Free Essential Master (Doms of Napa Valley) by Dakota Trace Page B

to have to get used to.

 
 
    Chapter
Seven
    “As soon as the nurse comes in with your
discharge papers, Zebadiah, you’ll be free to go.” Dr. Sanderton gave him a
smile. “Next time try to stay away from trouble, young man. I’m truly tired of
seeing your ugly mug in here. You should be out having fun, not cooped up in a
hospital room.”
    Zebadiah nodded. “Believe me I’ve seen
enough of hospitals to last me a lifetime, and if I never see that bitch again,
it’ll be too soon.” He touched the stitches at the back of his head. “Come back
in seven days to have them removed, right?”
    “Yes, now excuse me, I have other patients
to see to.” The kind doctor scurried out of the door, and Zeb leaned back
against the bed. He was still dressed in the hospital gown since his own
clothing had been unwearable, especially the blood covered shirt. He was now
just waiting for Davis or Ethan to bring him a clean set of clothing from home.
    As if thinking about them made them appear,
Davis and Ethan strode into the room. Shaking the sack before he dropped it on
the bed, Davis greeted him.
    “Morning, Zeb. You ready to get sprung?”
    “Hell, yeah.” He reached for the sack while
Ethan shut the door allowing him privacy to change. “Have you heard anything
from Harmond? I’m assuming one of you called him for me?”
    Davis moved towards the window, as Zeb
jerked off the hospital gown and tossed it towards the end of the bed. “Get
dressed and we’ll take you to lunch.”
    Dread pooled in the pit of Zebadiah’s
stomach as he slipped the shirt on over his head. “He fired me, didn’t he?” he
asked, as he pulled the shirt down.
    Davis sighed, but confirmed his suspicions.
“Yes. But you have a very good case against him, Zeb.”
    “I’ll think about it, Davis. I don’t know
if I want to go to court over it. Harmond took a chance on me when I came back
from culinary school. But right now I just want to get out of here.” Pulling
out the socks, underwear and jean shorts, he laid them out on the bed as the
men turned their backs to him, but stood close enough to help if he needed it.
Rising, he swayed but managed to keep his balance long enough to pull clean
underwear on. By the time he’d managed to fasten his shorts, beads of sweat had
popped out on his forehead. Sinking back down on the mattress, he gritted his
teeth. His head still hurt like a bastard, but he wasn’t going to tell them. He
wanted out of here.
    “Can’t blame you there, Zebadiah.” Ethan
moved closer. “But it’s still something we should discuss at lunch, along with
the idea of perhaps opening your bakery now.”
    Zeb donned the socks before he requested
Davis to hand him his shoes. By the time he donned them, all he wanted was to
go home and lay back down. He didn’t want to make any decisions right now. He
didn’t want to think about the fact he lost his job, nor the financial risk of
opening a new business that would probably fail within the first year.
    “You know, guys, I don’t think I’m up to
this. Can we skip lunch?”
    Before they could answer, the nurse
shuffled in with a stack of paperwork in her hands. “Dr Sanderton said you’re
getting ready to leave us, Mr. Pellegrino?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, I have your discharge papers here.”
She sank down on the bed next to him. “It’s pretty straight-forward stuff. Are
these your roommates?”
    “Yeah.” He resisted nodding. “Unlucky
bastards they are. They get stuck with nursing me back to health again.” He
strove for a light heartedness he wasn’t feeling. He really hated being
incapacitated.
      * *
* *
    By the
time they pulled up at the house, all Zebadiah wanted to do was crawl into bed.
As Davis put the SUV into park, Zebadiah reached for his seat belt when the car
door opened. Expecting to see Bella, he was surprised when it was Stephanie
smiling down at him, and reaching across to unbuckle his seat belt.
    “Stephanie. What are you doing here?”