Blitzing Emily Read Free Page A

okay if you leave,” she said.
    “No, no,” Brandon insisted, but he looked at the clock once more. “Don’t worry about it.”
    “Just to be safe, Emily, I’m ordering a CT scan. We’re also going to stitch that cut. Sit tight for a few minutes, and I’ll send the nurse in to start this process.”
    Emily tried to sit up. “I’m fine. I have to make some other deliveries for Amy. I . . .” The room spun around. The doctor caught her just before she fell off the side of the narrow bed.
    Brandon jumped out of the chair and arrived at her bedside in one long stride. He pulled up the bedside railings. “Doctor, may I talk with you in the hallway for a moment?”
    Emily heard only broken bits of their discussion. It didn’t sound positive. Brandon gestured toward the room a few times with his hand while they talked. The noise in the hallway finally dropped a little and she could listen in.
    “Look, Doc, I’m late. I want to stay, but I really can’t,” Brandon said.
    “Emily needs . . .” but whatever it was the doctor thought she needed was drowned out by yet more voices, one high-pitched and panicky, from an adjoining room.
    “If you tell us what you took, we won’t tell anyone else. We need to know before we can treat you.”
    “I can’t talk about it.”
    “You’re going to have to talk about it at some point. You’re not the first guy that showed up at this hospital after an erection of more than four hours. Did you take something besides an ED drug? Recreational drugs? Did you drink alcohol tonight? This isn’t a joke.”
    “It’s Valentine’s Day. My girlfriend expected something special.”
    “She’d like it better if you both were around next Valentine’s Day, too.”
    A nurse shut the sliding glass door in Emily’s room, pulling a floor-to-ceiling cloth curtain around the bed Emily lay in.
    “The admitting person will be here shortly, but let’s get you into a stylish hospital gown while we wait.”
    The nurse was tall and stocky. She wore her hair in a long, dark pigtail. She had what appeared to be a permanent grin, and her nametag read “Cheryl.” She undressed Emily with a speed and gentleness that showed many years of practice. Emily pushed her arms through the hospital gown sleeves, and the nurse draped a warm, fluffy cotton blanket over her as she lay down again.
    “It’s just like the day spa.”
    “Those boots must have been gorgeous before the heel snapped off.”
    “Thinking about how much they cost makes my headache worse.”
    “So, Emily, how’s your pain level on a scale of one to ten?”
    “My head’s a seven. The boots are a twenty.”
    “Isn’t that Brandon McKenna of the Sharks?”
    “I picked him up in the parking lot,” Emily sighed.
    It was increasingly evident that Emily needed a ride home. After hearing a little of Brandon’s conversation, he wasn’t going to be around. There were signs all over the hospital stating that the use of cell phones was not allowed. The TV remote control fastened to the side of the bed didn’t have texting capability, either.
    “I’d like to call a friend. Is there a telephone I can use?”
    Cheryl must have misheard her. “We don’t allow non-family members in here, unfortunately. Your valentine is on his way to the waiting room.”
    Family member, Emily thought. “Valentine” wasn’t exactly a family member, but she needed to get Brandon back in here. If she could find someone to pick her up, he’d be able to leave.
    “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
    “You know,” Emily said, “You’re right. It’s a special day, and I really want to spend some time with him. Is there any possible way he could sit with me while I’m waiting?”
    Cheryl winked at her. “For today, I’ll make an exception. To the rest of the hospital, he’s your fiancé. You just relax. He’ll be here in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
    Cheryl sped out of the room. Emily craned her neck to glimpse Brandon standing