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“You had a nightmare and a panic attack,” Jerica started. “We’re trained to help you with that.”

Bridget shook her head. “Please just get out. I’m fine now. Please just go.”

They both looked surprised, but Bridget couldn’t handle the way they were staring at her, gazes filled with pity. She was desperate for the quiet she had abhorred only days before. She needed to sink into her own vat of shame without the two of them looking on.

Jerica leaned in. “I need to check your vitals before I can leave. Do you want June to stay or go?”

“Go,” Bridget whispered, her voice breaking on the word. If she could only get rid of one of them, then she would.

June patted the top of Bridget’s hand. “Please let them call me if you need me, Bridget. I’m here for you in whatever capacity you need, all right?”

Bridget didn’t respond—didn’t nod or speak. Instead, she folded her arm across her hips, holding herself tightly as she waited for Jerica to start the testing she had to get done before Bridget could kick her out, too. Then she could have the room to herself. She could wallow in her own self-pity with no one to look on.

June left the room, although she looked over her shoulder, eyes filled with concern. Jerica waited a few more seconds before standing and pulling the computer over. She opened the file and took Bridget’s blood pressure reading, inputting in into the system. She went through the routine, Bridget moving when she needed to and being as quiet as possible. She would not speak, and she would not engage this woman.

As Jerica finished up, she sat back on the edge of the bed and touched Bridget’s leg lightly. “Please talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to tell. I had a nightmare. Thank you for coming to help.”

“Bridget.”

Bridget gave her a hard look and shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about this to anyone. “I’m fine.”

“I’d believe it better if you weren’t also crying.”

She hadn’t even noticed. Raising her hand to her cheeks, she found they were wet as tears slid down to her chin. Bridget wiped them away angrily. “Seems I can’t control myself since coming here. It’ll be much better once I get home. I promise.”

Jerica sighed. “Will Eli come to get you?”

“I don’t know,” Bridget whispered. “I don’t know where I’m going.”

“You need to figure that out before you’re released.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” The bite to her words was over the top, but Bridget couldn’t control that either. She was not in the position to be nice and pleasant. Not after what she’d just experienced.

“Bridget, please, we’re only here to help you.”

“I don’t need your help. If you’re done, please leave.”

Jerica sat in shock for a few more seconds before standing and walking out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Cast into the quiet, Bridget openly let the tears slide down her cheeks without brushing them away. It was so hard to cry. The broken ribs made her sobbing hurt in ways she’d never experienced before, and still, she couldn’t stop it.

What the hell had happened to her?She’d gone from the tough sheriff to the weakling, the one who cried over everything and couldn’t keep her shit together. This was not her, and she didn’t like this new her. Bridget hated being vulnerable, especially in front of others. Shifting around on the bed, she got comfortable and closed her eyes against the oncoming dawn. It was too early in the morning for this crap, but at least she didn’t have to feign going back to sleep. She could stay awake, wait for her breakfast, and start her new day by figuring out where the hell she was going to sleep once she was released.

Her first goal was to not go to her parent’s house. That meant she had to find somewhere else to crash, somewhere that would be considered more optimal than their place. The problem was, Bridget really had no one she could call to ask the favor from, no one who would help take care of her, no one who she felt comfortable asking. She was an invalid, and she was no longer the woman she had grown up to be.

CHAPTER4

Her room was filledwith people, and Bridget wasn’t sure who to look at. Sharon and Edward stood near the door, and Eli was right next to her. June was in the mix as well along with a bunch of nurses. No doctors in sight, though Bridget had come to realize they often made themselves scarce.

They’d signed off on her paperwork, discharging her so long as she had a place to go where she wouldn’t be alone, and that was what led them to this moment. How the hell her parents had figured out she was being discharged was beyond her, that or they had really bad timing, but she’d wanted to go home by herself. She’d planned to have Eli take her out of the hospital and drop her at her house, and she’d find a way to get up the damn stairs to her bedroom.

God, she just wanted her own fucking bed for one night.

Sharon put her hand out, stopping the chatter and instructions for care. Bridget’s stomach dropped, and she was desperate to put a stop to whatever disaster was about to happen. Yet, she couldn’t. Her mother sucked the words right out of her every time. She sat on the edge of the bed, watching the fury in her mother’s eyes.

“Where is she going to be staying?” Sharon’s voice pierced the air.

“We thought she was going to your house,” the nurse to Bridget’s right spoke up.