Page 12 of More Than a Little Spark

“Seems so.”I’m glad for the cup of coffee and donut that give me something to do with my hands.

“December is a funny time to have a costume party, but Dallas suggested it to distract Rose.It was the same night as the big charity event she used to do with her family every year.”

“I heard the party went well.Other than Rose leaving.And I feel bad about that.If I hadn’t changed lanes…”

Daphne shakes her head.“No part of the accident was your fault.Should I blame myself because I didn’t control the car better after being hit?”

“I wasn’t saying that at all.”

“I know.But don’t blame yourself.Okay?”She holds out her hand.

Nodding, I approach the bed, but jump back when the nurse walks in.

She says, “I’m just here to get your vitals.How’s your pain?”

“Tolerable.”Daphne holds out her arm for the blood pressure cuff.“Carson brought you a cup of coffee.Good stuff from Sweets.”

The nurse looks at me.“You are officially my new favorite person.”

I’m not even sure how to respond when someone talks that way.So I just point at the cup.“Help yourself.”

When the nurse leaves with her coffee, Daphne motions to the chair.“You can sit.But you probably have lots of ranch stuff to do.”

I drop into the chair.“I let them know I’d be out for a bit this morning.”

“You took off your costume.”She runs a finger over her upper lip.

Nodding, I question my choice.“I shaved.I only grew it for the party.”

“I like seeing more of your face.”She sips her coffee, never breaking eye contact.

“There’s a lot of it.”I pat my cheek.“Too many donuts.”

“You weren’t at the wedding.”

So far, conversations with Daphne are a bit of an adventure because I never know what will pop up next.It’ll be interesting to see if that’s because of the accident and medications or if she’s like this all the time.“I assume you mean Dallas and Rose’s wedding.And no, I wasn’t there.”I stare at my cup, trying to figure out how much to tell Daphne.Since she’s just being nice to the guy who came to her rescue, I don’t want to dump my life story on her.But I also don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to hide Fred.“Um, things were complicated for a while.They’ve calmed down some.But Fred and I were out of town that weekend.Plans were made before the wedding was scheduled.But I heard it was really nice.”

“It was.I was the flower girl.”She flashes a quick smile.“Is Fred your son?”

“Yeah, well, my nephew, but I adopted him.Like I said, complicated.”

She tilts her head, eyeing me.“So you aren’t married or engaged or anything?”

I snort laugh, but she doesn’t even crack a smile.So maybe that wasn’t a joke.

I just made a fool of myself by snort laughing for no reason.“No, there is no anything at all.”

The nurse walks in again.“The doctor wants another set of chest x-rays done.”

Daphne’s shoulders slump.“I really just want to go home.”

“Maybe tomorrow.”The nurse pats Daphne’s arm, then turns to me.“Thank you for the coffee.My patients all thank you as well.I’m a more pleasant person after a good cup of coffee.And we won’t be gone long if you want to wait.”

“I should get going.But, Daphne, you have my number if you need anything.”

She nods.“Thank you for the donuts and coffee.And the charger.You just keep coming to my rescue.”

“It’s nothing.”With a wave, I stroll to the elevators.

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