Meant to Be Immortal (Argeneau #32) - Lynsay Sands Page 0,65
like that. But that isn’t just for the next twenty-four hours. Symptoms can show up later too, so please keep an eye on her, but definitely don’t leave her alone for the first twenty-four hours.”
“Of course not. We’ll look after her,” Mac said solemnly, and CJ gave him a grateful half smile. She wouldn’t hold him to the promise, but appreciated his saying it. She wouldn’t have put it past Nurse Becca to turn the wheelchair around and take her back to Dr. Pearson if she even suspected CJ might not have someone watching over her.
CJ had been rather hoping that Nurse Becca would leave her with the boys and go back to work, but the woman insisted on wheeling her to the elevator and seeing her down to the emergency room exit. She then stood, chatting idly with Mac and Bricker while Decker went off to retrieve the car.
CJ sighed with relief when her car finally pulled up. She would have liked to drive. It was her car, after all, but she wasn’t given the choice. The moment Decker pulled up in front of them, Nurse Becca wheeled her to the front passenger door and held the wheelchair while Mac helped her up and into the front passenger seat. The nurse then wished her a cheery goodbye, admonished her once more to return immediately if she had any kind of symptoms at all, and then trundled off with the wheelchair.
While Decker had gone to collect her car, Mac was the one to get in the driver’s seat once she was settled. CJ watched him put on his seat belt and muttered, “I was surprised you guys waited around for me at the hospital. I was there for hours. You should have just gone back to the bed-and-breakfast. I could have taken a taxi once they finished all their tests.”
“Is that your way of saying thank you?” Mac asked with amusement as he shifted the car into gear and steered toward the road.
CJ felt herself blush with chagrin, and muttered, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said sincerely. “How is your head?”
“Sore,” she admitted and—reminded of the pills in her purse—asked, “One of you didn’t happen to grab my purse back at the— Oh, thank you,” she breathed when it suddenly appeared next to her head. Turning, she grabbed it and offered Bricker a smile when she saw that he was the one passing it up to her.
“Do you need water?” Mac asked, glancing her way with concern when she dug out the small bottle of aspirin. “We can probably get you a bottle of water when we stop for Chinese takeout.”
“No, I’m—Chinese takeout?” CJ asked with surprise.
“Well, I was not sure what time they would finish all their tests and release you.”
“Or even if they would release you,” Bricker put in. “They were talking about keeping you overnight when Decker and I got there, and right up until Nurse Becca wheeled you out.”
“Yes,” Mac said solemnly. “So I told Mrs. Vesper not to trouble herself about dinner for the two of us, that we would pick up Chinese or something else on the way back.”
“Oh,” CJ murmured with a frown. Before she’d realized the men were at the hospital waiting on her, she’d planned to go straight to the police station. She’d obviously missed her afternoon appointment with Jefferson and she needed to arrange a new one. She also needed to make a report on the pickup that had nearly run them down, or give a statement if the men had already reported the incident, she thought, and said, “Have you guys talked to the police yet?”
“No,” Mac said at once.
“But we probably should,” Decker put in, which made surprise flash over Mac’s face before the other man pointed out, “The hospital probably reported the incident to them . . . and CJ missed her afternoon appointment with Jefferson. I’m sure she’d like to reschedule that. Besides, I suspect if we do not stop with her, she’ll just head back on her own after we get to the house. I don’t really think she should be driving right now.”
“No,” Mac agreed.
Bricker immediately groaned. “I’m guessing that means a delay to eating.”
“You guess right,” Decker said dryly, and then shook his head. “Bricker, your relationship with food is really rather worrisome at times. You can’t possibly be hungry. You ate three times while we were waiting at the hospital.”
“Cafeteria food,” Bricker scoffed. “And we were at the hospital forever.”