Free Still Fine at Forty by Dakota Madison

boyfriend, he nodded. “I want to be there for you,” he said.
    I nodded to the woman and she told us to take a seat in the small waiting area until my name was called.
    We were the only two people waiting so it didn’t take long before a nurse peeked her head out and said, “Jennifer Ellis.”
    We both followed the young woman as she led us into the emergency room area. She opened a curtain and motioned for us to take the small room.
    “I need for you to sit on the bed,” she said to me. She then motioned to Cody, “You can take a seat there.” She pointed to a chair right next to the bed.
    I did as I was instructed and parked myself on the hospital bed. Cody sat on the chair next to the bed and made sure that he moved the chair as close to the bed as was humanly possible. The nurse excused herself and closed the privacy curtain before exiting.
    I slumped down onto the pillow at the top of the bed and sighed. What a great ending to our date. Not.
    Cody took my non-injured hand and held it in his. “I’m sorry you were hurt.” 
    I gave him a half-hearted smile. “Don’t you have to go to work? I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything.”
    “I’ll phone my boss and let him know. It’s not a big deal. I’m more worried about you.”
    “Thank you,” I said.
    He kissed my cheek. “My pleasure,” he whispered in my ear. The gesture sent shivers surging through my body. 
    “Why don’t you just rest until the doctor comes in?” He gently stroked the top of my good hand and let his fingers move up to softly caress my arm. Despite the unfortunate setting, I was getting completely turned on by Cody’s touch.
    I thought about the last time I was in a hospital Emergency Room. I had fallen while taking Pugsy for a walk and twisted my ankle. It was when he was still a puppy and had tons of energy. I had to practically beg Rob to take me for X-Rays because he was working on his application for tenure. He drove me to the ER and dropped me off in front of the driveway. I was lucky he even stopped the car for me to get out because he was in such a hurry to get back to his work.
    Of course, I could barely walk and it was several hundred yards to get into the building. Luckily a hospital employee saw me struggling and he got me a wheelchair so I could make it into the building. It was difficult to stomach some of the pitying looks the hospital staff gave me when they asked me if I had someone with me and I had to say no. And how pathetic was I when I had to wait in that same driveway, with my foot all bandaged up, for over an hour, for Rob to pick me up. He said he was “on a roll” with his application and couldn’t pull himself from the computer. I guess his indifference to my injuries should have been a clue that he was also indifferent toward me and our marriage.
    I looked over at Cody and smiled.
    “What’s that smile for?” he asked.
    “I appreciate you being here with me,” I said. “It means a lot to me.”
    He furrowed his brows. “Where else would I be?”
    He pulled my non-injured hand up to his lips and gave my fingers a soft kiss.
    When the privacy drape opened, a middle-aged woman in scrubs walked in. “I’m Dr. Weller,” she said in a professional tone. “What happened?”
    I explained how I had tumbled down the mountain and sustained my injuries. She carefully lifted the elbow connected to my injured hand in an effort to inspect my hand more closely.
    “This will need to be cleaned, but I don’t think you’ll need stitches. The bleeding seems to have subsided. We’ll have to do a few X-Rays to make sure nothing is broken. I’ll be back in a few minutes with a nurse assistant. They’ll also be someone coming by to complete your paperwork.” She gave me a forced smile then exited the room, pulling the privacy drape back in place as she exited.
    “She’s all business,” I said.
    “Hopefully, nothing is broken and you can get back to normal soon,” Cody said. He now had the