Yes & I Love You (Say Everything #1) - Roni Loren Page 0,32
problem.”
He was quiet for a moment, studying her, and then he gave a quick nod. “I’m going to call my sister and let her know what happened. She’ll come up here, fuss at the doctors about something, and then bring me home whenever they’re ready to discharge me. Why don’t you go home and get some rest? I know it’s been a long night. You’re officially relieved of Good Samaritan duty.”
She rolled her lips together and glanced at the door. “You sure you’ll have someone to bring you home?”
He gave her a small smile. “Yeah, I’m covered.”
Hollyn wanted to get out of there more than anything, to escape back to the safety of her house, but another small piece of her felt reluctant to leave Jasper. “Do you need anything before I go?”
“Lots and lots of drugs,” he said with a serious nod. “Like all of them.”
She laughed softly and walked over to grab her things. “Got it. I’ll tell the nurse to stop in again. I hope you feel better.”
“Thanks, Hollyn.”
He was watching her too closely. Every tic felt amplified. She wanted to hide her face, hide her tapping fingers. Hide. Hide. Hide.
But she forced the next words out instead. “And”—she took a deep breath—“we’ll talk soon. At the coffee bar.”
It took him a second to register what she’d said, but then his lips spread into a smile. “Yeah?”
“My face will be doing”—she pointed at her twitching nose—“this. And I will be awkward because I suck at small talk.”
He looked pleased as punch. “I am one hundred percent here for awkward small talk.”
“And you will never, ever use me in a routine again.”
“I swear.”
At that, she finally felt herself smile fully. “Cool. See ya, Jasper Dearest.”
“Later, Hollyn Darling.”
Before she could blush from head to foot, she slipped out of the room, let the nurse know to bring Jasper meds, and headed out. Exhausted but, for the first time in a long time, hopeful.
Chapter Eight
Two weeks after the surgery, Jasper leaned against his sister’s kitchen counter and stared down at the first hospital bill that had arrived in the mail. Fucking hell. Even with some insurance coverage from his parents, he was in the hole for thousands. The little nest egg he’d been trying to build by living rent-free at Gretchen’s for a couple of months was going to be obliterated. So much for getting his own place anytime soon or having any money at all to invest in promoting his group.
“You look a helluva lot better,” Gretchen said, stepping into the sun-dappled kitchen and grabbing the coffee carafe off the island. She was dressed for her research job at the university in a white blouse and gray pants, her blond hair pulled into a twist. The only hint that she wasn’t one hundred percent humorless scientist were the bright-red cherry earrings dangling from her earlobes. “How are you feeling?”
Jasper scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I was feeling pretty good until I opened the mail. How can surgery cost this much? I was only there a few hours.” He flipped the bill her way.
“You’re lucky you’re still on Mom and Dad’s plan. One year older and you’d be in the hole for three times that. Emergency surgery is crazy expensive.”
He tossed the bill on the counter in frustration. It was no one’s fault that his appendix had decided to quit, and being in debt was better than being dead from exploding organs, but he wanted to tear the damn bill to pieces and burn them. How could he never manage to get ahead? Or not even ahead—just simply caught up would be nice. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m going to need to crash in your guest room for a while longer if I have any shot of paying this down.”
Gretchen frowned and set the coffee carafe down. “Jas, you said you’d be able to move out at the end of this month.”
“I know, but that was before my appendix decided to go all time bomb on me.” He flicked his hand toward the bill. “I can’t pay on this and afford rent solo. And my guess is that there are more bills coming.”
His sister folded her arms and glanced out the window, squinting like she was concentrating hard. “Well, you’re going to have to figure it out.”
It took him a minute to process what she’d said. “What?”
She let out a breath and looked back to him, her brown eyes meeting his. “You can’t stay, Jas.”