Read Online The Penalty Box by Deirdre Martin - Free Book Online

he replied curtly. He glanced around the emergency room with a shudder. “Let’s get out of here.”
    Katie walked out with him, glad to be free of the hospital’s oppressive atmosphere. Should she take his elbow and guide him to the car? He seemed to be walking all right.
    Pausing at the curb, Paul peered at the parking lot. “Which car is yours again?”
    â€œThe blue Neon.” He didn’t remember? Was he concussed?
    He turned to her, embarrassed. “Would you mind giving me a lift home?”
    She led him to her car, rushing to open the passenger door for him.
    â€œIt’s stitches , Katie,” Paul said with amusement as he ducked into the passenger seat. “I’m not an invalid.”
    â€œI was just trying to be nice,” she countered, closing the door. “I wasn’t going to let you jog home, was I?” Sliding into the driver’s seat, she turned on the ignition. “Where to?”
    â€œDover Street. One-fourteen.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œYou seem surprised.”
    â€œI am. I guess. I mean—”
    â€œYou thought I’d be living in Ladybarn, right?”
    Katie nodded. Paul was right. Her natural assumption was that he’d be living in the wealthiest part of town, the part he’d grown up in. Instead, he’d chosen a solidly middle-class neighborhood to call home. She wondered why. As if reading her mind, he said, “I didn’t want to run into my folks all the time.”
    â€œI see.” Throwing the car into drive, she eased out of the parking space and followed the winding, tree-lined road that led out of the hospital grounds. Dover Street . . . Dover Street . . .
    â€œMake the right onto Scudder, turn left down Laurel, follow it all the way to Dempsey, then make the final right onto Dover.”
    Katie glanced at him. “Did that blow to the head give you psychic powers?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen how did you know I was trying to figure out how to get there?”
    â€œYour face. You’re scowling. You looked pained.”
    â€œThat’s because I’m nervous,” Katie admitted, following his first instruction to make the right onto Scudder Road. “I’ve never driven with a celebrity before.”
    â€œFormer celebrity. Let’s get our terms right.” His gaze turned curious. “You weren’t nervous on the ride to the hospital.”
    â€œI was too busy thinking you were going to croak in my car.”
    Paul laughed loudly. “You would have had to get new seat covers!”
    â€œWhat, are you kidding me? I would have sold the car intact on eBay. Too bad there are no bloodstains or anything. Think of the value it would have added.”
    He laughed again. “You’re funny,” he said, as if it surprised him.
    And you’re nice , Katie thought, feeling equally surprised.
    Paul looked down at her bloody scarf crumpled in his hand. “You have to let me get you a new one.”
    Katie clucked her tongue dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”
    â€œNo, I insist.”
    â€œKeep it as a souvenir: ‘Baby’s first pedestrian accident. ’ ”
    Paul laughed again. “You’re a real wiseass, you know that?”
    â€œI try,” said Katie, marveling over the fact she was sitting in a car bantering with Paul van Dorn. Never in a million years could she have imagined this scene, nor how alive it made her feel. “If you don’t mind me asking, what were you thinking about so deeply that you jogged out in front of a car?”
    Paul slumped in his seat. “Youth hockey. I’m coaching this year.”
    â€œAnd this is bad because—?”
    â€œI’m coaching squirts.”
    â€œI don’t know what that means.”
    â€œYounger boys, nine- and ten-year-olds.”
    Katie smiled. “Maybe you’ll be coaching my nephew, then.”
    â€œIf he makes the