We All Sleep Alone (Finley Creek #11) - Calle J. Brookes Page 0,31
ones. “I’m glad to see you’re getting out of here, Nurse Izzie.”
“Oh, I’m always ready to go home after a shift here, Dr. Jacobson. Sometimes, more eager than others.”
He took her bag from her hand as her uncle rounded the truck. Detective MacNamara shot Allen a mistrustful look. “Thanks again, Dr. Jacobson, for what you did. We’ll be taking care of Izzie now.”
Allen knew a warning when he heard one. The other man was a real piece of work. He nodded and stepped back. Caine was there next to him, gently lifting Izzie from the wheelchair, in spite of her protests.
“We’ll see you when you’re fully recovered, Izzie. And good luck.”
She looked at him one more time and nodded.
There wasn’t much else either one of them could say now.
32
Izzie had had enough. She’d stayed with Nikkie Jean for over two weeks. That had been her limit. Not because she hadn’t felt welcomed with Caine’s family—the exact opposite was the truth—but because she’d always been able to stand on her own two feet.
Jake hadn’t known what to do with a fiercely independent teenager all those years ago, and he’d continued to give her independence.
She was used to being able to take care of herself.
It was time to find her normal again. That was something mentioned at W4HAV all the time.
Normal was a fallacy. Normal didn’t truly exist.
Her sixth week had rolled up, and her medical leave was over. There was no one to pay her bills while she sat around her apartment, with Jake in and out hovering.
Even though her uncle was having problems of his own. Something was up with Jake.
Izzie would bet her entire savings—pitiful though they now were—on that. He’d said it was a case. She wasn’t so sure.
She’d learned a long time ago not to push, though. He wouldn’t discuss his work with her at all. Said he didn’t want to burden her with the seedy side of life.
Hell, she saw seedy every other day in the ER. She wasn’t exactly naive. Jake was insistent. He kept his secrets.
She was glad life was falling back into some semblance of normal. Even if he had taken to coddling and babying her, far worse than he had ever tried when she’d been a teenager.
He was starting to give her gray hair.
She had to get her normal back.
She had to get back to work. That was her first goal.
She was down to two hundred seventy-three dollars and eighty-two cents in her savings. She’d already had to make the first payment for her three-week stay at FCGH. That was after Nikkie Jean had gone behind her back and negotiated the bill down to a third of what it had originally been, claiming the hospital had liability because they’d employed Henedy. It had been very weak, but no one wanted to go against Nikkie Jean right now.
The woman was almost as much a force to reckon with as an F1 tornado.
It had almost made Izzie sick to sign that check.
So much for health insurance. Hopefully, with Carrington Medical Group now the owners, a better benefits package would be on its way. Carrington was supposed to have one of the best benefits packages in the country.
Jake was making noises about her trying to get something from the Crime Victims Compensation fund, but she didn’t hold out much hope for that.
Jake had already covered her share of the utilities and rent for the last two months. He paid seventy percent of everything while she was in school anyway. He’d insisted on it. Said it was his job as her uncle.
He had made a great pseudo-dad, but she wasn’t about to keep taking advantage of that. She was an adult.
It was big-girl-panty time.
It was time she stood on her own two feet. Time she put her dreams away and settled for reality. School…she was finished. It wasn’t going to happen again anytime soon. Maybe someday…but someday wasn’t now. She had a good career where she was at, could support herself, and could be proud of what she did.
It was time to start doing that again.
She’d called and spoken with both Wanda and Cherise on Friday. They were hesitant, but...she was back on the schedule first thing Monday morning.
She wanted her life back.
Izzie spent most of Sunday prepping herself mentally. She wasn’t nearly up to speed physically. She wouldn’t lie to herself. She had no choice.
She needed money. Fast.
That meant getting her butt back to work.
She was going to be paying for what Wallace Henedy had