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“Really? Then piss off.”
Jules laughed as a nurse came into the room to check on Paige. She seemed satisfied with the progress Paige was making and as she was finishing her exam, the day shift doctor came in. To Paige’s relief, it was a normal looking man who didn’t resemble a creepy cartoon character, nor did he look old enough to have prescribed penicillin when it was a brand new drug.
Like the nurse, he seemed satisfied with Paige’s recovery and informed her that after she’d eaten breakfast, she could be released.
With that incentive, she forced herself to eat scrambled eggs that literally tasted like nothing and dry toast that tasted like cardboard, washing it all down with coffee that tasted like burnt dirt. Afterwards, she changed into the extra clothes Jules had brought for the trip home, including comfortable shoes.
When it was time to be released, an administrator of some kind came to Paige’s room and rambled on for what seemed like an excessive amount of time on concussion side effects, after-care instructions and warnings. Paige had a hard time concentrating on most of what she was told, and at the end, was given a ridiculous amount of paperwork in an honest-to-God folder, that covered everything that had been said. The administrator told Paige that if she had any questions, she could read through the paperwork, which seemed like bad advice, given she wasn’t supposed to read for a couple of days.
The only thing that really caught and captured her attention was the part about her hospital bill ‘being taken care of’ by ‘an outside party’, which she assumed meant David was paying it.
On the drive home, as they passed Bender’s, Paige saw her car in the parking lot. “I’ll have to come back and get my car,” she told Jules tiredly.
“I know. You might have mentioned that a few times.”
Paige’s eyes widened in alarm. Was she still that fucked up? She didn’t remember saying anything about having to get her car—
Jules chuckled. “I’m just messing with you.”
Paige exhaled with relief, before giving Jules a dirty look. “I hate you. And that’s not a lie, or an exaggeration.”
Just then, Paige’s phone alerted her to an incoming text.
“Is that from your boss?” Jules asked, glancing over.
Paige nodded, quickly reading the message. “She’s pissed because she has to work the wedding reception tonight for two hundred people.”
“Linda’s a bitch. It’s not your fault that you can’t work for the next ten days.”
“I know, but—” Paige broke off as another text came in, this one making her give a half snort, which she immediately regretted because it made her head hurt. “Linda wants me to text her a picture of the doctor’s orders.”
“She thinks you’re lying?”
“She says she needs it for ‘documentation’, but I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m lying.”
“You should write ‘Fuck you’ on a piece of paper and text her a picture of that.”
Paige opened her folder to get the doctor’s note restricting her work for the next ten days and sent a snapshot of it to her boss, Linda. As she was watching and waiting for a response—which would probably be off the charts pissed—a text came in from David, instead.
DAVID: I hope you’re feeling better today. And I meant what I said—if you need anything, let me know.
Paige read it twice, not sure what to make of it. Finally, she responded.
PAIGE: Thank you, but I’ll be fine. And also, I was told that my hospital bill is being taken care of by an outside party. I assume that means you’re paying it, so while it feels odd to thank you, considering Ashley is the reason I was there, I can appreciate the gesture.
Chapter 13
After sleeping most of the day, Paige woke to the smell of waffles. She briefly thought about taking a quick shower, but quickly decided she’d rather eat first. Her head still hurt, but the nausea had subsided a little, and she actually felt hungry.
“I love brinner,” Paige said with a smile as she shuffled into the kitchen, taking in all the breakfast items set out for dinner.
“I know.” Jules returned the smile and then removed a waffle from the waffle maker before asking, “Are you feeling any better after your nap?”
“A little. But I’ve gotten a bunch of texts from Linda about tonight’s wedding, so I need to deal with those.”
“No, you don’t.” Jules held out her hand. “Give me your phone.”
“Jules, I can’t just ignore her.”
