Wildest Dreams (Dreamers Series Book 1) (13 page)

Ridge was walking toward the door before Ember even finished her sentence. She shook her head smiling.

CHAPTER 18

Ridge came back as Ember was hanging up with Jade. After talking to Kaylen, she felt better, and she was relieved to find out they hadn’t told her she had been in an accident.

“She’ll be here in a few minutes with your medicine and to do an assessment. While she’s doing that, I may step out and make some phone calls.”

“Okay. Who are you calling?” Ember raised her eyebrow at him making him blush.

“Mom,” he replied quickly. “I need to let them know you’re going home in the morning.”

Ember rolled her eyes at him. “Are you going to call Jenna?”

“No.” She waited to see if he was going to elaborate on his answer, but after a few seconds, she realized he wasn’t.

She sighed, “Alright.”

There was a knock at the door, and Ridge opened it. The nurse stepped in and smiled at Ember as Ridge left. She was about Ember’s age, and she appeared friendly. Ember realized that everyone she had met who worked at this hospital had been nice and polite. She decided to make a mental note of that for when she was able to look for work.

“Hi, my name is Ashton. I’ll be your nurse until seven. How are you feeling tonight?”

“Like I was hit by a car,” Ember smiled slightly, and Ashton laughed.

“Yeah, I’m sure you do. I'll get you some pain medicine in a moment. The good news is that you'll get to lose some of these wires. We won’t need the monitors, and we can saline lock your IV. Your last nurse said you slept through dinner. Would you like something to eat? You need something on your stomach before taking the pain medicine, but if you'd like a whole meal, we can get you that too.” Ember hadn’t even noticed she missed dinner, but her stomach growled at the mention of food. “I think that answers my question.” She grinned at Ember.

When Ashton finished her assessment and opened the door, Ridge was standing in the hall waiting. She smiled telling him that she would be bringing Ember something to eat as well as her pain meds.

He walked in and smiled at her when he noticed she was unhooked from all the monitors and sitting in a chair next to her bed. “Almost out the door,” he said, and she could see the relief on his face.

“Almost.” She smiled back.

When Ashton brought her food and meds, she told Ridge that Ember could get up and move around the room, but he needed to be with her; she wasn’t to stand on her own yet. She then smiled at them both and left.

As Ember started fixing her sandwich, her phone buzzed with a text. She glanced to see who it was from, thinking she would read it after she ate. When she saw it was from Jenna, she stopped what she was doing.

Your brother called me! He

was just thanking me for

staying with you and helping

but I still can’t believe it!

Ridge Tatum called me!

He’s so sweet. He wanted to

make sure my neck ok :)

Ember was shocked. He said he wasn’t going to call her. She glanced at him as he sat across the room looking at his phone. When he looked up at her, he raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“You called her?”

He must have realized that the text was from Jenna and looked back down at his phone. “I just thanked her and checked on her neck.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Are you going to ask her out?” Ember asked hopefully. She really did like Jenna.

“You know I’m not, Ember.” He looked back at her like he was expecting her to change the subject now, but he should have known better.

“Why?”

Frowning he asked, “You're going to make me talk about this?”

She nodded as she took another bite of her sandwich.

He sighed, leaning his head back against the wall, “I was serious with a girl from college, Tia Chambers.” Ember almost choked as she stared up at him in shock.

“How did I not know this?” The hurt was evident in her voice as well as on her face. He must have seen it when he met her eyes because he looked away quickly and rubbed his hand across his face.

“You were already in Dallas when we started dating.” Leaning his elbows on his thighs, he sat his head in his hands before he continued. “She was great when we started out, but just about the time I thought I was falling for her, she changed.” He shook his head slightly as if in disbelief. “She started hinting that she wanted to buy things or go expensive places knowing I wanted to please her, and I would do it. I just thought I was an attentive boyfriend, but in reality, I was just a pawn.”

He stood and went to the window. Ember sat quietly, picking at her sandwich, waiting for him to finish.

“Blake overheard her one day with her friends. She was telling them how she was sure I was going to ask her to marry me soon and how she would endure it for the money. He confronted her, and she told him it was my fault since I was too nice for my own good.” He chuckled to himself as he went back to the chair and Ember realized she had stopped chewing, “Blake was never one to settle down even then, but after watching me have my heart torn out, we both swore off the whole relationship thing. We just go about it differently.” He shrugged again.

She began playing with her chips on her plate, “You avoid women altogether and he avoids the commitment part.” She glanced at him as he nodded.

“That sounds so lonely.” She said sadly.

He raised an eyebrow, “You may have been in a relationship for seven years, Ember, but can you honestly say it wasn’t lonely?”

She furrowed her brows as she thought, then quietly she said, “I never really thought I was, but I guess that’s because I had Kaylen. Looking back, I think I've been lonely for a while now, especially the last couple of years since he's been acting strangely. I didn't think about it too much until the other night when I was forced to.”

“Are you sure you want to go back to that?”

She whispered, “I don’t know, now.” then a little brighter she said, “I don’t think that Jenna is like that, though. I’ve seen how she reacts to just the mention of your name.” She raised an eyebrow at Ridge, and he blushed. She smiled at him. “It’s a lot like the way you react to hers.” He chuckled, and then Ember began to yawn.

“Time for bed, princess.” He walked over to the chair she was sitting in and moved the table. He helped her get ready for bed and went to find Ashton to get a pillow for himself. By the time he came back to the room, Ember was almost asleep. She pointed to her phone so that he would move it closer to her, and she noticed he blushed, and the corner of his mouth curved up as he picked it up. He set it down on the table next to her, and as he was walking back to his recliner, Ember saw the text from Jenna was still on the screen. She was going to have to fix that.

Before drifting off, Ember thought about all Ridge had just told her. It explained a lot. She also realized how he had been right about her relationship with Reece. For the last few years they had coexisted, but there was no love anymore. She wasn’t sure if there had ever been on his part. She thought about how he always knew when she had received money from her mother or Ridge and would conveniently need some. The rose colored glasses were gone as she realized the truth of her whole relationship with Reece. He wasn’t any different from Tia except that he hadn’t gotten caught, and there was a child involved.

Letting the pain medicine take effect she closed her eyes as a tear escaped down her cheek.

CHAPTER 19

Ember was surprised she had slept so well despite being woken up a few times during the night by the activity in the hospital. She was worried about Ridge, though, when she didn’t see him in the room when they brought her breakfast to her. She had half of it eaten when he came in. He smiled at her when he saw she was sitting in the chair again.

“I didn’t miss Dr. Nixon, did I?” He looked a little embarrassed.

“No. She hasn’t been here yet. Where’d you go?” Just as she finished asking, Jenna stepped in from the hallway.

“Hi, Ember.” She beamed at Ember, and it was like the whole room lit up. Jenna continued, “I came up earlier to check on you and see if Dr. Nixon had been by yet, but you were still sleeping, so Ridge and I went for breakfast.” Ember raised an eyebrow at Ridge, who was sitting in the chair across the room.

“What?” He shrugged. Ember rolled her eyes at him and looked back at Jenna.

“We just went to the cafeteria, and Ridge let the nurse know where we were.”

“Well, I hope your breakfast was better than mine.” Ember looked down at what was left of her cold eggs and bacon and frowned. She didn’t care for eggs or bacon, but she had been hungry and didn’t want to make trouble for the staff by asking for something different. It wasn’t their fault she had forgotten to send her request down in time. “I want pancakes.” She pouted.

Dr. Nixon knocked on the door frame and came in. “You look much better this morning.”

Smiling at her Ember said, “I feel better. My wrist and head are still hurting, but my nurse is bringing some pain medicine soon.”

Dr. Nixon nodded. “What about your memory? Have you remembered anything yet?”

Ember shook her head slightly, frowning. The movement made her dizzy.

“Well, let’s take a look at you and see how you fare today, and then I’ll write your discharge up.”

Ridge and Jenna walked out to the hall together and came back when Dr. Nixon finished.

“How long until you can leave?” Ridge asked hopefully.

“She’s going to write the orders, and then they have to remove this.” She waved her arm with the saline lock still in it.

“Okay, so, how long until you can leave?” he asked again, raising an eyebrow. Jenna giggled.

Ember grinned at him. “Not really sure, depends on how busy they are.”

“Well, it’s almost ten now. Mom, Dad, and Jade are bringing Kaylen up to the apartment around ten thirty, so I will need to be there then. Jenna, I hate to ask you for a favor, but would you mind bringing Ember home when she’s released so I can meet our parents and sister?”

“I don’t mind at all. I'd be happy to do it.” She answered him cheerfully while twirling a piece of her hair then turned to sit in the chair Ember had recently left. She had worn her down today, and Ember was a little jealous of the natural curl she had. It was beautiful.

Ridge blushed as he watched her, cleared his throat, then walked over to the other side of the bed, leaning in to kiss Ember’s forehead. “Then it’s settled. I’m going to go now so I’ll be there when they show up.” He looked down at Jenna, “Thanks again.” She just smiled at him.

Ember would have enjoyed drilling Jenna about her breakfast, but right now she had something else on her mind. She was laying her head back on the pillow when Jenna stood and reached for her hand. “What’s wrong, Ember?” The concern was evident in her voice.

“Ridge said it’s almost ten?” she asked Jenna for confirmation.

“Yes, why?”

“Reece is supposed to be here at ten.” Ember looked up at her, and she knew Jenna understood.

Jenna sighed. “Just be completely sure you want to be with him before you commit to it. Don’t let him push you into something you don’t want to do.”

“That’s part of the problem. I’m not sure that I do want to be with him. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I don't.” For the first time in a long time, Ember didn't know what to do. “Yesterday I thought I was certain, but after I sent him the text, I immediately regretted it. Then after talking with Ridge last night, I realized I was ignoring the real issue between us.” The confusion was unmistakable in her tone.

“Well, you're just going to talk, right? As long as you didn’t tell him you made up your mind to be with him, then maybe he'll respect your decision.”

“Maybe. I hope so, but somehow I’m pretty sure it won't be that easy.”

“Oh my! I almost forgot!” Jenna grabbed her phone and began typing. “Lana doesn’t have your number, so she sent this to me and asked me to send it to you. I’m not sure if it will help or make this worse, but I think you should have it.”

Ember’s phone buzzed with a text from Jenna. When she opened it, Ember couldn’t stop staring at the happy couple sitting at a table laughing. She couldn’t believe it was Blake…with her.

“Lana couldn’t help herself. None of us have ever seen Mr. O’Neil smiling like that. Honestly, I’m not sure any of us have ever seen him smile at all.” Jenna laughed. “He’s always so serious around the office. She wanted to get one of the two of you dancing, but there were too many people in the way.”

Ember glanced up at Jenna with a perplexed look on her face. “Dancing?” She looked back down at the picture, not wanting to take her eyes off Blake. “He really does look happy here.” Her voice was quiet as if she was talking to herself.

“You know, Ember, you were pretty happy too. Just remember that.”

“That’s part of the problem! I can’t remember anything!” Ember was frustrated and hurt. Jenna squeezed her hand then sat back down.

The door opened, and Reece walked in with a grim look on his face. He glanced at Jenna then back at Ember. “I thought we were going to talk?” Not even bothering to apologize for not knocking.