Healing Her Heart

by Kimberly Smith

  She listened as R.J. told everyone that they had knocked on the door and they could hear movement inside the house. A few seconds later, Denise heard Drake yell, “Stop right there.”

  Tanner continued down the stairs and bowled over Drake, knocking him to the ground. Denise used her radio. “Tanner came out the back, and Drake's down, I’m going after him.” She jumped out of the car, chasing him. As she passed Drake who looked ok, she slowed long enough to see if he was injured. He had no physical wounds. It looked like he had the wind knocked out of him.

  Denise continued after Tanner, who was scaling a fence at the edge of the property. By the time she made it to there, she could hear the team behind her. Just as she jumped grabbing the edge of the wooden slats, she heard Jacob yelling for her to stop. She threw a leg over and then the other, landing in a crouch in another apartment complex.

  Tanner hadn’t gotten far. He was still moving, but it looked like he might have sprained his ankle coming off the fence. Denise ran after him, tackling him. She had her arms around his waist when they hit the ground. A sharp pain ripped through her hand as they touched the pavement, but it was only momentary. Tanner pulled himself out of her grasp trying to get up. Denise rotated her body, swinging her legs around, toward his feet. She put all her strength into it, and Tanner went down again with a thud as her legs swept his out from under him.

  Denise didn’t have time to do anything else as Alec and Jacob wrestled Tanner to the ground handcuffing him. R.J. helped her to her feet. “Is Drake okay?” Denise was still concerned about her partner.

  “He’s fine, but you need to go to the ER,” R.J. said looking at her hand. Denise looked down and felt her stomach roll. Her pinky finger on her left hand was sitting askew. “Might be dislocated.”

  “Fuck me,” Denise said turning her face from her injury.

  Once they had Tanner secured, Jacob looked her hand over then turned to his son. “Alec get one of the cars and take her to get that looked at.” Alec left them while Jacob forced Tanner to sit on the pavement. “What were you thinking, going over the fence? Didn’t you hear me tell you to stop?”

  “I was pissed when I saw Drake go down. I wasn’t going to let him get away,” Denise said with a grimace as the adrenaline coursing through her started to drop, and she could begin to feel the pain in her hand.

  R.J. laughed, you got a little bit of monkey in you or something. You were up and over that wall like it was nothing.” Denise gave her a half smile.

  “My favorite part was the ninja spin she did to kick his feet out from under him,” Jacob chuckled. “Where did you learn that?”

  “I watch a lot of karate movies. That was a Jackie Chan move,” Denise said laughing with them. Jacob was shaking his head. Denise guessed that he wasn’t pleased at her disobeying his order to stop at the fence, but he didn’t mention it.

  **

  “Dr. McAlister, that lady is on the phone again, for you,” one of the ER nurses said to him as he passed her.

  Tiffany had been calling him all day, and he’d been ignoring her calls, all day. “I’m with a patient,” he said as he continued down the hall. Today had been extremely busy, and it didn’t seem as though the load was going to lighten anytime soon. He was on his way to look at a guy who had a nail stuck in the bottom of his foot. Just as he got to the door of the guy’s room, Edwin saw Denise being led into a room further down the hall. She was holding her left hand as if it were hurt. His heart stopped.

  He passed up room number three and continued down the hall. As he got to the doorway, Denise was telling the attending doctor how she got her injury. “It must have happened when we hit the ground. I registered some pain, but I guess my adrenaline was so high that I didn’t realize what had happened until someone said something about it.”

  Edwin stepped inside the room. “I got this, Grant. Will you take care of the guy in room three?” Denise looked at him and rolled her eyes. She knew the minute they turned on to Worth Street that there was a chance that she could run into Edwin and now she had.

  Grant Bellows looked up from the patient’s hand. “Um, okay. We did an x-ray. It’s just dislocated.” He stood and slid around Edwin.

  Edwin sat on the vacated stool, scooting closer to Denise. He took her left hand gently, examining her pinky finger with care. “So, how did you do this?”

  As he leaned close, Denise made the mistake of inhaling. He smelled good like he had on their date. She sniffed his hair again. “Does it matter?”

  Edwin glanced up at her. “I assume that it has something to do with your new job.” His eyes locked on hers for a second, then dropped to her lips before he lowered them back to her hand. “I’ve tried calling you, but…” he started to speak.

  Denise interrupted him. “The finger is the only thing I care about. I don’t need to hear any more lies from you.”

  She was angry with him, and she had every right to be. He turned his attention back to her hand. “I need to put it back into place. I can give you something for the pain.”

  “Just do it,” Denise said. The sooner he finished, the sooner she could get away from his handsome face and tender touch.

  “It’s going to hurt.” He tried to warn her.

  “I’m a big girl doctor. I can handle it.”

  Edwin knew he needed to distract her. “I don’t know how much you heard but eavesdropping often leads to misunderstandings. I know that you’re afraid…”

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve, you asshole. Did I misunderstand that you were using me…” As she got wound up and angry, Edwin pulled her finger quickly snapping it back into place. “Aaah! You fuck face bastard,” she growled loudly!

  A nurse stuck her head in the doorway. “Everything okay in here?” Several people in the hallway had heard the commotion in room number eight.

  “Yeah, I just put her finger back in place. That’s all,” Edwin said dismissing the nurse.

  “You’re okay,” Edwin said softly, caressing her wrist.

  Denise was glad that he was finished, but in addition to the pain, his thumb running back and forth over the inside of her wrist was causing little electric shocks to fly up her arm. She jerked her arm away from him. “Can I go now?”

  “Not yet,” Edwin said pushing his stool backward. “Just to be sure everything is okay, I want you to have another x-ray. Then I’ll put a splint on it. Are you sure you don’t want something for the pain?” He could see the anguish in her features. He wasn’t sure if it was caused by the pain in her hand or by him.

  Denise didn’t get to answer. Another nurse stuck her head in the room. “There you are, Dr. McAlister. You have a call. She said she’s your fiancé and that she needs to speak to you right away.”

  Edwin closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. “Tell her I’ll call her back.” When he opened his eyes, Denise was staring at him with contempt. “It’s not what you think…”

  Denise shook her head, “It’s none of my business. How long is this x-ray going to take?”

  Edwin wanted to explain the situation to Denise, but he didn’t think it would do him much good. He answered her question. “Not long.”

  “Can you get Alec for me? He’s in the waiting room.” Maybe if Edwin thought that she had moved on, he’d leave her alone and accept that it was over between them.

  “Alec?”

  Denise sensed jealousy from Edwin when he said Alec’s name. “Yeah, you can’t miss him. Good looking, tall, cocoa colored brother with a bald head.”

  Edwin clenched his jaw again. This time so tight that Edwin could feel the nerve flexing just below his ear. The way she described him, it sounded like she had a thing for him. “Sure. I’ll send him back,” Edwin said leaving the room.

  17

  A few minutes later Alec entered the room, “Everything alright sweet cheeks?” Denise sighed as Alec took a seat on the same stool Edwin had used. He reached out taking her throbbing hand in his. Denise looked at their hands and then at Alec’s face. Why
didn’t she feel anything when he touched her? He was handsome and well built. He was just her type, or he used to be. Normally Denise would have been all over him.

  “They’re going to do another x-ray, but yeah I think so.”

  “I’ll take you back to the office. Mom and Dad want to make sure you’re okay. Then I’ll take you home and if you need me to. I’ll help you out of your clothes, help you shower.”

  Denise shook her head with a smile, “I think I can manage without you.”

  “I promise not to look at you naked,” He said with a smirk.

  “Am I supposed to believe that?”

  “Hey, you can’t blame a man for trying. I knew that you would shoot me down, but I can’t help myself, teasing you is the highlight of my days,” Alec said grinning at her. “You did an awesome job today. I was surprised to see that sweet ass…”

  “Here we go,” Edwin said pushing a wheelchair into the room. He hadn’t missed the fact that Alec was caressing her hand and that Denise was smiling fondly at him.

  “What’s that for,’ Denise asked looking from the chair to Edwin?

  “I’m taking you up to get that x-ray.”

  “I can walk.”

  “It’s hospital policy.” Alec moved back so that Denise could get off the bed. As Denise sat in the chair, Alec looked as if he intended to go with them. “You can wait here. It won’t take long.” He swung the chair around and pushed Denise into the hall before her boyfriend could say anything else.

  After he’d shown the chocolate Mr. Clean to her room, Edwin had stood outside the door for a bit. As soon as he heard the guy offer to help her shower, he’d heard enough. He knew that it was his fault that she’d moved on, but he didn’t like the thought of her with this guy. What was so special about him? “Is that your boyfriend?” He couldn’t help himself. He wanted to know, but he hoped that she wouldn’t answer the question.

  Denise couldn’t believe the nerve of him. “Yes, not that it’s any of your business,” she lied.

  “You’re right. It’s not.” Edwin stopped the chair in front of the elevator, pushing the up button. “I assume you met at work. He looks like he’d be a tough guy?”

  Denise spoke as the elevator doors opened. “What is this? What are you doing? You’re talking like we’re friends or something.”

  After the people exiting were out of the way, Edwin wheeled her in, turning and pushing the button for the floor they needed. “You said you didn’t do the boyfriend thing or was that just something you told me?” Denise liked him, was attracted to him, he knew that. He wished they could be friends, and that he and Denise could have continued to get to know each other. “We could try being friends.”

  “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” Denise tried to swivel in the chair to look at him. The elevator stopped, and someone got on. “Why are you the one taking me to get the x-ray anyway. Don’t you all have people to do that kind of thing? Doctor’s don’t usually wheel people around.”

  As the elevator stopped on their floor, Edwin pushed Denise out and to the right. “I was getting ready to take a break. No point in ordering an orderly to do it, when I was right there.” Edwin had done it because he wasn’t ready to let her go. He was pushing her along a long hallway with no doors that she could see. He stopped the chair and put the brakes on and walked around to crouch in front of her.

  “What are you doing?” She was fed up with this whole thing, and it showed on her face.

  Edwin looked her in the eye, “I’m not sure how much you heard that night. I asked you to go to that party with me because I wanted to be there with you. Yes, I also wanted my mother to see that I’m not going to do what she wants, that she can’t keep trying to control my life. That was wrong of me.”

  Was that supposed to make Denise feel better? He liked her, but he used her. “Why are you telling me this, now? What about your fiancé?”

  He was telling her because he loved her and didn’t want to lose her. As for the fiancé thing, he was working on that. “I’m not engaged, and I’m telling you this now because you wouldn’t listen to me the other night and you haven’t answered my calls. This was the only way I could get you to listen to me. Will you let me explain everything to you?”

  Denise looked into his eyes, searching for the truth. He seemed sad, lost even. She believed that he was remorseful, that he was being honest with her. She didn’t know why she agreed to think about it, but she did. “Okay, I’ll think about it.” Edwin’s smile was disarming. He was pleased just hearing her say she’d think about it. Denise could see it in his eyes. “Now, can we get on with this x-ray? My hand has a heartbeat.”

  **

  “Does it hurt right now,” Felicia asked sitting down across from Denise.

  Denise looked down at her left hand. Her pinky and ring fingers had been taped together. “Right now, no. The doctor gave me some pain killers and told me to ice it, to keep the swelling down, and I’ll have to see a bone specialist next week to make sure it’s healing properly. The worst part is that I will have to keep it taped up for up to six weeks.”

  “How is that going to affect your job?”

  “J.J. said I’d be kept on desk duty until the doctor says it’s okay.”

  “Don’t look so sad,” Felicia said grabbing a toe of the foot Denise had propped up on the coffee table.

  Denise slipped her feet off the table and on to the floor. She went to the kitchen to refill her glass. “I just feel like I can’t do anything right. I screwed up my first hunt, and I screwed up whatever was happening with my boyfriend and me…”

  “Wait, What?” Felicia asked curiously. Denise closed her eyes and shook her head as she realized what she’d said. “Come on, tell me.”

  Denise poured wine into a glass. “Don’t get all geeked up about it ‘cause it’s not going any further.”

  Felicia squealed and nearly knocked Denise over as she came back to the living room. “You been holding out on me. In your own words, ‘Don’t make me cut you. Spill!” Denise sipped her wine and sat back on the sofa, putting her feet up. “Should you be drinking with pain pills?”

  “I haven’t taken any yet. Stop mothering me.”

  “Stop stalling and tell me what I want to know.” Felicia sat on the sofa this time, removing her shoes and sitting Indian style facing her friend.

  Denise brought Felicia up to date, telling her everything she wasn’t aware of. “… and that’s where we left it.”

  “Wow. What are you going to do?”

  Denise sipped from her glass, “I’ll call him tomorrow. Right now, I want to hear about what’s going on with you and Perry.”

  **

  Edwin stood in front of the door, afraid to knock. He was taking a big chance coming to Denise’s apartment without calling first. She may not be alone. That thought alone, made him want to turn around and leave, but he raised his hand and knocked. His stomach twisted and turned with uncertainty. He knocked again, harder this time.

  From the other side of the door, he heard Denise’s angry voice, “I’m coming, damn it. Hold your fucking horses.” There was a moment of silence, and then he heard, “Shit.”

  Edwin could only guess that she’d looked at him through the peephole. “Denise, open up.” He crossed his fingers, praying that she would. He heard a click or two, and the door opened slightly.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to check on you, and I brought you some breakfast,” he said holding up a brown bag for her to see. The door opened wider, and Edwin stepped inside. The curtains were closed making the room dark even in the morning light.

  Denise closed the door and flipped the light switch, illuminating the room via the lamp connected to the switch. “What time is it?”

  Edwin tried not to smile too much as he looked at her in an oversized tee shirt. It fell almost to mid-thigh. She was barefoot, and her hair was a mess of curls all over her head. She stood there with her eyes closed. “It’s half past seven.
” Denise groaned. “Sorry I woke you. I forget that not everyone is up at the crack of dawn. Here,” he said taking her hand. “Sit down,” he said leading her to the sofa. Once she was settled, he sat the bag on the coffee table and removed his jacket. “How did you sleep?”

  Denise curled her legs under her and rested her head on the arm of the sofa, “Okay once the pills started to work. I don’t understand why you’re here. Did I drunk text you again?”

  Edwin had grabbed the bag and was headed to the kitchen when she spoke, but he stopped and turned. “You were drinking with your medication?”

  Before Denise could answer, Edwin was kneeling in front of her, yanking on her eyelids. She swatted his hands away. “I drank before I took the pills.” She realized quickly that it didn’t sound much better the way she said it. “That’s not what I meant. I had a couple of glasses of wine way before I took the pills.”

  Edwin wasn’t sure if he believed her, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. While he was close to her, he examined her finger. The splint was still in place. “Did you eat anything after you left the hospital?”

  Denise looked at him rolling her eyes. She was still angry with him, and even though she’d told Felicia that she would call him today, she wanted to do it in her own time. Him being here was forcing her hand. Him being this close to her, touching her caused her to think crazy thoughts. Thoughts that weren’t just of them naked and horizontal. She was thinking of them having a future together. She was breaking rule after rule where Edwin was concerned. “Why do you affect me this way?”

  “How do I affect you?” Edwin kissed her hand looking into her eyes. Denise snatched her hand from his and stood, moving away from him. Edwin sat on the sofa facing her as she stood on the other side of the coffee table. She looked adorable. Edwin rose, taking the few steps necessary to reach her. She looked up at him as he cupped her cheek, running his thumb across her bottom lip. “Tell me how I affect you?”

  Denise’s lips parted, but she never uttered a word. Edwin lowered his mouth to hers, and she was lost to the powerful seduction of his lips. Denise didn’t know how it happened, but she found herself lifted off the floor, pressed against Edwin as he kissed her like he was a starving man and she was the last morsel of food he’d ever have.