’s house illuminate the porch, welcoming us home.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” I unbuckle and roll my neck.

“You needed it.”

“Yeah. I’m still tired.” It’s after seven, and even if we left for Chicago right now, it’ll be after nine by the time we get there. Add in another hour or so to get unpacked, take a shower, and get ready for bed, and it’ll be after ten, which isn’t too late for Sam, who has to get up around five-thirty in the morning. “I’ll eat fast,” I tell him as we get out of the car.

“We don’t have to rush,” he says, pulling the house key from his jacket pocket. “It’s chilly, but we can still sit by the lake or even on the porch.”

I’d love that, but I don’t want to be selfish and make Sam stay out any later than necessary. We will be back here soon enough.

“I’m hungry. I’ll eat fast anyway. The food wasn’t very good at the hospital.”

“It didn’t look like it.” Sam unlocks the door and steps in, turning on the foyer light. “My hospital has good food, thank god, since I eat it daily.”

“It seems the bigger hospitals do.” I blink and get a flash of visiting Mom at some fancy cancer clinic. The cafeteria looked more like a mall food court, with tons of different options. People flew in from all over the world for treatment there, and a lot of family members stayed with them or in the center-provided rooms. Dad and I stayed a week, and then my grandma came to get me and took me back home.