Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,34

one hand on her hip. “You heard what that breathing guy said, you need to rest after your treatment and let the medicine work. Go on back to sleep while we chat.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Paula said with a little smile and closed her eyes.

Nana walked over to stand between them and the bed, her back to Paula. “Girl’s exhausted. Heck, I am, too. This room has been busier than a beauty parlor the day before Easter. The nurses came in just before dawn to check on her. Change of shift, I guess. Then they came back in with medicine. Then breakfast. After that the doctor came in to check on her, with the nurse and what looked like a junior doctor. Barely had time for her to get her teeth brushed in the bathroom and that breathing guy showed up to do that breathing treatment.”

“I remember how exhausted I was when I was in the hospital. Not really a great place to get any rest,” Brianna said. “She’ll do better with that once they think she’s well enough to be discharged home and can get out of here. I did.”

“You only did better because I was there to protect you,” a chipper voice sounded behind them.

All three turned to see a grinning Kirk F standing in the doorway, a shopping bag in his hand.

“I thought I told you to get breakfast in the cafeteria,” Nana said, sounding none too pleased. “You went shopping instead?”

“I did eat, Nana. Knew Brianna was doing the next shift and thought she could use some chocolate.”

“Thank you, Kirk F.” Brianna grinned and reached for the bag again.

He pulled it back. “Not you, the sick lady in the bed. I remember how you hated being cooped up. You in a room for hours? She’s gonna need some chocolate to get through it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m not that bad,” she said and reached for the bag.

This time he let her have it. She delved inside and pulled out a bag of Godiva chocolate covered caramels. “If you were buying these for Paula, why did you get my favorite?”

“Because he’s a smart boy, that’s why,” Nana answered for him, then gathered up her bags. “And he’d better get me on home now.”

“Yeah, the boss called and told me I needed to get the house ready for you,” Kirk F said, taking one of the bags from his grandmother as he turned to Aaron. “Anything special you want loaded in the fridge?”

“Healthy stuff,” he said, escorting the young man and his grandmother out of the room and out of earshot of Brianna. “Dog food for a thirty-pound dog and more of those chocolates.”

“You’re putting warrior woman in the safehouse on lock down, too?” Kirk F stopped mid-stride to stare at him like he’d gone loony.

“Maybe.”

“You must be outta your mind. She doesn’t like being out of her own space.”

“Which is why I said maybe. You just be sure things are clean and ready for them, in case the docs cut Paula loose.” He turned to head back into the hospital room, then paused and looked over his shoulder. “Pick up some dog treats while you’re at it.”

“You got it,” Kirk F said with a wave of his hand as he hurried after his grandmother who was already stepping onto the elevator.

“You don’t have to…stay with me,” Paula was saying to Brianna, who had seated herself on the edge of the bed with Stanley curled up between them, as Aaron walked back into the room. “Don’t need…a sitter.”

“No, you don’t.” Brianna patted her hand. “What you need is a friend to just be here for you. And besides, I’m planning to curl up in that chair and take a long nap. We didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Brianna glanced at Aaron, worry and sadness in her eyes. He inhaled slowly. There was never a good or easy way to tell someone they’d lost a loved one. Even harder to tell them the cause was murder.

“I didn’t dream that phone call last night, did I?” Paula asked, shifting her gaze from Brianna to him and back again, tears spilling out of her light brown eyes. “Art really is dead.”

Stanley whimpered and crawled over to snuggle in her lap.

“I’m sorry, Paula, he is,” Aaron said as gently as he could. He pulled up the straight back chair and sat on the opposite side of the bed from Brianna and the pup. “We found him late last night in an abandoned factory over on Carnegie,