“Let me get this straight. You want me and Cedar to come sleep at your house Tuesday night so that you can stay over at Jesse’s place?”
Keeping her voice down, Ellie told Claire how Daisy had come into the bedroom, waking them up and making Jesse uncomfortable. “I just want an uninterrupted night with him. You can come over at nine after the kids are asleep, watch TV, have some wine, and then just sleep in my bed. I’ll be only a few minutes away if you need anything. I’ll come back early in the morning so you can get home and get to work.”
She’d been assigned to the ER again today. The only patient was down the hallway getting X-rays for a possible wrist fracture, giving her just a few free minutes.
“You do remember that I’m on crutches, right?”
“Yes, but you won’t have to chase the twins around.” Ellie lowered her voice to a whisper. “You can be on crutches at your house, or you can be on crutches at my house so that I can get laid.”
“But you’ve gotten laid. You’ve gotten laid more than I have this week.”
“Please, Claire.”
“Let me talk to Cedar. It’s a long commute down the canyon. I don’t want to make problems for him at work. And you’ll have to put clean sheets on your bed. I’m not sleeping in your sex funk.”
“Of course I’ll put clean sheets on the bed.” Ellie glanced up from the nurse’s station and saw Pauline walking her way. “I really appreciate your volunteering to help unload the supplies. It would be a big job without you.”
“What? Ellie—”
“Thanks for calling.” Ellie ended the call. “Hey, Pauline.”
“I saw the supplies for the first-aid tent have arrived.”
“I hope to get time this afternoon to do an inventory.” She wanted to make sure everything she’d ordered was there.
“If you can’t get it done today, you can always come in on one of your days off.”
That crossed a line.
Outside of emergencies, Ellie refused to let the hospital chip away at her time with her kids. She was their only parent, and she wouldn’t let them grow up without her. “I’m happy to volunteer free time from home, but I will not bring the twins to the hospital.”
Pauline’s smile went tight. “I’m sure you’ll work it out.”
Damned straight she would.
When it was time for her lunch break, she grabbed the supply list and went down to the loading dock. She’d never been down here before, so she had to ask one of the janitors for help finding the right room. She opened the door, stopped, and stared, her heart sinking.
How was she supposed to inventory this?
The supplies weren’t organized or sitting in neat piles. Everything was stacked chest-high on three large pallets and wrapped tightly in plastic. It would take Ellie hours to break the stacks down, separate everything, do an inventory, and load up the pallets again. There was no way she could do this on her lunch break.
Pauline had said to delegate, but who had time for this? Every single person who’d signed up to volunteer had jobs. Most had families. She couldn’t just dump this mess in someone else’s lap.
Her cell phone buzzed.
A text from Jesse. He’d sent a photo.
She clicked, her pulse skipping at the sight of his face. It was a selfie of him riding the chair lift, a big smile on his face. A text message followed.
SITREP: IT’S AFTERNOON, AND I’M STILL ALIVE. HOW’S YOUR DAY?
Her heart melted.
She typed back.
I’M GLAD YOU’RE IN ONE PIECE.
She told him about the inventory issue and how it was all stacked high and wrapped in plastic and how she was going to have to come in on a day off this week to get it done in time.
I HAVE AN IDEA. HANG ON…
She waited for another message, but nothing came. Figuring he’d gotten caught up in something on the job, she headed back up to the ER. She’d just reached the nurse’s station with her lunch when her phone rang, the number unknown.
“Hey, Ellie. It’s Megs. Jesse tells me you’ve got a shitload of medical supplies that need to be inventoried before SnowFest this weekend.”
“That’s true.”
“If you tell me what time we should be there, I’ll ask for volunteers to come and help. I have an army of them, and they’re always trying to suck up and get on my good side. And, honey, we do inventory like nobody’s business.”
Chapter 14
Jesse had just started his end-of-day sweeps when he got a page from Megs. He slid to a stop and scrolled through it.
MORETTI’S GF NEEDS HELP WITH INVENTORY OF SUPPLIES FOR SNOWFEST. MEET AT 1800 HRS AT HOSPITAL LOADING DOCK.
Moretti’s girlfriend?
That should have bugged Jesse, but it didn’t. What else could he call Ellie? She wasn’t just his neighbor. They’d fucked each other’s brains out. They’d slept together—actually slept—in her bed. He’d watched her sing her little girl to sleep, and it had melted his heart? the image of Daisy snuggling against Ellie’s breast burned into his memory. It was the purest expression of femininity he’d ever seen.
You’re falling for her—falling hard.