“Black, one cream, two sugars.”
“Then it’s not black, is it?”
“Don’t give me shit this morning. Ro gained two pounds and she’s convinced she won’t be able to fit into any of her clothes now. Never mind we’ve already gotten married.”
“This is why you got married, and not me,” I remind him. Marriage isn’t my deal. Never has been, probably never will be.
“I’m gonna call her, try and talk her down from the damn ledge.”
“Good luck with that my man.”
Gratefully, I leave him in the ambulance by himself. I might be happy for him, but he’s driven me crazy talking about this wedding the last few months. Walking into the coffee shop, I expect to see Eden at the counter with a smile on her face.
That’s how I’ve seen her almost every day since she opened. Today though, it’s different. “Eden,” I yell out, expecting her to come from the back.
When she doesn’t, I decide to go do a little searching for her. Something isn’t sitting right with me, and there’s a tingle in the pit of my stomach telling me to find her. Going behind the counter, I enter the cooking area, and that’s where I see her. She’s sitting down, bent over at the waist. “Are you okay?”
Brown eyes full of pain meet mine. “I feel like a have a knot in the middle of my chest.” She shifts around. “I haven’t been able to get comfortable for the past few days. My back is killing me.”
One of the things I’ve taken to doing is carrying my stethoscope with me. Walking over to her, I have her lean back. “Deep breath.” She can barely do what I’m asking, but I can hear movement in her digestive track. I’ve seen this more than once. “Do you have your gallbladder?”
“Yeah.” She tips her head back, grabbing hold of my hand. “My God, the pain just keeps coming in waves.
“C’mon.” I pull her up from where she sits. “We need to get you to the hospital.”
“Devante, no.” She tries to fight against the pull. “There’s no way I can close the shop. I’m barely making it, as is.”
“Listen to me.” I grab her cheeks with my hands. “If you’re as sick as I think you are, you’re gonna need surgery. You mess around with this? You can get sepsis and then it won’t matter, Eden.” There’s a fear I don’t like to see in her eyes.
Tears spring, and I want nothing more than to tell her everything is going to be okay. Unfortunately, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know it for sure. “Okay.” She wipes at the tears. “Let’s go.”
Slowly, we walk toward the ambulance and as soon as Cutter sees us, he gets out, running over. “What’s happening?”
“I think it’s her gallbladder.”
“We need to lock the doors,” she protests.
“Oh my God, Eden. Are you okay?” Shelby yells as she pulls up and gets out of her car.
“I’m sick.” Her voice is pitiful.
“Sick enough that I’m taking her to the hospital,” I interject.
“Shelby,” her tone begs, “as a small business owner, I can’t stand to not have a day of sales.”
“I get you.” She reaches over, grabbing her hand. “I can’t cook, but I’ll figure out how to run the cash register.”
“Things are already made up, and there are directions on how to prepare it. Please just keep it open as long as you can.”
“I’ll help too.” I hear Leigh’s voice chime in.
“You have your own restaurant to run,” Eden protests.
“And I have so many people I can call in to help both of us. Don’t you worry, we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”
“Are they for real?” she asks, looking at me.
“They are. There’s one thing you’ll learn about this town. They love to help their own.”
“I’m not one of their own,” she cries.
Grabbing her hand, I put it against my chest. “You are now, trust me. You are now.”
Preorder Devante - LSERT #6 November 5th, 2021
About the Author
Laramie Briscoe is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of over 30 books.
Since self-publishing her first book in May of 2013, Laramie has appeared on the Top 100 Bestselling E-books Lists on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Her books have been known to make readers laugh and cry. They are guaranteed to be emotional, steamy reads.
When she's not writing alpha males who seriously love their women, she loves spending time with friends, reading, and marathoning shows on Netflix. Married to her high school sweetheart, Laramie lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband (the Travel Coordinator) and a sometimes crazy cat named Beau.
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