He figured Nick had to be as tired of his house-hunting search as he was. They’d been looking for condos since summertime and he still hadn’t found one he liked. They were all either too expensive or didn’t have the features he wanted.

I think you have commitment issues, buddy.

It was something his sister would say. Not that he disagreed. He was used to going where Uncle Sam told him to go. It was hard to get used to the idea that his life was his own again.

He pulled open the heavy metal door leading to the parking garage. A young woman sat on the edge of the curb, her head in her hands.

“Miss? Are you all right?”

When she raised her head, Matt rushed forward. “Raina, what’s wrong?”

She blinked at him a few times, then said, “I don’t feel so good. I think I’m going to be sick.”

Matt instantly sprang into battle awareness. He looked at her eyes to see if her pupils were dilated. Her skin was flushed, but that was to be expected if she was about to throw up.

“Okay, let’s get you to the hospital. My truck is right here.”

Raina shook her head. “No, I can’t move yet. It’s worse when I move. That’s why I sat down.” She closed her eyes suddenly and started breathing through her mouth. “It smells like burnt rubber down here.”

Matt didn’t smell anything but he kept that thought to himself. “Okay. Let’s just take it easy. Can you move yet? Are you still dizzy?”

After what seemed like a million years, Raina nodded. “A little. My head hurts.”

Matt looked at his truck just a few feet away. “Raina, how about you let me carry you? We really need to get you to the hospital.”

Finally she nodded. She stood slowly and he picked her up. She was light, too light for her height. He carried her swiftly to the truck and hit the automatic opener on his keychain. He shoved the papers on the seat in the back and helped her climb in. As he rounded the car to the driver’s side, he pulled out his cell phone and called Nick. It went to voicemail so he left a quick message.

“Hey, man, I found Raina down here. She looks pretty bad so I’m taking her to the hospital. Meet us there.”

He fired up his truck. Raina jumped at the loud roar of the engine. “Sorry. I’m sure that’s not helping your headache any.”

“No, it just startled me. I’m sure I’m fine. I just got dizzy. I probably just need to lie down.”

He pulled out of the parking garage and raced through the streets until they reached New Haven General. “Either way, we’re going to get you checked out just in case.”

He left his car parked at the curb of the emergency entrance and then jumped out. Raina already had the door open by the time he got around to her side.

“Here, take my arm.” He led her through the automatic doors and up to the nurse sitting at the reception desk. He leaned over and said, “She’s pregnant and she’s having dizzy spells. I found her collapsed on the ground.”

The nurse pushed a form across the desk along with a pen. “Fill this out and we’ll see what’s going on.” Raina picked up the pen, then before she could write anything, she slumped against the counter.

“Whoa!” Matt looped a hand around her waist and held her upright so she wouldn’t fall over.

“She’s going down!” The nurse jumped up and ran around to the desk. Before he knew what was happening they were surrounded by nurses and Raina was being helped into a wheelchair.

“Are you her husband?” the nurse on his left asked.

He shook his head. “He’s on his way.”

“We’re going to take her back now.”

Matt watched helplessly as Raina was wheeled away. He pulled out his cell phone and called Nick again. When it went to voicemail, he hung up. Then he called the main office line and left a message with Kaylee, who promised to look for him.

“Where are you, Nick?”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“WE JUST KEEP ending up here, don’t we? What is it about us and hospitals? It’s like we have bad karma.”

Ridley sat gingerly on the edge of Raina’s hospital bed. After her embarrassing fainting incident, she’d been examined by one of the emergency doctors on call. They’d drawn blood and were running tests. But they’d already determined that she was severely dehydrated. They’d hooked her up to an IV bag of fluids to try to get her electrolytes back in the normal range.

Apparently all the throwing up she’d been doing wasn’t normal. But at least it didn’t seem to have hurt the baby. That was all she was holding on to at the moment.

“I know. This is getting to be a habit. One I will be happy to break.” She poked at the tube in her arm. It was positioned so that no matter how she moved, it tugged at her skin and made her uncomfortable.

It was truly a cruel twist of fate for her to have so many medical issues considering how much she hated hospitals. They were just harbingers of germs. Whose bright idea was it anyway to put all the sick people in the same place? She felt like she was going to be permanently contaminated by the time the doctor returned to release her.

Or at least she could only hope he would release her. She stopped messing with the tube in her arm. If whatever was in that bag could help her get better faster, then she was all for it.

“I’m just glad Matt was there. I hate to think what could have happened if he hadn’t found you.” Ridley’s voice brought her out of her daydreaming.