Chapter 25
Jess watched Hank's body walking down the hallway to the elevator. She whistled in appreciation. Her husband had one fine ass. She longed to race after him and get a good grab in, but she knew she had to behave. She could grab Hank's ass after she got home. Once the doctor and nurses left Nicole's room, Jess entered.
"Hey," Nicole said groggily. "Thanks for coming."
Jess walked over to her and gave her a hug. "Been here, Smartypants."
"I know. I heard you. You and your damn Jumbles! Don't you have a life?"
Jess laughed. "I do. But I couldn't read while you were sleeping. Made me feel guilty. I worked my way through two books waiting for you to catch up on your beauty sleep."
"Nice of you to waste your time watching me sleep."
Jess gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm glad you're awake. I am going to warn you though, Hank will be here and will want to play 240 questions as soon as I call him."
"But you aren't going to call him for at least three hours, right?"
"At least."
"Good. So, tell me about you and Hank. Last I knew, you were still on the happily in love train."
"I'm still on the train. We were having breakfast one morning and he said let's go to city hall, and I said ok."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. No fanfare, no invitations, no fighting over a guest list, no booking a place for a reception. Just me, him, and the judge."
"Are you sorry you didn't have a wedding?" Nicole asked. "I mean, this is the guy you're going to spend the rest of your life with."
Jess bit her lip. Nicole was the romantic, Jess was the realist. Nicole wanted the big cathedral wedding with the gown and ten foot long train, 15 bridesmaids, three flower girls, and a groom that had just stepped off the cover of GQ. Jess was just as happy with a trip to City Hall and to stand in front of the Judge. "No, I'm not sorry. It was perfect just the way it was. But we are a bit unconventional."
"I'm just surprised you got married at all."
"So am I. I'm surprised he asked. But it's good, Nic. He's so good to me."
"That's good, Jess. When you first started dating him, I didn't understand. I couldn't figure out what he had that our classmates didn't."
Jess sighed. "He had a wife, a son, a house and a semi daughter. But his wife died, his son got into a shitload of trouble, the house is still standing, and the semi daughter is now a cop in his unit and she hates my guts."
"For real?"
"For real. She didn't know about me until this whole shooting went down. Hank's kept me a secret from everyone from 15 years. As far as she is concerned, I'm Public Enemy Number One. You should have seen the stink eye she gave me I gave it right back."
"You would."
"Not taking her shit. She had to know that."
Nicole looked at Jess. "So we've tap danced around why I'm here. How bad was it?"
"What do you remember?"
"Jeremy coming in my office and screaming about his test grade. He failed my first test."
"He failed mine too."
"And he insisted I had to change the F to an A. I told him I wasn't going to do that. He pulled out the gun and shot me. I don't remember anything after that except you leaning over me screaming."
"I wasn't screaming," Jess said. "I was trying to keep you with me until the paramedics got there. I was trying to keep you from bleeding out."
"Thank you for that."
Jess waved her hand. "You'd do it for me."
"Damn Skippy."
Jess rolled her eyes. "Are you reading Stephanie Plum again? You sound like Lula."
Nicole laughed and Jess laughed with her. It felt good to laugh. It had been a hell of a week. "Guilty."