Later came when she was in Izzie’s room, helping Izzie back into the bed.
Izzie had lost weight, wasn’t sleeping well, and looked horrible. But she was keeping her spirits up.
“This is the last place I wanted to move into, Ann. I mean, I was here enough before to say I lived here, but the reality is not so great.”
“Nikkie Jean sent over more pajamas for you.”
Izzie groaned. “Do you realize how much teasing the last pair she bought got me?”
“Yes. But you still wore them.” And Annie would be taking the tie-dyed monstrosities home to launder. Izzie wasn’t going to be stuck in a hospital gown when she was up walking around the hospital. Her friend deserved more dignity around their coworkers than that. “Just like you will these.”
“Dancing dogs? Those are a bit tame for Nik.”
“Well, I’ve had a lot on my mind,” the woman in question said from the door. “Incubating while helping raise three remarkable children is extremely hard work.”
“I’ll say, on the three children. You just keep the incubating to yourself, thank you. You’re so going to have to spill.” Annie wanted the details, fast.
“Ok, what’s going on?” Izzie said, after a small cough. “Please give me something to think about besides this place. I feel like a captive. And I’ve read every book I can get my hands on here. I even bribed Cage Ralstone to bring me whatever he could find. In pediatrics. He brought me those…” She pointed to a stack of My Little Pony chapter books. “I need something besides television.”
Izzie had always despised television, preferring to be outside doing something. Or in a gym. Before the onset of puberty, Izzie had been a natural at gymnastics, and phenomenal at ballet. All that had changed when she stopped being able to participate because of the asthma.
If her mother had noticed back then and taken her to the proper doctors, it might have been different. But now...now Izzie spent all her spare time with Annie and the boys, Nikkie Jean, or studying.
At least this was forcing Izzie to slow down a bit. “You need to take better care of yourself, Iz. Actually use this time to rest. You’re...scaring me.”
“I’m going to be ok. I’m tougher than I look. Hard as nails, underneath this.” She touched her hair, which still stuck up on her head everywhere. Annie made a note to bring her hair dryer in the morning. Before Izzie went crazy or ended up looking like a dark-haired version of Little Orphan Annie. “Permanent bedhead. Now...what does Nik need to spill? I feel like I’m missing all the good stuff here.”
“That is a seriously good question.” Annie settled on the foot of Izzie’s bed, keeping a careful eye on how her friend was moving. Izzie was still very sore, though she refused to admit it.
Izzie could be stubborn that way.
Her body was physically healing from the bullets—it was her pneumonia that had everyone worried. And everyone was worried. Infection had added nine days to her stay already. Maybe her physicians were just being cautious because her shooter was a physician at this hospital, and they were afraid of liability issues, but Annie didn’t care. She wanted Izzie where she could get help, if she needed it.
Izzie was in the best possible place she could be right now. And Annie was spending as much of her time off the clock with Izzie as she could. She, Cherise, Wanda, Jillian, Lacy, Nikkie Jean. They were making certain she knew she wasn’t alone.
They couldn’t find Jake anywhere.
“Spill, Nik,” Izzie ordered. “And make it good.”
“Well, in the beginning, my father met my mother, and my brother was conceived several years later. I think he’s seven years older than I am, but we were never that close, so how should I know?”
“Nik...focus. Get to the good stuff.” One thing the three of them had in common was the fact that they had had crappy parents all around. It had drawn them together. Nikkie Jean had been practically raised by housekeepers. Jake had been the most influential in Izzie’s life.
Annie had basically raised herself, with a tiny bit of Jake thrown in on the side.
Nikkie Jean turned serious again. “My father’s back in my life, and he’s changed things. I’m still trying to figure that out. I do know one thing. No matter what happens, I have Caine and you two to help me figure it out.”
“Each and every minute you need us,” Annie said, understanding more than what her friend was saying. Her father had been a roller coaster through her life, and Nikkie Jean was one who preferred her feet flat on the ground. Annie and Izzie were to help hold those feet down right now. “Izzie and me? We’re not going anywhere. You’re stuck with us forever.”
“That’s absolutely right,” Izzie added. “Maybe-boss. You’ve got us. Even if you try to push us away for some reason. We are onto your ways.”
“Exactly what I was counting on. Now, Annie...tell the truth...” Nikkie Jean looked right at her. Annie braced herself. Nikkie Jean was about to switch subjects. And Annie suspected she knew what the next topic was going to be. “How was it, kissing the hottest mayor in Texas? And are you planning on doing so again?”
Annie’s hands came up to cover her flaming cheeks. “It was wonderful. And no. I don’t plan on kissing him ever again.”
“Boy, the things I miss stuck here in Hospitalandia. Spill, Annie. This time. All the details. I want each and every one.”