Cole grabbed his coat. He didn’t mask his frustration as he addressed her. “Elise, that shade of green is not very attractive. I told you that you have nothing to be jealous about. Jade and I were childhood friends, and I just want to make sure she’s okay.” He turned to Doug. “Can you take Elise home?”
Elise was shocked. He couldn’t possibly be serious? Did he really think she was going to let her boyfriend chase after some woman? A gorgeous woman at that.
Doug was a bit confused himself. He didn’t understand Cole’s need to dash off and check on someone it seemed he hadn’t talked to in years. But they were friends; sometimes you don’t understand your friend’s actions, you just go with it. “Yeah, of course. It’s no problem dropping you off Elise.”
“That won’t be necessary, Doug.” Elise turned to Cole. “If you’re going to check on your friend then I’m going with you.”
He was wasting time. The paramedics were already out the door. “Fine. Then, let’s go.”
*****
Jade groaned as her eyes fluttered opened. She was on the hard, cold floor of the kitchen with a bright light shining on her face. It hurt to think, breathe, or move so she didn’t even try. Her only goal was to remain perfectly still. “It looks like she’s coming around.” Many voices were talking, seemingly all at once; some familiar but most unrecognizable. Jade felt her body being moved, then lifted into the air and placed on something soft. A warm blanket was placed over her body and it felt heavenly. Why was she so sleepy? It was threatening to pull her under. No. She had to wake up and get those drinks to table six. Jade was going to kill whoever put those bags of sand on her eyelids. They were entirely too heavy. Just as she was about to succumb to the warmth and darkness, she felt herself moving. Her eyes lifted slightly.
Her voice was almost inaudible. “Wait. What’s going on? Where are you taking me?”
A man with gentle eyes looked down into hers. “You’re going for a little ride. We’re taking you to St. Mary’s Emergency.”
Slowly, Jade moved her head from side to side. It hurt. Everything hurt, but if she could just lie down for a while she’d be okay. “N-n-no. You can’t. Really, it’s not necessary. I’m just tired. I might even have the flu, but I’ll go to the clinic tomorrow. I can’t afford an ambulance ride or St. Mary’s.”
He smiled warmly. “St. Mary’s is the closest hospital where you can get fully checked out. Unfortunately, since you have a pretty high fever, and you completely passed out, we need to make sure you’re good to go. Don’t worry about anything else but that right now.”
Jade didn’t have time for this. One more thing to add to the long list of bills she couldn’t pay. She didn’t even have health insurance. Tears started to leak from the corners of her eyes as she was wheeled outside and loaded into the ambulance. Hopefully, this little adventure wouldn’t take too long because she had to get up early tomorrow for her cleaning shift.
An hour later, Jade was lying on an emergency room bed with an I.V. drip in her arm, an oxygen mask covering her face, and listening to a doctor tell her that she was going to be admitted. The culprit—pneumonia.
Chapter 5
Three days later, Jade was fully dressed and sitting on the edge of her hospital bed clutching the sheets with one hand, while talking on her cell with the other.
Her voice was strained. “Mr. Smith, I just need another week. I promise that I’ll pay you the rest of the rent. I wasn’t even aware of that. What? You’ve already rented out my apartment?” Her voice hitched with desperation. “What am I going to do? That only gives me two days to move all of my things.” Jade closed her eyes as she pressed her fingertips to her temple and rotated them in circles. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Jade let it out slowly in an attempt not to freak out. “Are you sure there is nothing else you can do? Is there another apartment available in our building? I’ll take anything. There isn’t?” She paused for several seconds. “Well, I guess you have to do what you have to do.” A moment later, Jade disconnected the call and dropped her chin to her chest. She’d been evicted. This was a disaster.
Cole hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but he had been standing at her door while Jade was on the phone. The defeated slump of her shoulders and her bowed head pulled at something deep within. He cleared his throat to announce himself. “Cricket?”
The frown etched on her face became even more pronounced when she turned around to meet Cole’s eyes. “Please call me Jade.”
“Sorry. I’m not sure why that’s so hard for me to get used to.” He walked farther into her room rubbing the back of his neck. “How are you feeling today?”
Jade bit the bottom of her lip to keep from screaming all of her frustrations. What was the point? The sound of defeat was evident when she responded. “Good enough to be released today, I guess.” Jade was angry about everything, but more than anything she was emotionally exhausted. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any time to deal with her feelings. Not when she only had two days to figure out where she was going to live before being put out on the streets. If Cole hadn’t been standing there, she would have at least given herself a moment to cry. It seemed no matter how hard Jade tried she just couldn’t get ahead.
Now wasn’t the time to feel sorry for herself, and while Cole wasn’t one of her favorite people,
