Free Cedar Bluff's Most Eligible Bachelor (Cedar Bluff Hospital) by LAURA IDING Page A

sore. Muscles she hadn’t known she possessed hurt. But the good news was that her leg didn’t throb as badly as it had yesterday.
    From here on, she’d probably start feeling better each day.
    It took her much longer than normal to get showered and dressed, especially as her cast had to be wrapped with plastic for the shower, and then afterward the bulky covering didn’t fit into the pants leg of her jeans. She had to rip out the side seam out of an old pair of sweats, topped with an equally ragged T-shirt, so she wouldn’t have to walk around in her underwear.
    She ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then cradled a mug of coffee in her hands, the day looming endlessly before her. Often she’d wished for a few days off to get caught up on errands and such, but not like this. Not wearing a cast that prevented her from doing anything.
    The scrap of paper with Simon’s number was still sitting on the kitchen table, mocking her. Last night she’d actually tossed the note into the garbage, but had then changed her mind and dug it back out again, smoothing out the crumpled edges.
    Stupid, because she didn’t plan on calling him.
    But it had been sweet of him to leave it for her. In fact, Simon had been wonderful, in many ways.
    She gave herself a mental shake. There was no point reading anything but basic kindness in his motives for helping her. She knew that even though she’d taken the blame for what had happened, he still felt responsible.
    Simon was honorable that way. And maybe a bit stubborn.
    Just because she found him devastatingly attractive, it didn’t mean he felt even remotely the same way about her.
    And even if he did, they were colleagues. Maybe even friends. Nothing more.
    Anxious for something to do, she headed for her bedroom and the looming pile of laundry waiting for her there. Of course, if she’d known she was going to break her leg, she would have made sure her laundry was caught up.
    Where was that crystal ball when you needed it?
    She had to leave her mug of coffee on the kitchen table as she couldn’t crutch-walk and carry it at the same time. Neither could she carry her laundry basket.
    Muttering a naughty word under her breath, she used her crutches to shove the laundry basket piled high with dirty clothes across the carpeting and down the hall, until she reached the kitchen.
    Doing the laundry would take her twice as long on crutches, but it wasn’t like she had other burning plans anyway. Watching television was sure to get boring. Maybe Rachel would stop at the local video store to pick her up some movies to watch.
    While seated on the kitchen chair, she split her laundry into two loads, and then went back to the hallway closet to get the bottle of laundry soap, dangling it from her two fingers while manipulating the crutches. Thank heavens her apartment was small.
    Crutches were really a pain in the butt.
    Once she had the clothes divided and a load in the laundry basket, she looked around for her keys.
    Of course, she couldn’t find them.
    After ten minutes of looking, she gave up. The last time she’d seen them had been when Simon had taken them to go grocery shopping.
    Had he inadvertently taken them with him last night?
    Possibly. Maybe she should call him. Her heart leaped at the idea. But she just as quickly shut it down.
    Pathetic. She was truly pathetic.
    The building manager had a spare key. She could just as easily get it from him. She had, in fact, done that very thing the last time she’d accidentally locked her keys inside the apartment while doing laundry.
    There was no need to bother Simon.
    But she needed to prop the door open somehow, so she jammed a pair of dirty scrubs beneath the apartment door to keep it from closing. From there, she pushed the laundry basket full of clothes down the hall in front of her until she reached the elevator.
    Once she had the load into the washer, she was able to grab the empty laundry basket with the edge of her fingers and carry