Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
The thought had bothered me all the way during checking her out, when the doctor gave me instructions, and during the car ride. It was killing me to wait to ask her, but I knew now wasn’t the time. She needed rest and to recover from the strain that had literally made her pass out.
Of course, I still had a lot to arrange for work, but I had at least managed to take care of the preliminary stuff before we even left the hospital. I was sure that some of my upper level employees were wondering why I had suddenly abandoned them, but Nicole came first.
Besides, it wasn’t like they were incompetent without me. It was just that we were a small enough company where my absence would definitely be noticed. Not to mention there were meetings I was postponing, and I would eventually need to do some overviews.
But all of that was going to have to wait or be done online. I had long since made my decision and now it was just a matter of getting my ducks in a row.
I had never been so grateful to be wealthy. I couldn’t imagine what this situation would have been like if I was just an average joe, trying to make my way in the world and care for my pregnant baby mama, I was sure the whole situation would seem far more hopeless.
I pulled up to the front of her building and threw my flashers on. I hated to wake her considering that she looked like she had truly fallen sleep, but I also wanted to get her up into her bed in her comfiest pajamas.
Did she even own comfy pajamas? I wasn’t sure. There was so much we still had to learn about each other.
Well, I guessed we were about to spend a whole lot of time with each other to find all of that info out.
I smiled to myself as I helped her up to her room. She was fully conscious but quite sleepy, and I had to wonder if it was due to the anti-anxiety meds that they had given her to help with the panic attack that had tipped her over the edge and caused her to faint.
It was easy enough to get her into bed, and I placed a cup of water on her nightstand, before grabbing a chair from the dining room and hauling it to the corner of her room.
And that was right where I sat while she slept. Maybe it was creepy to do that, but I wanted to be close while I read over everything the doctor had given me, which was quite a lot by the way. There was at least fifty pages, some of it concerning what she couldn’t do, some on what she could do. There was a whole chunk on diet, and even a packet concerning how to keep her morale and psyche up during extended periods of bedrest.
It was all very interesting, and I greatly appreciated it, but I couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed, like I should have prepared better. But how could I have known that this would happen? I suppose there was a reason that the phrase hope for the best but prepare for the worst was popular, but I never quite realized why until now.
Time passed and I paid it no mind, until I heard the covers shift and I looked up to see Nicole looking me over.
“So that wasn’t all a dream,” she muttered, rubbing at her temples.
“Afraid not,” I answered, crossing to her to sit on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“A lot better. Maybe a little hazy, but otherwise pretty much back to normal.”
“Already? That’s pretty impressive.”
She shrugged, and I instantly knew that she was trying to play it cool. While that was certainly admirable, she didn’t need to do that with me. I wanted to know how she really was, and the more I knew, the more I could take care of her.
“Yeah, it’s really not a big deal. Like I said, I just stood up too quickly and made myself get a little lightheaded.”
“Uh-huh. And what exactly were you bending over to pick up.”
She looked surprised, as if she hadn’t thought about that. “Oh, just a little bit of lipstick I dropped on the ground.”
“Really?” I asked, trying to sound interested and not suspicious. The last thing I wanted her to think was that I thought she was a liar. I understood why she was trying to cover for herself considering her history, but I also wanted to prove to her that she didn’t need to. I was right here, ready to protect her, and I just needed her to trust me. “You weren’t wearing lipstick in the hospital.”
“I guess the EMTs must have wiped it off.”