Best Dating Rules: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 2) by Tamie Dearen

dragging on the floor—the germy floor. She’d tried to make him go home to sleep, but he silenced her with his piercing blue eyes beneath a no-nonsense scowl. He was looking for a fight, and she didn’t have the strength to engage. But by morning, he was firmly on her side when she begged to go home. Though it hardly seemed possible, he looked more exhausted than she did.
    Being a man who was used to getting his way, he set about to make things happen. Money was never an issue, except for its utility to get what he wanted. When the doctor came by to talk about Anne’s treatment plan, Steven had already arranged for Spencer’s mother to be her full-time nurse at the apartment. Although the doctor looked as if she might object, she quickly recognized Steven was unstoppable when he was on a mission.
    “Okay, so the nurse? What did you say her name was?”
    “Connie Marshall.”
    “She’ll need to administer according to this IV prescription. And she’ll need to keep exact records and report vitals. I’m going to need lab work at regular intervals. We’ll have to make adjustments each day based on her lab results. We can’t know yet whether she’ll need TPN in the future.”
    He was nodding his head. “Yes, yes. I understand. We’ll do everything by the book and communicate with your office.”
    “And if her vitals start dropping, you’ll have to come back to the hospital.”
    “Yes, of course,” he said impatiently. “Now if you’ll please sign the release form.”
    He checked a text message that buzzed on his cell phone and his lips formed an expletive.
    “What’s wrong?” Anne asked.
    “It’s nothing. Just something else I need to take care of.”
    “Everything’s backing up at work, and I’m no help at all. Could you let me work a little bit from home? I’d feel so much better. Like I’m contributing something. Right now I feel like a leech.”
    He smiled at her. “But you’re such a cute little leech.”
    “Steven, I’m serious.”
    “No, you can’t work from home. Perhaps after we’re certain you’re not going to pass out at a moment’s notice.”
    “What about the Switzerland trip in two weeks? Will I get to go?”
    “No,” replied the doctor, not even bothering to look up from her paperwork.
    “But what if I’m better by then?”
    The doctor ignored her question. “Mr. Gherring,” she said as she handed him the release form. “I hope you’re making the right decision. I can’t be responsible for—”
    “I’m well aware of the liability issues here. I know we’re responsible for whatever happens outside of this hospital.”
    “As long as you know.” The doctor slipped out the door.
    “I’m going home now?”
    “Yes, but... I need to take some precautions.”
    “What type of precautions?”
    “Just relax for a bit.” He disappeared from the room and came back twenty minutes later with a surgical gown, hat and mask, a baseball cap, and a huge teddy bear.
    “Put your hair up in this cap and sit in the wheelchair with the teddy bear,” he ordered while donning the surgical gear. “We’re not going out the front door; we’re going out the side. And I called a taxi—we can’t walk outside and climb into a limousine. I think they may have spotted us coming in, so we need to avoid them going out.”
    “Who’s they ? The press?”
    “No. You know... It was just people. I overheard someone saying something about us coming in a limo, and they were wondering who we were. So I want to be more careful this time.”
    “Okay.”
    “Ready to go?”
    “Yes, but...” She looked at him and started giggling.
    “What? What’s so funny?”
    “Could you keep that stuff at home for later on? I’ve always had this fantasy about doing it with a doctor.”
*****
    Emily knocked on the penthouse door. She was so relieved when Steven called her after work to say her mom was out of the hospital. But she was nervous they’d taken her advice and hired Spencer’s mother to be