Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
“Are you comfortable?” he asked.
I murmured. My hands moved about, searching for his.
He took my hand, locked his fingers in mine, then brought my hand up to his lips, and planted a kiss on the palm. “Maybe now we should take that nap we talked about.”
I pulled his arm down to rest over me. He took the hint and laid himself down beside me, wrapping his arm around me and holding me tightly while my head nestled comfortably between his chin and his chest. “A short nap,” I said, “but then we need to go out and find your family.”
There was only one hospital in the area, Harris Regional, so our search had already been narrowed down considerably.
“What are we going to do,” Ryker asked, “just walk up to the receptionist and say, ‘Hello, is there a paramedic working here who looks a lot like me?’”
“That sounds like as good a plan as any.”
It was a short walk to the hospital, but it was a fruitless one. Though cordial enough, the receptionist did not know of any paramedic fitting our description, nor did a nurse we came across, who was outside the front entrance on a smoke break.
“Minor setback,” I said as we left the hospital to go back into town.
He took my hand in his. “What about the charity?” he asked. “Don’t you have some clinics to check up with?”
“Angel clinic,” I said. “I’m meeting with Dr. Spellinger tomorrow morning at eight.”
“What do we do till then?”
I pulled him closer to me and nudged him with my shoulder. “I can think of a thing or two to pass the time.”
12
Ryker
I was doing it, really doing it! After years of dreaming about going off to the mountains to look for my family, I was actually making it happen! And I wasn’t doing it alone. Holly was amazing. Unlike others I’d shared my dream with, my fantasy of finding my birth family, Holly didn’t try to temper my enthusiasm. She didn’t insinuate I had unrealistic goals. She didn’t recommend I set “more reasonable expectations.”
With Holly, I felt that my goals were no longer fantasies; I could actually set about achieving them. With Holly, I felt that anything was possible, and I knew that she felt it, too.
Plus, and not for nothing, she was a spectacular lover.
It wasn’t all sunshine and happy thoughts, though. On more than one occasion since meeting Holly, I’d closed my eyes and thought of her, only to have my daydream commandeered by Lucy and that guy I’d walked in on her with; however, the image of Lucy didn’t stay in my mind’s eye long. Instead, it was Holly I saw; it was Holly I’d walked in on with another man. And like with Lucy, somehow, I didn’t much mind. Like with Lucy, I even felt myself getting aroused by the thought of watching her with another man.
I need to find my birth parents and maybe a good therapist while I’m at it.
I went with Holly to the clinic, where she interviewed the staff and took photos for her blog. Emboldened by how direct and unabashed she’d been at Harris Regional Hospital, asking the receptionist and the nurses if there was a paramedic fitting our description who worked there, I did the same thing with the staff at Angel Clinic.
They were a walk-in clinic and had no paramedics on staff. When a nurse asked why I was looking for this man, I told her. She was so taken by my story that she offered to call around for me to other hospitals in the area.
While she sat at reception and made her calls, I paced in the waiting area.
A few seemingly interminable minutes later, Holly came for me. “Getting bored of waiting for me yet?”
“Not at all,” I said. “A nurse is actually helping me find our mystery paramedic. She’s calling hospitals in the area right now.”
“If you want to stay here and follow up on that”—she looked at the reception desk, then back at me— “we can meet up tomorrow.”
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go out with one of the volunteers into some isolated communities in the mountains,” she said. “We’re heading out now; should be back late in the evening.”
“Oh.” I’d never considered myself much the possessive guy, but at that moment, the thought of separating from her for the day—perhaps mixed with the anticipation I was feeling waiting for the nurse to make her phone calls—had me quite anxious.
Holly must have seen it on my face. “Or you could come with us. Your choice.”
Choosing to spend the day with her or without her wasn’t a choice I needed to ponder.
We rode with Dr. Hicks—Claire—a woman who claimed she was in her sixties though her youthful appearance matched her energy and vigor more so than it did her age. Her car was crammed with medical supplies, and while Holly rode up front in the passenger seat, I had to squish into the back between boxes with more boxes piled on my lap.