Oh, jeez, was I really going to do this?
Trust a stranger?
After the recent experience I had with the last one?
I nodded.
“Thank you,” the nurse said. “Please wait a moment while I prepare the patient and his things.”
She disappeared back through the doors into the heart of the hospital.
Liam pressed his fists to his hips.
“Isabella, I sure would like to know what you think you’re doing.”
I didn’t even know myself.
What was I letting myself in for?
Good Samaritans did this kind of thing, not me.
But I somehow knew deep in my heart that there was no way I could let him be taken from me.
I knew what it was like to be adrift and alone in an ocean of infinite space and time.
I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone, and I wasn’t about to sit back and let it happen to the pilot.
Not on my watch.
Ras
I declined the nurse’s offer of leaving the hospital.
I’d already vowed to myself the best thing to do was stay in one place.
If someone I knew heard about my crash, the most logical place to find me was in the hospital.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, dear,” the nurse said. “We’ll pass your details onto anyone who comes along asking after you.”
I eyed a second-hand suitcase someone had discovered in lost and found, along with a bunch of clothes other patients had left behind.
That was how I was beginning to feel too.
Like something in the bottom of a drawer no one wanted any longer.
My things—or rather, someone else’s things—were packed.
I changed into the best set of mismatched clothes they’d found and scrambled for a reason to stay in the hospital.
I checked myself in the small mirror.
I wore a regular pair of faded blue jeans and a shirt made from some kind of smooth silky material.
The black boots might have been brand-new for the lack of use they’d seen.
I exited the bathroom and handed my old gown to the nurse.
“What if I fall sick?” I said, latching onto the best excuse I could come up with.
“You’re a strong young man and besides the knock to the noggin’, you’re as healthy as a horse. Even Dr. Foster says so and he’s very hard to impress.”
If my primary caregiver didn’t care about my health, what other excuse could I use?
I sighed and hung my head.
“Fine. Where am I going?”
I didn’t have much hope it would be somewhere decent.
“The young lady who found you is going to take care of you for a few days,” the nurse said, setting to turning down the bed in preparation for its next occupant.
“The girl who brought me here? Why would she do that?”
“Beats me. Maybe she feels some responsibility for you now that you have nowhere else to go. I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth if I were you. Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“Is this all you have?”
I turned at the voice and saw the most gorgeous creature I had ever set eyes on.
She had long mousey brown hair but her natural blonde had already begun to seep through it, giving her hair the appearance of caramel chocolate.
She was tall and lithe, the body of an athlete.
But as tall as she was, the top of her head only reached up to my chin.
She wore a pair of boots that gave her an extra two inches in height and had scuff marks along either side.
Here was a woman used to work, I thought.
Her tight blue jeans were tucked inside the boots but didn’t restrict her graceful movements.
She was looking at me, waiting for me to respond.
She would have to wait a moment longer as I gazed into those deep blue pools that threatened to suck me in and drown me if I wasn’t careful.
“Uh, yeah. This is my stuff. Well, it’s not really my stuff. The nurses went shopping for me in found and lost… I mean, lost and found.”
I grinned sheepishly, suddenly very pleased to be leaving the hospital.
The nurse was right.
They could always pass on my details to anyone who turned up.
And if it took them a little longer than usual to locate me… it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
“He was just telling me he’s not sure about leaving the hospital,” the nurse said.
The girl folded her arms and her eyes flicked over to mine.
“Oh, really?”
My cheeks flushed and I wished the nurse would be quiet!
I might have had second thoughts but that was before seeing this gorgeous specimen.
Wild horses couldn’t keep me here now.
“He’s free to do as he pleases,” the girl said.
The nurse said, “I was just telling him—”
“It’s not right for me to take up a bed when other patients are out there waiting to get in here,” I interrupted. “I totally agree. I was being selfish.”
“I’m sure I can convince the orderlies to find a bed for you,” the nurse said. “It won’t be a private room like this, but one of the wards. I’ll go speak with them now—”
“No, no. That’s okay. This young lady very kindly opened up her home to me and it would be an insult to turn her down.”
The girl unfolded her arms.
“I’d prefer for you to be comfortable. Don’t worry about me. And it’s not my home. It’s my parents’.”
“Even better,” I said, grinning foolishly at her.
Her lips quirked up at the corners.
The silence that passed between us was deafening.
And into it drifted the nurse, who following our sightline as we stared at each other.
“Well, I’m glad that’s sorted out.”
“Shall we get going?” the girl said.
“Yes,” I said, a little too quickly. “Definitely.”
The girl reached for my jacket that hung off the end of the bed.
I snagged it up first.
“I won’t be a hindrance.”
The girl’s eyes glinted.
“You couldn’t be even if you tried.”
Another achingly long silence broke between us.
Why did I suddenly feel like I’d been chewing mouthfuls of sand?
The girl extended her hand to me and
