A hospital visit after too.
The shower ended and Price wrapped himself in a towel and perched on the edge of his bed.
His back hurt. His whole body hurt.
His ankle hurt too.
If his trip in Jamie Bell’s backyard had been worse, it could have been a lot harder to get JJ and Georgie out of that house.
Price tipped backward onto the bed. The intention was to stretch out the soreness radiating through him, then get back up, get dressed and head back to the hospital to wait in the lobby for the morning.
But his intention passed by his follow-through like ships in the night.
Then exhaustion pulled them both under.
* * *
Price woke up thirsty, confused and still in his towel.
It took him several minutes to realize that, not only had he fallen asleep, he had managed to stay asleep for hours. His cell phone’s clock let him know it was almost five-thirty in the morning, and no texts from anyone let him know that if anything exciting had happened since his slumber, it wasn’t being reported to him.
Price sat up and put his head in his hands. He took a few breaths to try and wake up some more. Instead, he got the nasty reminder that his body had done some more extreme exercises than usual the day before.
He got up and went straight to the bathroom counter. He took two ibuprofen, dressed as fast as he could stand, made some coffee and was headed back to the hospital before five forty-five had rolled around. He was riding the elevator up to the second floor a few minutes later.
And, before six a.m. had a chance to grace Seven Roads, Price was standing outside of a hospital door, looking with concern at JJ Shaw.
The interesting part, however, was the placement of JJ in relation to the hospital door. Instead of being asleep inside of her room, she was standing in the hallway, hovering next to the door. A door that didn’t actually lead to her room.
Price gave her a quick once-over—she was still in her hospital gown but no longer attached to an IV pole—before clearing his throat as quietly, but noticeably, as possible.
The noise came through quiet but clear.
JJ whirled around, eyes wide and fists balled.
Price raised his eyebrow at the move. He smiled too.
“I know you said you don’t like hospital beds, but staying in hospital hallways is a little extreme, don’t you think?”
JJ surprised him with an eye roll. He was glad to see at the same time that she lost some of the tension in her. The fists she had balled opened. She also took a small step toward him and got right to the point before he could ask about it.
“Jamie Bell came in a few minutes ago.” She pointed to the door she had been slinking around outside of. “I saw him go in after talking to the doctor, but I couldn’t hear what they said.”
Price was no longer in a teasing mood.
He stood straighter.
“He hasn’t come out yet?” he asked.
JJ shook her head.
“I was hoping to bump into him to ask how Georgie was doing but, well, it hasn’t—”
The door they were staring at started to open. JJ was faster. She went from being next to it to next to Price’s side. On reflex, he angled in front of her.
They went from looking like eavesdroppers to looking like they were simply going back to her room.
Not that Jamie Bell seemed to mind either way.
