to argue? He’s my boss.
Trevor believes the best therapy for depression is shopping. We visit several boutiques and a store that creates custom perfume. When we get back to Noble Enterprises, we smell good and look great.
We part ways at the elevator. He goes to his office, and I go home to hang my new clothes and drink another bottle of wine.
As always at this time of day, the traffic is bumper-to-bumper. Looking straight ahead, I’m jolted into shock when I’m hit from behind.
The impact sends my Jetta barreling into the intersection, where a car entering from the opposite direction broadsides me.
Everything takes on an eerie silence in the aftermath. I think I’m okay, but my left arm hurts like a bitch. Bile rises to my throat as sweat runs down my forehead. I reach up to swipe it away, but my hand comes back covered in blood.
“Ma’am, are you okay?” A young man asks, sticking his head through the window. His blue eyes are pretty, but not Viking god pretty. “I called the police and an ambulance. Don’t move. I don’t want you to hurt yourself more.”
Hurt myself more? Sure, my arm hurts, and I feel pain in my face and chest from the impact of the airbags, but I’m okay. I look around to see every window is shattered except for the passenger side.
“Shit. This will cost a fortune to fix.”
Within minutes, there are police, firefighters, and paramedics everywhere. Somehow, they pull me from my car and place me on a gurney.
As I’m rolling to the waiting ambulance, I remember my shopping bags in the back seat. There is no way I’m going anywhere without them. That’s two weeks’ salary in those bags, and I argue with the medical staff to get them. There’s a stick from the IV needle, then nothing.
“Kat, open your eyes, sweetie. It’s Em.”
I hear her voice, but it’s far away. My eyes are heavy, and all I want to do is sleep.
I open them and see the fuzzy outline of people—Em, Chris, Trevor, and my parents. Rose is here, too. Why are so many people in my room?
“Katarina, honey? It’s your mother. Wake up so Dr. Noble can check you out. She stayed late to see you.”
“What? Where am I?” I wince at the pain. “Holy hell, my arm and head are killing me.”
“Katarina, it’s Rose. You were in a bad car accident. You broke your arm and needed a few stitches on your forehead, but everything else seems okay. That little car of yours saved your life.”
“My car … is it okay? I need it for work.”
“You’re staying here overnight for observation. If everything looks good tomorrow morning, you can go home,” Rose lays a comforting hand on my shoulder—the only place that doesn’t hurt.
“I have work tomorrow.” I think about the clothes. “I need my new clothes for work.” I ramble on about shopping and my schedule, but it makes little sense.
“Nonsense. You’ll stay because I said so. Your clothes are fine. The paramedics brought them in. They said you wouldn’t let them transport you until they had them in the ambulance. They had to sedate you to calm you down. You weren’t complaining about the pain, you wanted those darn clothes.”
“I have no clothes. Mine are at Damon’s, and I can’t get them because I love him too…” The effect of pain medication takes me to dreamland.
The squeezing of my arm wakes me with a start. I open my eyes to see the nurse removing a blood pressure cuff. Sitting to my left is Damon. He is holding the fingers that peek out of my cast and lightly caressing them with his thumb, back and forth.
“My mom called me and told me.” He looks around the empty room. “Your family went home several hours ago, but they’ll check on you tomorrow. Do you need anything? You’re allowed to have ice chips. Let me get you some.”
Within minutes, he’s back and feeding me ice chips. They’re so good because I’m so thirsty.
“Are you in pain, Angel? I can ask them to give you pain meds if you need it.”
“Why are you here?”
“Katarina, no matter how you feel about me, I care about you. Can we forget what happened last week for today? I want to be here with you. If you want me to leave, you have to kick me out.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you here, but it’s hard for me when you’re near.”
Damon wasn’t put together like usual.