Passing the parked ambulances on the way into the emergency entrance made me sick to my stomach. Despite Leslie’s assurances that my mother was not in grave condition, the guilt from not being there when she needed me only amplified my concern. However, the moment we stepped through the sliding doors, a tiny bit of my anxiety was relieved.

Most people hated the smell of hospitals, but I actually found it soothing. Having spent so much time wandering these sterile corridors over the past few years, I’d come to associate the smell of hospital disinfectant with the feeling that my mother was in good hands, and I could rest. It was difficult to feel at ease when I was at work and she was home alone.

“You really don’t have to stay here with me,” I insisted as Daniel and I approached the nurses’ station. “I can find my way home from here, thank you.”

He ignored me as he sidled up next to me at the counter, and I couldn’t decide if I found his refusal to leave more infuriating or comforting. Turning back to the nurse behind the counter, I drew in a deep breath to calm myself before I spoke. The last thing an emergency room nurse needed was another shrill voice barking commands at her. I’d developed a pretty good feel for how to speak to hospital staff over the years.

The nurse directed us to bay nineteen, where I found Leslie sitting at my mother’s bedside. She smiled warmly at me, then her eyebrows shot up as Daniel trailed in behind me.

“Oh, Krissy. It’s so good to see you. Who’s this?”

Before I could open my mouth, Daniel reached his hand out to Leslie. “I’m Daniel, Kristin’s bodyguard. It’s nice to meet you.”

Leslie turned to me, her eyes wide with surprise.

I waved off Daniel’s comment. “He’s not my bodyguard,” I said, trying to sound more annoyed than I actually was. “He’s a customer who was kind enough to give me a ride.”

He turned to me, one eyebrow cocked. “Customer? What exactly am I paying you for?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Keep it up and you’ll be paying for a one-way ticket back to your car.”

My mom exploded into a softly hoarse fit of laughter. “That’s my girl,” she said, her words thick and rounded from the pain medication.

I stepped forward and placed my hand on her shoulder. “You scared the hell out of me. What happened?”

“It’s not her fault, honey,” Leslie said. “Some little bastard pulled the fire alarm. I was already outside the building, standing there with the other idiots, when I remembered to check on your mom. Found her laid out on the fourth-floor landing. I’m so sorry, honey. I should’ve been up there.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be silly. It’s not your fault, Les. I’m the one who should’ve been there.”

My mom clumsily waved off our declarations of guilt. “Oh, please. It’s no one’s fault but mine and these knotty tree stumps below my waist.”

I turned to face Leslie. “Are they going to do another surgery? Why are they holding her here?”

Leslie looked confused. “They didn’t tell you? She popped a couple of screws in her knee out of place. She also shattered her elbow.” She whispered the last line out of the corner of her mouth, as if my mother wasn’t lying three feet away.

My mom laughed again. “I’m crippled, Les, not deaf.”

This got a hearty chuckle out of Daniel.

I shot him a scathing look. “It’s not funny!”

My mom squinted at Daniel, a lazy smile spreading across her plump cheeks. “Hey, handsome. What did you say your name was again?”

“Daniel,” he replied. “Daniel Meyers.”

Her eyebrow twitched slightly. “I don’t buy this customer thing, Kristin. Do you have a handsome boyfriend you’ve been hiding from me?” she slurred as she beckoned Daniel to her bedside. “Come here. Let me have a good look at you.”

I was mortified. I wanted to protest, but I didn’t know what to say. I’d never been in this situation before, introducing a male friend to my mother. Could I even call Daniel a friend? We’d known each other a matter of hours. Yet, he’d already paid my rent and saved me from a sexual assault. And now he was standing at my mother’s bedside, when he could be at the cantina tossing back beers or whatever a person in finance did at nine o’clock at night.

Daniel grinned as he approached the other side of the bed. “Actually, ma’am, I’m not her boyfriend”—he looked up at me and winked—“yet.”

My mom let out a hoarse cackle. “I like this kid. He’s a keeper.”

My cheeks flushed with heat as I gripped the bedrail firmly. “Don’t you have a game of real-life monopoly to play or something?” I asked him.

An unreadable expression passed over his chiseled features, then he blinked a few times and the cocky confidence returned. “Actually, I am thinking of putting some hotels on Park Place.”

Something about his response made me think he was hiding something. “Yeah, whatever,” I said, shaking off my confusion as I turned back to Leslie. “So what are we waiting on?”

Leslie tried to go into detail about my mother’s injuries, but she found herself fumbling for medical terms she could hardly remember, much less pronounce. In the end, she shrugged and complained that she and my mother had been waiting almost an hour for an orthopedic surgeon to arrive for a surgical consult. As my mother’s eyelids fell shut under the heaviness of the pain meds, Leslie urged me to take the opportunity to go home and get my mom at least one change of clothing and some toiletries.

I didn’t want to involve Daniel any more, but when I looked up at him the hopeful look in his eyes made me smile. Either he assumed acting as my chauffeur was going to get him laid or he had a major hero complex. I couldn’t decide which option was more likely.

I sighed. “Can you give me a ride to my apartment?”

He tilted his gorgeous head to one side and smiled. “I’d love to.”