“Yes, please,” Cassie answered. She greedily took the cup the woman offered, and as the cool liquid touched her lips and slid down her parched throat, she sighed. Water never tasted so good. She could imagine how those people who got lost in the desert felt wandering with nothing to drink for as far as the eye could see. She would gladly give up food, so long as she didn’t have to give up liquid.
She gulped down the entire glass, then looked at the woman pleadingly for more. The woman’s kind face smiled at her. “I don’t want to overdo it, just yet. Let’s make sure you keep this down. If you don’t feel sick in twenty minutes then we’ll get more.” Cassie had to withhold the protest that wanted to instantly fly from her lips. She was thirsty and she wanted more. She didn’t want to be told no. She barely managed to keep it in.
“Do you remember anything that’s happened recently?” The woman, who Cassie figured was a nurse, asked. Cassie’s eyes squinted as she concentrated on remembering the last few days. They were a total blank.
“The last thing I remember is getting off work and then going for a walk. I don’t understand why my mind’s so fuzzy. What’s going on?” Cassie asked, trying to push down the panic wanting to erupt inside her. The longer she laid in the bed, the more afraid she became. To top that off, the loud jazz band rehearsing in her head didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. The pain was so intense it felt as if the skin was actually pushing away from her temples.
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you’ve been in an auto accident. “I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but you’re actually very lucky. Your entire body probably hurts at the moment, but you could’ve been killed. You have a fractured rib, a few scrapes and bruises, and a concussion, but there are no life-threatening injuries.” She took Cassie’s hand as she said the last part.
Cassie wasn’t thinking she was too lucky at that moment. Her body hurt badly and she found herself wanting to fall back asleep. If she could pass out then maybe it would all turn out to be nothing but a bad nightmare.
“Where am I? How long have I been here? How much longer will I have to stay?” Cassie fired question after question at the nurse. She was fighting the panic, but maybe if she got some answers her fears would recede.
“You’ve been with us for eight days. Do you have any recollection of what happened?” the woman asked. She was moving around the room, tidying things up as she spoke in a nonchalant manner. Cassie felt like she’d been hit by lightning. How did someone tell you you’d lost a week as if it was no big deal?
She concentrated hard, trying to push her mind to open up and explain why she’d been unconscious for so long, why her body hurt so much. The harder she fought with her mind, the more it seemed to shut down. She couldn’t even manage to say anything.
“Do you have family we can contact?”
“No, there’s no one left except for me. I have a best friend, but she’s a nurse doing some work in Brazil right now,” Cassie sadly replied. “I just moved to Seattle from back East and I haven’t had time to make any other friends,” she finished. Another thought hit her as she lay there. “Oh my gosh, my job. I’m sure they’ve fired me by now. They must think that I walked out on them,” she moaned as she laid her head back and fought the nausea. She was beyond frustrated.
“I’m sorry, Cassie, for all of this. You aren’t going to be able to leave the hospital for at least another few days, and there will be no way for you to work for at least a month. You’ve had some bad injuries. In order to heal, you have to take care of yourself. You must think only of your health right now. Don’t worry about any of the medical expenses. They’re being covered by the Anderson Family.”
“What expenses? And why would the Anderson Family cover them?”
“You’re in a private hospital, the best one in the City of Seattle, if not the country,” the nurse said proudly, while seeming to stand up a bit straighter. She ignored the other question, entirely.
Cassie looked around the room with more awareness. She should have figured out she wasn’t in a regular hospital. For one thing, it was a large room with only one bed. There was a big flat-screen television, fresh flowers in a nice vase, curtains instead of blinds, and the same nurse didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave. In a public hospital, the nurses had such a large list of clients they wouldn’t have time to visit for so long.
“Why are the Anderson’s paying for me? And, are we talking about the Andersons?”
“The Andersons are paying for your stay because I was the one who hit you with my car,” a man’s voice said, startling both her and the nurse. They turned in unison to see none other than Max Anderson filling out the doorway.
Cassie gawked wide-eyed at the man she’d been chasing for an interview for the last several weeks. She’d wanted to get his attention, but hadn’t wanted him to run her over in order to do it. She suddenly had to fight the giggle that wanted to escape.
“I’ve had many women fall at my feet, but never jump out in front of my moving vehicle,” he said with a cocky raise of his brows. The mixture of arrogance and horror in his expression was too much for her, and she couldn’t help the laughter from escaping. Both he and the nurse looked at her as if she needed to be transferred to the mental hospital. Heck, she thought, she may need to be.
“I’m so sorry,” she said between breaths of air. “I really don’t know why I’m laughing. This isn’t funny in the least. I…I just don’t know what else to do,” she gasped. The laughter started to die down as the pain in her body seemed to throb in pulsing rhythms from the shaking. She felt as if she may pass out.
She took a moment to really look at Max. She’d never actually met him in person. He was tall, much taller than she’d originally thought. He had to be at least six foot three, maybe four. His hair was dark, shining in the pale room, and expertly cut, not too short, nor too long. There was an endearing cowlick that caused his otherwise perfect hairstyle to seem a bit ruffled.
Her eyes traveled over his face, noticing the five o’clock shadow that only added to his rugged good looks. He was disturbingly attractive in a way that would easily make women throw themselves at him, or possibly his moving vehicle. She knew she wouldn’t have done it on purpose, though. An interview wasn’t that important to her. She continued her unabashed perusal of him, noting his strong cheekbones, pursed lips, and then lower, to his broad shoulders, contained in his midnight blue suit that was tailor made for him. If she had to come up with one word to describe him, it would be, delicious.