Page 131 of Well Played

“A bag with clothes and toiletries in case they keep you.”

“They’re not going to keep me. I have a problem with my eye, not appendicitis.”

I’m volunteering to deal with this attitude? Why? Is it too late to call an Uber and send her on her way?

I press the button on the key fob to unlock my car. “Where’s the closest ER?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“You live here.”

“Only for a couple of months, remember?”

I shake my head and search my phone for the closest hospital. This definitely isn’t what I had planned for my Saturday.

8

Summer

“Where’s the parking lot?”Nico asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know. You can drop me off in front, and I’ll get a ride home.”

I’m handing him a get-out-of-jail-free card. No doubt he’ll snatch it out of my hand.

“Are your parents close by?”

“No.” I hesitate a moment and wonder if I should mention just how not close by they are. I doubt it will make a difference. Nico’s just asking to be polite so he can dump me here with a clear conscience. Maybe I should test my theory and prove what a jerk he really is. “They’re still up north.”

“North as in...?”

“New Jersey.”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t think there’s a shot in hell of them moving here. Mom hates the heat and humidity.”

Heat and humidity are a way of life in North Carolina. From the middle of May to the end of September. And many other days as well.

I wonder if he realizes I have no one I feel comfortable asking to come stay with me while I’m here or to pick me up and drive me back to my apartment when they release me. If I did, I wouldn’t have asked Nico. No matter how good he looks in his black T-shirt with a day’s scruff and his movie star sunglasses.

“You know what?” I wait, curious about what he has to say. “I’m already here. I’ll go in with you, make sure you have back-up.”

He didn’t just offer to sit and wait with me, did he?

“Back-up? People come here for medical help, not to take part in tag-team wrestling.”

He takes a long breath. “Always picking an argument.”

“Am not.”

“Go ahead, prove my point.” Only now, he sounds playful and not like a condescending ass. My hearing must be off, too!

He puts the car in park and hands over his keys to a woman in a blue shirt with VALET printed on it in big, black letters. “Sometimes,” he says after giving her his cell number, “you should just say thank you.”

After giving allmy information at the registration desk and getting my cheap plastic bracelet, we head to the waiting area. There aren’t a lot of people before me. Hopefully, I’ll only be here a few hours.

“Niko?” I break the quiet between us.

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