Presidents, Spies, and Boys, Oh My!

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Joshua left an hour later. After our kissing session, which the nurse walked in on, he announced he had to go, blushing fiercely. I laughed. I've never seen anyone blush so much in my life. His face was red as a tomato! After saying goodbye to me, he left. I felt sad that he left but giddy from kissing him. He likes me too! He likes me back! I felt like I was in seventh grade again and my life-long crush had asked me to a dance. The giddiness stayed with me for the rest of the day, putting me in an unusually cheerful move. 

My time in the hospital flew by. Joshua visited often. Ariana, Addy, Garret, Mrs. McGallen, and Jonathan (yes, he visited me more than once. Surprisingly) visited me. I healed a week before I was set to finish recovery, much to my doctor's and nurses shock, and was glad as hell when Addy and Garret came to pick me up. Since they're my legal guardians, they had to check me out of the hospital. Nobody else could. I'm not eighteen yet, but I will be. I was walking around fine, but Garret insisted on helping me anyway. It's best just to let him get it out of his system. When me and my foster siblings are concerned, he gets all parental and fatherly. I love him. He does it because he cares. Garret is, literally, the only father I've ever had. My real dad is unknown to me. 

I sat in the back of Addy's midnight blue Toyota sedan, watching the Virginia scenery go by. Garret sat in the driver's seat, watching the road carefully. Addy was reading something on her iPad, occasionally muttering to herself in Portuguese. My ribs no longer hurt and my concussion was long gone. I'm completely recovered. The doctor did suggest a few extra days of bed rest, only one or two, but I'm sick of bed rest. Honestly (and I might sound crazy for saying this) I want to get back to work. Guarding the McGallen family has been my favorite assignment...and not just because of the added bonus where Joshua is concerned. 

"Dad?" I said, turning to face Garret.

He met my gaze in the mirror on the windshield, keeping his eyes on the road and glancing back at me every few seconds.

"Yes, Ember?" he asked.

"Could we go home first? There's something I want to grab there."

I lied. Honestly, I just want to see my crazy "family". I haven't seen then since before my assignment to protect the McGallens. I miss them. I've been talking to them over phone calls and Skype and Facebook but it's not the same.

"Of course, honey. We can make a quick stop there." he said, turning off the highway to an exit that read Washington in big white letters on the green sign.

"Thanks." I leaned back into the white leather upholstery of the seats, closing my eyes.

My home isn't far. Maybe twenty minutes now. I barely slept last night because I was so excited I was being released. Tired. As. Hell. And, trust me, a tired Ember is a cranky Ember. All the time. There's a lot of things that piss me off, but only a few things make me cranky. When someone steals my food (I might just bite off your hand if you do that), not sleeping enough, and spiders. Those little bastards. It's not a problem finding a spider in my room. It's when the spider gets lost that World War Three officially begins. In my bedroom and only my bedroom. The last time I lost a spider in my bedroom, it looked like a nuclear bomb had exploded. Clothes, books, pencils, pens, papers, shoes, and the remains of my broken Miami snow globe were scattered everywhere. I eventually found the little shit sitting on the wall in my bedroom. JUST SITTING THERE IN PLAIN SIGHT AND NOT MOVING! I starting swearing so badly that Garret had to slap his hand over my mouth until I calmed down. I hate spiders. End of story.  

I dozed off into a short cat nap.