With Every Breath by Elizabeth Camden

Author:Elizabeth Camden [Camden, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441264145
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

16

Kate was warned that her biggest risk following surgery was the danger of infection, so she was allowed no visitors. Aside from the nurse who delivered her meals, Trevor was the only person she saw, and he was lousy company.

He came in twice a day to look at her incision and check for infection. The tentative friendship they had before her surgery vanished behind his ironclad shell. He held his chart before him like a shield whenever he came to examine her, using the same clinical demeanor he had with the patients upstairs as he took her temperature and checked her pulse. At any moment she expected him to start referring to her by a number. Couldn’t he at least meet her eyes when he walked into her room? The man had as much passion as a potted plant.

Being an invalid was lethally dull, but three days after the surgery she was beginning to feel human again. The nurse propped some pillows behind her back, so she could sit upright and try to engage Trevor in conversation.

“I hope you’ve been to the boardinghouse for dinner. After saving my life, I expect my mother will shower you with rose petals and kill the fatted calf.”

He didn’t bother to reply as he made notes on his chart.

“Trevor!”

“Please keep your voice down,” he said calmly. “I’m three feet away and my hearing is excellent.”

“Then tell me you’ve been going to dinner and making friends. You need allies. There’s a new man boarding with us, and he works at the Justice Department. He would be a good person to know.”

Trevor replaced his pencil in the pocket of his lab coat. “I’ve no interest in cultivating friendships with government bureaucrats. They’re cold-blooded vultures without a speck of human compassion.”

Like someone else I know. “Trevor, I know it can be hard to pretend you have an actual beating heart beneath that lab coat, but you were making progress before I got sick. I hope we don’t have to do remedial therapy.”

Paying no attention to what she said, he turned to leave. “Your parents are waiting outside. I said they could visit. Do you want to see them or should I send them away?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She tried to rise, but Trevor’s hand shot out and held her in place. After assuring him she would remain in bed, Trevor left the room.

A minute later her parents peeked in the door.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to break,” she said with a smile.

The door opened wide, and her mother burst into tears. Her father’s eyes didn’t look too dry either. They stood at the foot of her bed, looking as if they’d like to pounce on her, but they obeyed the rules to keep their distance. Her mother dried her eyes. “I would’ve had to kill that horrible man if any harm came to you.”

Kate tried not to laugh; her stomach was still too tender. “You’ll have to get in line. I think half the patients want to kill him over the cod liver oil he makes them drink.

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