Rory: Hope City, Book 7 by Maryann Jordan (uplifting books for women txt) 📕

uncertain how much to say. She caught Dave’s concerned expression and quickly said, “Don’t worry about me. It’s the job site and my work that I’m concerned about.”

His brow furrowed as he shook his head. “You need to let me handle this. It’s not your place, Ms. Carmichael. We each have our jobs to do, and while you don’t need to be disrespected, you also don’t need to push the contractors.”

She sucked in her lips, uncertain if he was worried for her or about her. “Okay… I’m really just trying to cover all our bases.”

Dave’s jaw tightened, and he nodded. “Thanks for the info, Ms. Carmichael. I’m going to look into it and then get with Anthony. The last thing we want is for a problem with this building.”

Saying goodbye, she, Barbara, and Todd walked outside to her SUV. Once driving, Todd glanced to the side and asked, “You okay, boss?”

She scrunched her nose. “Yeah, I guess. I wish that I had more confidence that Dave will truly keep an eye on Perkins. Plus, Anthony asked me out for a working dinner again.”

“What did you tell him?” Barbara asked from the back seat.

“I wasn’t going to accept, but now I wonder if I should and bring up the issue with Perkins Electrical.”

Todd snorted. “That’s romantic!”

“It’s not supposed to be romantic! It would be a working dinner only.”

“Well, I think it’s high time you got a little somethin’ somethin’,” he quipped.

She rolled her eyes but remained quiet. As she parked in front of their office, her stomach growled. “I’m going to grab a sandwich. Anyone interested?” After getting their requests, she walked into the sandwich shop nearby. Placing their orders, she glanced around, glad that the restaurant was almost empty. Chatting with the cashier, she jerked when a scream rang out from behind the counter.

“Oh, my God!” the cashier cried, and Sandy looked over in horror as one of the women slicing deli meat held up her severely cut hand, still screaming as blood streamed from the wound.

“Oh, Jesus!” she cried, rushing around the counter past the immobile cashier toward the injured woman. “Call for help!” she cried. She knew little about first aid but felt certain that putting pressure on a bleeding wound was the proper treatment. Whirling around, her gaze landed on a small stack of tea towels. Grabbing a handful, she helped the still-screaming woman to the floor and wrapped her hand in the towels, applying pressure. Twisting her head, she was about to yell for help again when she heard the cashier on the phone.

“My coworker cut herself! There’s a lot of blood! You’ve got to come!” she babbled, managing to get the address blurted out.

Looking back down, she could see that blood was seeping through the towels and she cradled the woman’s hand against her body to try to stem the flow. In only a few more seconds, Sandy heard sirens, thankful the station was just at the end of the street.

The bell over the door rang, and the cashier cried, “Over here. They’re over here!”

A pair of gloved hands moved in and gently took the injured woman’s arm from Sandy’s grip. “We’ve got this, ma’am. Are you injured as well?”

She slid out of the way and shook her head. “No… I… no…”

Blood covered the floor, and as she scrambled to make way for the paramedics, her knees slipped in the blood before finally she pushed herself to a wobbly stand.

“Sandy, fuck!”

At the sound of a man’s curse, she looked up, seeing Rory staring wide-eyed at her. Glancing down, she realized there was a lot of blood on her blouse, pants, and hands. Lifting her gaze back to him, she felt the world go black from the edges of her vision to a pinprick in front of her. That was the last thing she remembered.

13

Rory was at the end of his shift when the call came in for a workplace laceration. Recognizing the address as the sandwich shop from down the street, he jogged down the sidewalk, following the ambulance, determined to assist if needed.

Once inside, he recognized the cashier, pale and shaking as she tried to explain what happened to the EMT on duty. The paramedic was already behind the counter assisting the injured woman, and as he walked around, his feet stuttered to a halt as he looked up and saw Sandy coming to a stand, covered in blood. “Sandy, fuck!” he cried out, having no idea if it was her blood or not.

Her eyes lifted to his, and he watched as her face turned white, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she crumpled into a faint. He instantly scanned the scene in front of him and ascertained the two paramedics needed no assistance with the injured woman. Racing around to the other side of the counter, he leaped over the boxes in the way and dropped to his knees next to Sandy. Her head had landed on a cardboard box, the only thing that had kept her from slamming onto the hard floor.

Suzanne, one of the paramedics on shift, looked over and said, “I don’t know if she works here or not. She was putting pressure on the wound. I don’t think she was injured. Probably she just fainted.” She handed him an extra blood pressure cuff and stethoscope.

The bell over the door rang again, and not only did a couple of firemen enter to assist but the man who had once bought Rory lunch and indicated he worked for Carmichael Designs rushed in as well.

“Rosie, what’s going on? Sandy came to get food and didn’t come back. The next thing I see is all these rescue workers rushing in!”

“It was Joan! She got cut, and oh, my God, there was blood everywhere! I didn’t know what to do, but Ms. Carmichael was here and jumped in to help! But then she fainted dead away over there!”

Before Rory could say anything, the man leaned over the counter and spied an