Reluctant thief Baz Barret is tasked with stealing from the formidable archaeologist Rei Collingwood--who happens to also be his college crush and rival--but when Rei goes missing after the burglary, Baz must find her before he's blamed for her disa...
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Pacing in hospital waiting rooms was becoming Rei's default. Diego sat in one of the ungodly orange waiting room chairs, knee bouncing on the floor. It was just the two of them. Sébastien's parents were halfway across the country and Diego hadn't called them. Not yet. There was nothing they could do from Iowa and everything was uncertain. Once the chest tube had been inserted, they would know more.
He was lucky, the doctors said when they first arrived. Sébastien fell well, an expert at hitting the ground. For someone else, the trauma would've been much worse.
"You should get something to eat. A coffee. Some fresh air," Rei suggested, pausing in front of Diego. He gave her an appraising look, the kind that informed her that Diego knew she was up to something. He was not wrong, but Rei didn't say anything more.
"What about you?" he asked, crossing his arms. He reminded her distinctly of a nightclub bouncer.
"I'll take a tea. Black. And the soup of the day," Rei replied.
Diego rose, certainly because he did need caffeine and sustenance. Rei did too. In the whirlwind day, she had lost count of the hours since her last meal, probably the breakfast she cooked in Diego's apartment. That morning had been a lifetime ago. Rei felt as though she ought to be unearthing it details of it in an excavation, digging up the coffee maker and pull-out couch, relics of the past.
As soon as Diego slipped out of sight, Rei discretely arranged for all of Sébastien's expenses to be billed to her credit card, including a private room on an upper floor. Surely burglary did not come with a good health insurance plan.
With that taken care of, Rei finally sat still, eating quietly with Diego when he came back.
Rei stayed until a nurse politely passed along that Sébastien was stable and could take visitors. That was when Rei finally, quietly left the hospital and drove home while the sun rose to backlight the skyline.
***
There were plenty of good excuses for why Rei had not visited sooner. As soon as she got home, she slept a solid 14 straight hours, exhausted to her core. Then, there was the shower she took, longer than any she'd ever had in her life, including the first after returning from an expedition involving a three day hike to and from site. After that, there was the matter of calling all of Angelo's contracts to inform them of his passing. Then she called the funeral home to discuss wishes that Angelo already had on paper. For a while, she even considered writing an elegant obituary, but gave up on it halfway through in favor of visiting her boss at the museum who tactfully suggested she take an extended break. Rei wondered vaguely if she would've been fired if not for her sizable donation. If the museum had chosen that course of action, Rei wouldn't have blamed them.
So, those were her excuses. They were good excuses, involving self-care and owning up to her responsibilities. But they were not the real reasons it took her so long.
