Dylan had been planning to sleep after his mother left, but now how could he? All he could think of was having Nicoletta as his nurse; having her around twenty-four hours a day, five or more days a week. There was no way he could handle that. They would probably end up killing each other. He didn’t want to admit how much it would hurt to have the only woman he’d ever truly wanted so close, yet so unattainable.
“Knock, knock,” Holly said as she came into the room to check on him. “It’s medicine time.”
“Can I not take the pain meds today? I want to see if I can handle it. That shit makes me way too groggy.” He didn’t mention that if he was in pain, his mood would stay bad and when his mom came back the next day to harass him, he would be ready to take her on.
“Yeah, the doctor said it’s as needed now so you don’t have to take it if you don’t want. But you still have to take the antibiotics. We don’t want an infection setting in.”
“Thank you,” he murmured, staring off into space.
“What’s up?” Holly asked as she took his blood pressure. “Your mom didn’t seem too happy when she stormed out of here.”
Dylan sighed and focused on the nurse. “She has a warped idea of who she should hire to take care of me when I leave here. She’s acting insane as usual.”
Holly chuckled and took the blood pressure cuff off of him. “Your mother seems perfectly sane to me. Does she want to hire the pretty young woman who comes to visit on Tuesdays?”
“Yeah,” Dylan lamented. “How did you know?”
“Nicoletta and I have talked a few times. I know she’s a nurse and I know she isn’t working right now. It just makes sense.”
“Yeah,” Dylan said softly. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to want a new job would you? You could be my nurse.”
“Whoa,” Holly grinned. “I love my job here.”
“Yeah, I figured,” he said, disappointed.
After Holly removed the thermometer from his mouth, she put her hand on his arm so he would look at her. “I don’t understand you. With the kind of guy you are, I would think you’d be begging that gorgeous young thing to be your nurse.”
Dylan shrugged. “We have a history. We’d probably end up hating each other.”
Holly looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Personally, I think you still love her but are afraid that she'll reject you again.”
Dylan’s head snapped up. “She…she never rejected me!” he insisted.
“Uh huh,” Holly murmured. “I’ve been around the block a few times Mr. Harper. I’ve seen it before. You loved her, she loved you, and for some reason she shot you down. Then years later you meet up again. It wasn’t that hard to figure out.”
Dylan looked away, pouting. “She told you.”
Holly laughed. “Everything but why she told you the dreaded no word.”
“Yeah. That was completely my fault.”“Then fix it, Dylan. This is your chance to re-write the past. Make her yours finally. It’s not too late.”
Dylan just shrugged and stared out the window at the trees blowing in the wind.
“Alright, I’m going to leave you alone now,” Holly said. “But don’t forget you have x-rays later to make sure your breaks are healing properly. You should be able to get a walking cast a few days after you get home.”
Dylan just nodded, still lost in thought, as she left the room.
His mind was warring with his heart and he had no clue what to do. By the time the medicine cart rolled into the room, he had decided that it wasn’t worth the risk. He was going to fight his mother on this matter to the very end. Nicoletta would not…no, she could not, be his nurse.
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