Addicted to Mr Parks (The Parks Series #2)(11)

The strange woman smiled warmly, her old brown eyes concerned for my wellbeing.

“My partner and I found you sleeping under a tree last night, darling. I couldn’t possibly leave you. The doctors have called your next of kin. She’s on her way. I told them I would stay with you until your aunt arrives.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. My head was spinning. I felt dazed. “The hangover from hell” was putting it lightly. I frowned. “I was sleeping against a tree?” I looked down at myself, confused as to why I was still dressed in last night’s clothes.

Before the woman could answer me, a young nurse pulled the curtains across and entered my space. She yanked out the clipboard at the bottom of my bed and glanced up at me. It wasn’t a look of concern, more a look of disgust, like I was wasting her time. She was wasting mine. I had no idea where I was and how I got here.

“Evelyn, I’m Nurse Faulkner. I’ve been looking after you for most of the night. How are you feeling?”

I looked around the cold, white room again. My memory seemed to have lost out on a day, and I hardly knew my own name. “What?” I rubbed at my aching forehead, willing my brain to remember. “Why am I here?”

The nurse couldn’t have been much older than me. Petite, slim, black hair that went well with her green eyes, and she was dressed in a light blue tunic. She placed the clipboard back into its slot at the end of the bed after she’d examined it.

“Alcohol poising,” she said. “You are extremely lucky Mrs. Watts here found you when she did. Evelyn, the consequences could have been a lot worse.”

She was telling me I had alcohol poisoning? No. I couldn’t have. “We have fitted an intravenous drip to top up your water, blood sugar, and vitamin levels. You’re quite lucky we didn’t have to pump your stomach.”

Pump my stomach? The nurse scribbled a few things on a board. “We will monitor you until your alcohol levels have dropped and blood levels are back to normal. Then you will be okay to go home and rest.”

“I need to go home now. Where’s my phone?” I tried to stand, but the nurse quickly came to my side to push me back into bed.

“You will have to wait until your relative arrives, Evelyn. I cannot let you go home by yourself.”

I quickly spotted my smartphone on the side table and grabbed at it. It was switched on, and I had numerous missed calls. It was then I saw it was six o’clock in the morning.

“Disorientated” was an understatement.

“You called my aunty?” My head felt too heavy to hold up, and my body and bones were shaking, even more so because under no circumstances did I want Cheryl to see me in a state.


The nurse nodded. “Yes, she should—”

“Evey?”

Shit. It was her. I sagged back down into the bed, praying to be taken out of the situation. Why oh why did I constantly put myself into turbulent scenarios? I was a hazard to myself.

Cheryl called my name again, until she walked past the open curtain, glanced in, and spotted me lying in the bed. Taking a step back, she looked into my room, gave me the once-over with her eyes, and inhaled a sharp breath through her nose. Her blonde hair was in its usual claw clip. Her eyes were red and puffy and her clothes baggy as if she’d just thrown anything on to be here by my side.

“You stupid, stupid girl,” she said.

My eyes closed on their own. I couldn’t look at her disappointment a minute longer. I would have rather slipped back into an alcoholic coma.

“I’ll give you a moment.” The nurse left, and Mrs. Watts spoke to Cheryl briefly before looking back over towards me to say good-bye.

“Listen, thank you for your help, Mrs. Watts. But I really didn’t need it. You should have left me where I was.”

“Evey,” Cheryl scolded me like I was a child, which made me grimace like one. “Thank you,” she told Mrs. Watts again before she left.

I was about to explain myself quickly, but Cheryl didn’t allow a word to escape from my mouth.

“I don’t want to hear it, Evey.” She shut me up, holding up her palm, so I snapped my mouth shut. “You told me you were sober. You told me you had your life together.” She pointed her finger towards me to enunciate her every word, and my gaze drifted back and forth between it and her mad eyes.

Swallowing what felt like razor blades, I tried to explain again. “I have—”

“I have to miss my daughter’s first ballet performance for this, Evey. Her heart is broken. It’s also broken because you promised her you’d be there.”

My swollen heart leaped into my mouth. Shamefully, I’d forgotten. “That’s today? Shit.” I forced myself to stand up even though it was painful. One hand was clutching at my head, the other holding my stomach. However, I ignored the aches and pains and how sick I felt because it was nowhere near as painful as imagining Darcy’s disappointed face or small broken heart. Ignoring the drip, I looked around for my shoes, trying to ignore Cheryl pushing me back onto the bed.

“Chez, we need to go.”

She pulled on my shoulders and forced me to look at her. “You think I’m going to let you near my daughter in this state?”

My head recoiled away from her sharp features and harsh words. “What?” I whispered.

She dropped her hands from my shoulders and turned her tired eyes away from me. “You need to sort yourself out before you even think about seeing my kids.” She pointed her finger in my face again, making me wince. “You lied to me. You told me you had your shit together.”