Summer of Love Marie Ferrarella (easy books to read in english TXT) 📖

of antiseptic soaked gauze to sponge away the blood and dirt from the front and the back of the man’s ear and then took a piece of dry gauze and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. “Can you hold this here? We’ll need to get you a tetanus shot as well as some antibiotics, just in case.”

Mr. Tuppele did as she asked and squeezed his earlobe between the two sides of gauze. But when she carried the worm over to the garbage can, the man stopped her with a yelled “Hey!”

She turned toward him, still holding the tray. “Yes?”

“That thing dead?”

She glanced down. It wasn’t moving any more, thank God. “I think so.”

“Touch it to make sure.”

Horror filled her to the core. She hated fishing. Hated bugs. Broken bones, bullet wounds, she could whiz through with ease, but anything that wiggled or crawled or stared with cold-blooded eyes she was just not into. “I’ll let you do the honors.” She held out the tray and let the man jab the worm with a finger while she cringed. Thankfully it remained limp, even after two more pokes.

“Damn. I was hoping to use that one again.”

Again? Hooking himself once hadn’t been enough?

She gave a mental eye roll. “Sorry about that. It was probably the alcohol.”

“There ain’t that much in my blood.”

And … Okay.

Dumping the worm and the cleaning gauze into the trash bin, she turned back to face him. “I’ll have the nurse come in with the shot and your prescription. Make sure you see your doctor if that ear puffs up or doesn’t seem to be healing after a couple of days. Or if you develop a fever.”

She took the gauze from him and checked his ear, before pressing tiny round bandages over the front and back of the puncture wound. “You can take those off in a couple of hours.”

The man managed to mumble out a “Thank you.”

Her phone buzzed, making her jump.

Clint. It had to be.

Patting the man on the back and telling him to take care, she went out and gave instructions to the nurse and asked her to send someone out to check on his buddy. By that time her phone had stopped ringing. “Anyone else waiting for me?”

The nurse grinned. “Not at the moment. But the new barbecue grills are probably being fired up even as we speak.”

“Heaven help us all.”

Hopefully, that wave of patients would come through after she was off duty. She forced out a laugh, even though she was dying to grab her phone and call Clint back. He knew she was on duty. Knew she’d get back to him as soon as she could.

The nurse got the injection ready and carried it into the room, leaving Jessi alone in the hallway. She took out her phone and glanced at the readout, even though she knew who it was.

C. Marks.

Hitting the redial button, she leaned a shoulder against the wall, an ache settling in her back at all the bending she’d done today.

“Marks here.”

“Clint? It’s Jessi. What’s up?”

“Just calling to see how much longer you were on duty.”

Jessi glanced at her watch. “I have another half hour, why?”

“I thought we might get together and talk about Chelsea.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, she’s fine. No major developments, but no setbacks either. I just haven’t eaten, and I assume you haven’t either. Would you like to go somewhere? Or I could come to the hospital and eat with you in the cafeteria.”

She grimaced, glancing at the room she’d just come from. “No. The food here isn’t the best, and I’m not really hungry. I could do with a shake, though, while you get something else.”

She was still puzzling over his sudden change of heart.

“A shake sounds fine. How about we get it to go?”

Okay, she hadn’t thought this far ahead. “And go where?”

“We could go to the park on the east side.”

The park? She glanced out at the streetlights that were already visible in the darkening sky. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Good. I’ll meet you at the front entrance of the hospital, okay?”

“I’ll be there.”

Maybe somehow in that period of time she could shake off all thoughts of sitting inside Clint’s car in a dark park, sipping on a milk shake. Or the fleeting images of what they could do once they finished their drinks and had said all they needed to say.

A warning came up from the depths of her soul, reminding her of days gone by and how badly he’d broken her heart. But only because she’d let him.

You can’t head down that road again, Jess.

No, she couldn’t.

Well, if her heart could make that decree, then she could somehow abide by it.

So she would have to make one thing very clear to herself before he came to pick her up. She would not kiss Clinton Marks again. Not in the dark. Not in a park.

The impromptu rhyme made her smile.

And if he kissed her instead?

As much as she might wish otherwise, if that ever happened, then all bets were off.

Because she might just have to kiss him back.

CHAPTER TEN

“YOU USED TO have an earring in high school.”

A swallow of his milk shake went down the wrong way, and Clint gave a couple of rough coughs before turning in his seat to stare at her. In the dim light of the parking lot at a nearby burger joint, he could just make out her questioning gaze. He’d decided against going to the park, worried about being too alone with her.

This was more public, although he wasn’t exactly sure what he was worried about. Surely they could both handle this situation like adults. Running into each other from time to time was part of adult behavior.

And going to the fair and having dinner with her and her mother?

All part of being back in his hometown. It meant nothing. At least, he’d better make sure it didn’t.

And what about her asking about his earring?

Jessi must have changed clothes before leaving the hospital, because she wasn’t wearing