Brody. The name felt like candy on her tongue. How she would have enjoyed this moment of holding his hand and saying his name if it weren’t clouded with the darkness and fear around them.
Darkness and fear…. Suddenly, the events of a few nights ago came back to her. She saw herself entering Rico’s house and following him to his bedroom. While sleeping with him hadn’t been her plan, she had been prepared to use flirtation and her good looks on him to try and get her book promoted. At least until she saw the picture of his wife on the nightstand. “Oh my gosh, Brody, I remember.” She squeezed his hand tighter as excitement joined the fear coursing through her.
“What?” he asked.
“I went to Rico’s to try and convince him to promote my latest book, but I didn’t know about his wife. When I realized he was married, I told him I wouldn’t cross that line. I’ve been pretty awful the last few years, but that was too much for even me. But as we were talking, his phone rang. His demeanor shifted immediately, and he ushered me out of the room. I was almost to my car when I remembered my purse. I ran back up to his room, but he freaked out when he saw me and shoved me in a closet.” She shivered as she remembered sitting in the unfamiliar dark closet.
“I thought he was hiding me from his wife, but then I heard other masculine voices join his. They were angry and yelling about something, but the words were muffled inside the closet. Anyway, I heard the balcony glass door open, and I took the chance they had stepped outside. I bolted, forgetting my purse in the process. I just wanted to get out of there.”
“Do you think they were in the black truck that hit you?” Brody asked.
“It’s possible. I never saw the driver, but I remember one car blinding me from behind and then the truck hitting me. If it was them, I don’t think they’ll stop until I’m dead.”
Her words hung in the air, a fatal prophecy. Neither of them had a word to say in response. Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door of her hospital room. Tia squeezed Brody’s hand tighter. “Brody? If we don’t make it out of here alive, I want you to know that I’m glad you were my doctor. You’re a good man, and you’ve made me want to be a better woman.”
“Shh, don’t talk like that,” Brody said, but the fear was evident in his voice.
Suddenly, there was pounding on the bathroom door. Tia squeezed Brody’s hand tighter with one hand and clapped the other over her mouth to keep from screaming.
“Dr. Cavanaugh? Open up. It’s Detective Graves.”
Relief flooded Tia and her breath escaped in one giant sigh. Even when Brody let go of her hand to stand and open the door, she had never felt so blissful. The bright light blinded her for a moment, and she blinked rapidly to readjust her eyes.
“Is it safe to come out then?” Brody asked.
“It is,” Detective Graves said, “Evidently, it was a patient who suffered a psychiatric break and grabbed a scalpel off a tray.”
Tia might have laughed at the situation if her heartbeat wasn’t still thundering in her chest.
“I’m sorry,” Brody said, “after our conversation-”
“You were right to do what you did,” Detective Graves assured him. “We still haven’t found the driver of the black truck or who sent her those flowers, and what you did made perfect sense. However, unless you need further assistance, we’ll get back to work on finding the suspects.”
“Wait, Detective Graves?” Though Tia didn’t want to recount her story again, she didn’t want another reprimand from Detective Graves either. He turned back to her and waited for her to continue. “I remembered more. I was there to see Rico about a publishing opportunity, but I turned it down when I found out he was married and looking for an affair. He kicked me out, but I had forgotten my purse. When I returned, he shoved me in a closet. I heard men’s voices arguing, and I thought perhaps they were reporters out for a story on me which is why I ran when I did.”
“Did you see any of the men? Do you remember anything about them?”
“Not their faces. When I stepped out of the closet, I looked left. They were on the balcony, but it was dark outside. I couldn’t see their faces, but I felt the icy hatred in their gaze when they saw me. I didn’t think they had followed me at first, but then lights blinded me on the road. I slowed down thinking maybe it was just teenagers out for a joy ride, but when they didn’t pass me, I figured they had followed me after all. Then the truck hit me.”
Jordan’s face hardened and he exchanged a glance with Brody. “Okay, thank you, Tia. We’ll look into all of this and let you know what we find. Do the two of you need anything else?”
“I think we’ll be fine.” Brody turned to Tia as the detectives left. “Well, that was some excitement for the day. How about we get you back in bed?”
“Could we take a walk instead?” Tia asked. “My heart is still pounding, and I feel like I could use some fresh air after this.”
His lips pulled into a smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”
Brody tried to ignore the sensations that flooded his body when he picked Tia up again. He’d been sure there was no emotional attachment or he’d at least been trying to convince himself there was no attachment, but the near-death experience had blown that out of the water. Holding hands with her in the dark had sent emotions careening through his body that he hadn’t felt since Rachel’s death.
But he still didn’t know her. Was she the overly ambitious, conniving person of her past? She said she hadn’t had an affair or involvement with drug trafficking. But was that true? Or was she the sweet, kind person that he knew her to be? He had to admit that even though he didn’t completely know her, the things in her past seemed to matter less now. She seemed sincere.
“Let me get you a robe,” he said as soon as he got her situated back on the bed. He grabbed one from the wardrobe in the room and helped her shrug into it before paging for a wheelchair. Then he looked at her, a million things running through his mind – none of which he could say. “I’ll check your IV.”
“You’ve taken very good care of me, Brody. Thank you,” Tia said holding his gaze.
He liked how his name sounded when she said it. And he liked taking care of her. Egad, was he falling for her?
“Dr. Cavanaugh? Your wheelchair.”
The sound of the orderly snapped Brody out of his daydream and he flashed Eric a smile. “Thank you. Can you let Valerie know I’m taking a walk?”
Eric paled. “I will, sir, but you should know they are talking about you. About how much time you’re spending...” he glanced over at Tia, “with patients.”
“That’s all right, Eric. I can handle it, but thank you for the information.” Brody didn’t like being the subject of gossip, but he hadn’t been exaggerating when he told Nick they gossiped about everything. He wasn’t about to change his behavior just to avoid being their topic.
“Can we go without the pole?” Tia asked. She had either not caught Eric’s implication or she was simply ignoring it.
“If you think you can handle no pain meds for a bit, I can cap your plug.”
“I think I’ll be okay. Honestly, the pain is getting better. Of course, that could be the medicine talking.” She flashed him a crooked smile, “or maybe the adrenaline. But really, I think I’ll be fine for the walk.”
He pushed up the sleeve of her robe and unhooked the IV, being careful to leave the plug in her arm. Then he wheeled the chair closer to the bed and helped her sit down. Moments later, they were outside breathing in the sunlight and fresh air.
“You know for a minute, I thought that might be the end,” Tia said as he pushed her down the path. She had suggested they walk this time instead of just sitting, and after the scare, Brody was in need of some exercise to settle his nerves as well. “I realized I don’t want this to be the end of my life. Whether this personality change is because of me or the brain injury, I want to do something with it. I want to apologize to Ava and the other people I have hurt and start walking a different path.”
“I think that’s a great plan,” Brody said with a smile as he imagined helping her accomplish that goal. But then he remembered she lived in California and he lived here. “Will you go back to California then?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I mean I guess I will have to go back to check the details of my life there, but I might like it here. Or I might when people aren’t trying to kill me.”
“Yeah, that could prevent someone from liking a place,” Brody chuckled.
“You know, you never answered my question.”
“What question?” In all the commotion of her memory coming back and the rescue, he had forgotten what she had asked.
“Do you think you’ll ever marry again?”
Brody was glad he was behind her and she couldn’t see his facial expressions because he had no idea what emotion might be playing on his face right now. “I don’t know. When Rachel died, I was pretty sure that was it. I threw myself into work and convinced myself it would be enough, but now I’m not so sure. I suppose I’d like a companion again. If I could find the right woman.”
She smiled up at him, and Brody felt the ice around his heart melt a little more. Though he hadn’t expected it to happen, she had managed to capture a piece of his heart. “Well, I hope you do then. You seem like you would make a great husband.”
Brody didn’t know what to say to that, so they continued on in silence. They walked around the entire hospital enjoying the sun and fresh air.
“Oh, I never thanked you,” she said as they reached the entrance again.
“For what?” he asked.
“For reassigning Valerie. The new nurse is much nicer though I feel like she might need more training. She forgot the clipboard when she came in to check me.”
Brody felt a tendril of fear reach around his heart and begin to squeeze. “Tia, I didn’t assign a new nurse to your room.”
She turned to face him, panic in her eyes. “Then who is the nurse who was in my room yesterday?”
“I don’t know, but we better find out.” Brody’s shoulders, having just relaxed, tensed again, and he pulled out his cell phone to dial Jordan once more as he wheeled Tia back inside.