Page 18 of Offside Attraction

Jordan grabbed the blood pressure cuff and sidled up to her. He reached for her wrist and wrapped the cuff around her arm, then pressed his stethoscope against the bend in her elbow. “You have to breathe.”

“Right.” Rhonda swallowed hard.

“It’s a little high.” Jordan flicked his eyes to her. “Probably the epinephrine.”

“Mmm. Yep.”

Jordan slung the stethoscope around his neck and stepped back so she couldn’t hear his own heart hammering in his chest. The door to the room swung in, and there was Aaron with Bouchard and his physical therapist girlfriend. Penny, was it?

“Hey, Copper.” Jordan grabbed his clipboard and waited for them to fully enter the room.

Penny’s eyes opened in surprise. “Oh, hey. Jordan, right?” He nodded, and Brett’s jaw tensed. “You work here?”

“I mostly work at Rocky Ridge, but I pick up shifts here off and on,” he said. Penny’s mouth fell open, and her head swung to Rhonda. Rhonda’s eyes were narrowed, boring into him. “Ah, alright then. I’ll be back in a few.” Jordan rapped his knuckles on the countertop, then got the hell out of there before something else happened that he had no explanation for. He sucked in a deep breath and released it, shaking out his hands as he walked back to the nurse’s station.

“You were right, as usual.” Ally waited for him, holding two IV bags in her arms. “Want me to administer it?”

Jordan nodded. He didn’t want to walk back in there two seconds after he left, even though the pull to ditch his shift and sit bedside next to Rhonda for the rest of the night felt worse than watching Burrows in game seven, 2011, stickhandling in double overtime.

He forced himself to take his time making his rounds, giving the Benadryl Ally administered a chance to kick in. When he got back to the room a half hour later, Rhonda’s eyelids were drooping. She smiled when he walked in, and his chest clenched. The bed was reclined, the lights dimmed, and she looked so small on the bed, her dark curls spreading out like a halo on the crappy pillow.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Her words were slurred together as she reached out her hand, and Jordan’s breath caught in his throat. For a split second, he thought she was reaching out for him before her hand landed on Aaron’s arm.

Jordan’s eye twitched. He cleared his throat and inspected the numbers on her pulse ox. “Your oxygen levels are good. The meds in your IV will prevent a secondary reaction.”

“That happens?” Penny asked.

He nodded. “Sometimes.” The three of them were crammed in like sardines. Bouchard and Aaron were half sitting on the counter.

“How much longer will she need to be here?” Bouchard asked.

“I’m going to stay here for a while. I can’t move my legs.” Rhonda grinned, and Jordan’s stomach did a backflip.

“That’s the Benadryl. It’s doing its job.” He willed his voice to steady and crossed his arms in front of him. “Shouldn’t be more than another half hour now that everything looks good. She’ll be sleepy. She can’t drive.”

“I can drive her car home,” Penny offered, and Bouchard nodded. Penny leaned back and put a hand on his arm. “Why don’t you two go out to the waiting room? I’ll stay here with her, and we’ll meet you out there . . . ”

Jordan snuck out before they did. He tapped his pen against his palm then walked to the next room. He checked in with Ms. Simmons, a woman in her sixties who was battling a bladder infection, and updated her chart. He discussed her treatment plan with Dr. Petrov and noted her medication adjustments.

Next, he visited a man in his forties with a fractured wrist. He checked his vitals, made sure his pain was under control, and updated his records. At the nurse’s station, he reviewed the notes from the previous shift and added his observations. He grabbed a coffee and a couple of non-peanut granola bars from the break room, then headed back to the printer. Rhonda’s discharge paperwork was there, so he snagged that, too, and walked to her room.

He paused at the door at the sound of conversation.

“I think that’s the Benadryl talking.” Penny laughed.

“You don’t think he’s hot?” Rhonda sighed. “Probably because you’re betrothed or whatever.”

Penny chortled. “Okay, I’m definitely filming now.”

“Staaahp.”

Jordan pushed the door open and stepped in, wishing he could ask who Rhonda was talking about. He was just going to believe it was him. That was best for his ego.

Jordan set the granola bars on the counter. “Alright, looks like you’re good to go. Brought these in case you need a snack.” He might’ve been listening when her blind date said she only got two bites of dinner.

Penny smiled and took two bars as Rhonda sat up. Her face was mostly back to normal. It looked like she had just a hint of lip filler. A surprising sense of relief washed over him.

He blinked and handed the papers off to Penny. He was about to launch into instructions for her care overnight but hesitated and turned to Rhonda. “Do you have anyone, um, someone at home with you? That could watch you overnight?”

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