I do not own any of the music, products or movies mentioned in this fic and as much as I wish I did.........I don't own GhostWhisperer or any of its characters, I do however, own those characters and storylines which appear in this fanfic, but not in the show. No copyright infringement intended!
It only took a few minutes for Jim to be back with her hot chocolate and a cappuccino for himself "you feeling alright?" he asked as he sat down, Melinda nodded "thanks" she said quietly as he handed her the drink "you're hot" Jim blurted out, Melinda's eyebrows raised and her breath hitched, "uh...I...your cheeks.." Jim stuttered as he stared at her openly. His eyes travelled down her body all the way to her stilettos then back up to her eyes, Melinda looked down in embarrassment at his unwavering stare and he cleared his throat "sorry, I was just saying, you're cheeks are a little red...I think you might have a temperature" he clarified. Melinda nodded uncertainly ..he feels it too.. she thought, he was attracted to her, just like she was to him.
"I uh...brought my catalogue...do you feel well enough to take a look?" Jim asked gently, Melinda smiled "sure" she replied, Jim shifted closer to her and began flipping through the pages of a home improvement catalogue. "So, I was thinking that this coffee table would b good for the first living room, the one you saw, maybe it could go on the rug?" he asked, Melinda nodded "the colour is perfect, what is it..beechwood?" she asked trying to ignore the sensuous smell of his cologne, Jim smiled "uh, sugarwood actually, close enough" he said. The coffee table was like a piece of modern art- a huge slab of uncut and roughly shaped sugar wood resting on two smaller blocks "it's really beautiful, I think it would be gorgeous with the red and cream" she said. Jim nodded "that's what I thought, then I was thinking..." he flipped a couple of pages ahead and pointed to a pair of rounded vases "...about maybe having these on top of it?" he asked, Melinda smiled "you know, for someone who claims to have no idea what he's doing, you make a pretty good amateur interior designer" she complimented "thanks...but I'm playing it safe...getting a professional opinion, make sure I'm...making the right choices" his eyes wavered for only a fraction of a second to her stomach and his voice came somewhat sombre, Melinda couldn't help but feel as though he wasn't talking about furniture anymore.
"I.." Melinda started but trailed off nervously, Jim lifted his head and looked into her eyes as she gazed back up at him from beneath her lashes "you have really beautiful eyes" he whispered, Melinda stood up and pressed a hand to her head "I think you should leave" she said softly, Jim shook his head "I'm really sorry Melinda, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable...I just..." Jim let out a sharp breath before rushing from the store, Melinda sighed as the bell tinkled behind him.
Sitting back down on the comfortable Chaise, Melinda buried her head in her hands and tried to calm herself down, her heartbeat was still erratic and racing at the memory of Jim's closeness and his words ..this is so wrong.. she scolded herself angrily "why does he make me feel like this?" she groaned, Melinda headed over to the counter and sat on her stool bracing herself for a horrible day.
"CRAP!" Melinda yelled, she had just dropped three crystal glasses and sent shards of glass flying across the stores floor, the day had been awful. Everything that could go wrong did. She had lost her next huge consignment to a professional antique dealer, she hadn't had a single customer, she was feeling sick, her delivery had been mixed up with someone else's so she had ended up being delivered 20 memory foam mattresses instead of a dining set...and now this. Melinda reached down to pick up the largest pieces of glass, she had one between her fingers but as she stood up it slipped, she caught it quickly but as her hand clamped around it the sharp edge sliced the palm of her hand.
Melinda yelped in pain and dropped it as tears sprang to her eyes quickly, the huge cut began to pour blood over her fingers and Melinda ran it the stores bathroom to hold it under the cold tap "frick" she muttered under her breath, "ow ow ow ow ow ow" she breathed as she attempted to pull out a small piece of glass which had broken off and stayed in the cut, her stomach flipped as she pulled it out and even more blood began to pulse out over her fingers. "Mel?" came a husky voice from the front of the store "Charlie help" she whimpered, her hand was gushing terrifying amounts of blood and the running water seemed to be making no difference whatsoever. Without hesitation Charlie ran into the back room and through to the bathroom "jeez, what happened baby?" he asked, "dropped a glass" she told him as he pulled her hand from under the tap and lifted his t-shirt off leaving him in a tank top and gray jeans, "this is gonna hurt" he warned before tying it tightly around her hand, Melinda winced and sobbed quietly "are you okay?" he asked pulling her into his arms "I am now" she responded quietly, "hey don't cry, we'll go down to Mercy and get you fixed up okay?" Charlie comforted, Melinda nodded and rose to her tiptoes to kiss him gently "love you" she whispered, Charlie smiled widely and kissed her passionately, his fingers winding into her hair and his arms pressing her closer to his body "love you too" he replied.
"What made you come to the store?" Melinda asked as Charlie strapped her into his passenger seat "well I know Delia stayed over and dropped you into work today, figured I'd pick you up instead of you walking...I got home a little earlier than I expected" he replied. Melinda smiled "thanks honey" she said sweetly, her head leaned back against the rest and she closed her eyes against the searing pain in the palm of her hand.
It took all of 30 minutes to be sitting in the waiting room at Mercy General Emergency Room, "okay Melinda Gordon, come straight through to room 22" a young nurse instructed, Charlie stood up with Melinda and she smiled "it's okay honey, you can wait here if you want to" she offered, Charlie nodded "I'll be right here if you need me" he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and sat back in his uncomfortable metal seat. Melinda walked into the room and sat on the bed where the curtain was half drawn, a doctor came in wearing the standard powder blue scrubs, Melinda couldn't see his face but he seemed quite young, he picked up a clipboard from the desk and flipped over the first page, he hesitated before spinning around to face her... "Jim" Melinda breathed.
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