Page 34 of A Sudden Response

“It’s just for a little while,” Eric said, sighing as he reached over and took her hand in both of his.

Joe yanked her hand away as she turned to glare at him. “What do you mean by ‘for a little while’?”

His eyebrows arched slightly in confusion. “Bill didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

“Oh, well,” Eric cleared his throat, “you’re on light duty until the stitches come out,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile that pissed her off.

“You...bastard!”

He went to put his arm around her shoulders, but she shrugged him off. “I don’t want you to be upset about not being able to participate in the muster this year. There’s always next year,” Eric explained with a reassuring smile.

“What the hell do you mean I’m not participating?” Joe demanded, coming to her feet to better glare at him.

He noticeably winced as he looked past her. “You didn’t tell her?”

“I thought you did,” she heard Bill mutter like the coward he was.

She turned her glare on her boss. “I’m on light duty for a week? Really?”

He shot a nervous look at Eric before nodding. “I’m afraid so. You suffered a head injury and we don’t want you to strain yourself. I’d rather you stayed home on medical, but-”

“Fine,” Joe said, cutting him off.

“What?” Bill asked, frowning.

“Fine, I’m on medical. I’m going home. I’ll be back in a week after I get cleared medically,” Joe said, heading inside to grab her things and fighting the urge to stomp her foot like a child.

There was no way that she was going to come in for a week and put up with this bullshit. One twenty-four-hour shift of twiddling her thumbs was bad enough. There was no way in hell that she was going to be able to do it for an entire week. Since she would be getting paid no matter what she did, Joe decided that she’d rather take the week to get some work done around her house and run some errands that she’d been putting off.

“Joe?” Eric said, but she didn’t stop. She walked past the guys, who were either too focused on the game or recognized a woman on a war path and left her the hell alone.

She walked to the bunkroom, grabbed her belongings, not bothering to fold them, and stormed out of the bunkroom and back through the break area and past Bill, Eric, and Greg. For a moment, she almost felt bad about Greg, but she knew she really wouldn’t be much help right now.

It would probably stress him out to be forced to interact with the patients, and to be honest, if he couldn’t suck it up and try, then he didn’t belong in this field. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but she wasn’t exactly a miracle worker.

“I’ll see you in a week,” she said to Bill and, hopefully, Greg. She’d like to see him pull through, but it fell on his shoulders now.

“I’ll swing by and check on you if I get a chance,” Eric said as he followed her outside.

“Don’t bother.”

“You really can’t still bemad at me.”

Joe continued scraping the garage door as she ignored the man who wouldn’t take a damn hint and go away. She’d been doing this for two hours, hoping that hard work and the sunlight would exhaust her and dull some of her anger, but so far, it wasn’t helping.

“I brought you a Milky Way milkshake,” Nathan said, sounding hopeful.

Damn him for knowing her weakness!

With a sigh, Joe stopped scraping the cracked white paint off the garage door and turned around. She took the large, fast-foodcup from Nathan and took a long sip and couldn’t help but let out a little moan as the delicious mixture of chocolate, caramel, and vanilla hit her tongue.

“So, you forgive me?” Nathan asked, rolling back on his heels as he sent her a puppy dog look that had her rolling her eyes as she continued drinking the delicious beverage that was starting to make her feel better.

After taking one last healthy sip, Joe sighed heavily and handed him the scraper. With a frown, he took it as he sent her a questioning look.

“Fine. I forgive you,” Joe said, gesturing regally towards the garage, “now, you may help me.”

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