Page 126 of Ruthless Ambition
She gave me a flat stare. “You want home, I get it, I know. You’re a terrible patient, and you’re feeling right as rain.”
“It’s almost like you think I’m lying,” I told her as she handed me my water.
“It’s almost like you forget I’ve heard every lame ass excuse in this hospital, and for your information, it wasn’t an elf up his butt, dear Lord, girl, this isSanta.” She paused. “It was a candy cane.”
“Boring.”
She laughed, and I grinned. “It could have been a really fat candy cane,” she said with a naughty wink, and we both laughed.
“Okay, Brenna,” I said seriously, “when can I leave?”
“Soon.”
“Not today?”
“Not today.” She looked around my room. “But why would you want away from all this?”
My room was filled with flowers, balloons, cards, and a teddy bear that was so big I was actually scared of it. Every day, more flowers came from my clients, my co-workers, my friends. “I’ve been lucky,” I told her.
“If you were lucky, you wouldn’t have been abducted, beaten, knocked unconscious, and suffered a punctured lung.” She shrugged. “But maybe your days are more action-packed than mine.”
“You’re a smart-ass,” I told her as I sipped my water.
“I’m a nurse,” she told me. “It’s in my job description.” Having marked everything down, she looked at me. “You’ve got a visitor.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll let him in.”
I nodded and she left the room, telling me she would be back later. Cooper came in a few minutes later.
“I swear she keeps me outside for her own twisted pleasure,” he grunted as he sat down. “You look better.”
“Thanks,” I told him. He’d been here every day for the last few days. “They won’t let me go home yet,” I said.
“It’ll be another day or two,” he said as he looked around the room. “Dunno if Nashville florists will need their flowers back before then,” he said with a shake of his head. He studied me again. “You have a better color in here.”
“Wow.” I sipped my water. “Your charm . . . is . . . overwhelming.”
Cooper grinned. “Chrissy went into labor. Jer got a boy.” He shook his head. “The kid’s like eleven pounds or something. How she forced that out her—”
“And I’m okay without the details,” I told him quickly, which caused him to chuckle. “Name?”
“Not yet,” he said. “I’ll let you know. Want to send some of these to her?” he joked as he gestured to the vases.
“Is that rude to do that to my clients? Do I still have clients?” I asked him as I looked at the flowers.
“You have all the flowers; it’s pretty obvious that your clients are going nowhere.”
“And my stalker?” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“Will has been held, Burt too. Nothing changed from yesterday.” Cooper watched me. “Your parents are also coming. Your mom apparently terrified Neil when she called him to demand why the sports agent who had been hospitalized was her daughter and no one told her.”
“Because I told him not to,” I answered with a frown. “She’s going to be impossible.”
“You’re in the hospital,” Cooper reminded me. “Most people’s parents kind of expect to know when that happens.”
“My mom will hover. There’s no need to hover. I have you,” I looked at him, “hovering.”
