Baby, It's Cold Outside (Romance From a Male POV) (Fire & Ice)
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Fire & Ice Book 2
Romance From a Male POV
Carter is living a perfect life until his girlfriend’s accident wipes out the memories of the last two years of her life. He’s got to make sure she remembers their past so that they can have a chance of a
happily-ever-after in their future.
A romance novel from the hero’s point of view.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Fire & Ice Book 2
Romance From a Male POV
Genevieve Jourdin
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Prologue as Epilogue
Chapter One
I heard the alarm on my phone ring and sat up to turn it off before rolling over.
“Juss, wake up.” She didn’t budge so I shook her shoulder lightly. “Baby, come on.” I was on concussion watch, worried now, and about to get loud when her eyelids opened a crack.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s been two hours. How are you feeling?” Relief that she was awake flooded me.
“Two hours? What’s going on?”
“Don’t you remember what happened?” Shit, she probably did have a concussion.
“Uh, not really. Did we go out drinking?”
I don’t know where that came from; we had never gone out drinking. “No. You slipped getting out of the shower and hit your head on the toilet. You wouldn’t go to the hospital so Dad told me to keep an eye on you.” I realized now that I should have put my foot down and made her go in.
“Where is Cheryl?”
“At home. Do you want me to call her?” She didn’t answer me so I offered her some water.
“Thanks.” I handed it to her and she drank half the glass.
“Does your head hurt at all?”
“Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?”
What the hell? “Where else am I supposed to be?”
“Carter, this is my house. I think it’s time you left.”
Oh god, she may have brain damage. “Do you know your name?” I tried to sound calm for her.
“Justine, duh, what’s your problem? How did you get in here?”
“I’m going to call Dad, just hang on a sec.” I hoped she didn’t hear the fear in my voice since that would surely make things worse.
“What do you think you’re doing? Don’t call your dad. How do you think you’re going to explain being here?” She was trying to take the phone from me so I moved out of her reach.
“Just calm down, don’t get over excited, my dad will know what to do.” I wasn’t sure, but this didn’t sound like a normal concussion side effect.
“What’s wrong, Carter?” My dad was already in doctor mode and it made me feel better instantly.
“Hey Dad, sorry to call so late, but something’s wrong with Juss. She doesn’t remember tonight and she asked me what I was doing in her house.”
“Not a problem, I’m still at the hospital. Is she having any double vision?”
“No, she hasn’t mentioned that, hold on.” I turned back to Justine.
“Juss, are you having any trouble with your vision?” She looked frightened, but she shook her head.
“She’s not having any trouble seeing but she’s totally confused. I don’t know what to do.”
“Bring her in. She needs to get checked out. I’ll meet you in the ER.”
“Okay, yeah, I’m going to bring her right now. Thanks, bye.” I hung up and put on my most relaxed expression. I didn’t need her to freak out any more than necessary. “Dad said we should go down to the hospital. It sounds like you might have a concussion.”
“Hospital? I don’t have a concussion. My head doesn’t even hurt.” She started poking herself. “See? I’m fine.” Just before I reached out to pull her hand down she squealed. “Ahhg.” She dropped her arm and I scooted closer to her.
“Come on, sweetie; let’s get you down there so they can check you out.”
“I am not going to the hospital, I just need some Tylenol and I’ll be just fine.” I could tell by her breathing that she was losing it, but when I saw her start to flail around I realized she was having a panic attack. I leaned close to her face and I gently took her in my arms.
“Just breathe. It’s okay, everything will be all right. Calm down. I’m going to get you a cold towel. Hang on.” She hadn’t had an attack in several months. I got up to get her a wet towel, and that seemed to bring her back down a little when I held it to the back of her neck.
I held it there until she reached up and touched my arm. “Okay, I’m cool.” She sounded slightly better so I removed the towel and stood up.
“I’m serious; we have to get to the hospital.” I could see in her face she wanted to argue with me but this time I was standing firm. I picked up her cross trainers from next to the bed.
“Those aren’t my shoes.”
I looked down. Yep, they were hers. “You don’t remember your shoes?” I knew we couldn’t wait around here a second longer. “Come on we have to go. You can put them on while I drive.” I picked her up and carried her out to my truck. She hadn’t moved by the time I got in myself, so after I belted us in and squeezed her hand.
“It’ll be okay, Juss.” I pulled out of the driveway and sped toward the hospital. After I parked I ran around and scooped Justine back into my arms. She still hadn’t put on her shoes so I picked them up, and carried her into the emergency room.
“Excuse me. I have a head injury here.”
“Okay, fill these out and we’ll be right with you.” The nurse handed me some forms and gave Juss the once-over. “I’ll go get a chair.” I walked over to the row of seats and sat down, balancing her on my lap. She was being incredibly docile now, and while part of me was relieved the other part of me was anxious. This wasn’t like Justine at all. I would have preferred her griping about embarrassing her or something.
The nurse was back before I had filled in even one of the pages. I didn’t have her insurance card on me, and that was the second thing they asked for.
“Let’s get you in here and see what’s what.”
My dad came through the doors just as I stood to put Juss in the wheelchair. “Justine, how are you feeling?” She didn’t answer him so he went on, “What do you remember about tonight?”
“Well, okay I guess. Carter woke me up, and then he called you. I’m sorry he dragged you down here. I really don’t know what’s going on with him.” She made it sound like I was creating drama out of thin air.
“Don’t worry about that. I had a delivery to attend to a couple of hours ago. I’m glad Carter caught me before I left. Let’s go into the exam room so we can check things out.” I followed my dad, pushing Justine’s wheelchair into a small room where he had Justine get up on the table. He pulled out his pen light to check her pupils.
“Ow. That’s too bright.” She
was squinting and leaning away from him.
“Justine, we’re going to have to take some tests just to make sure you don’t have any bleeding or swelling.” Just then, another doctor walked into the room. “Carter, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to step out now.”
I wanted to argue with him but I could see he wasn’t going to budge so I walked back out to the lobby and flopped down on the chair next to Justine’s shoes to wait for information.
Chapter Two
Dad got paged back to deliver another baby a few minutes later, and the ER doctor had called down a neurologist. I hadn’t gotten any information since. I had moved from my chair in the waiting room to my dad’s office at about five a.m., when I realized they had taken Justine upstairs. Dad finally walked in at seven thirty.
“I checked on Justine before I came in, they’re moving her to a room right now. Give them a few minutes to settle her in and you can go up there.”
“How is she, Dad?” I was almost afraid to ask. They had been with her so long that I feared it was something bad.
“She’s got a contusion on the right side of her head and there’s a small amount of swelling on her brain.” Dad sat down next to me on the couch.
“Is that what’s causing the confusion?” Swelling on her brain? I felt sick.
“Yes, but that will likely clear up after she gets a little rest and the swelling goes down.” Dad leaned back on the couch and shut his eyes. I was sorry he was tired but I would call him again in the same situation.
I sat there, counting the seconds until I could go to Justine. I just needed to see for myself that she was all right.
After about twenty minutes my dad’s phone rang. He spoke for a few seconds and wrote something down.
“Okay Carter, she’s in room 417. You can go up, but she’s sleeping. I’ll come by and check in on her later.”
“Thanks Dad.” I hugged him and grabbed Justine’s shoes from the floor in front of the couch. I called my sister Cheryl and told her what happened while I made my way to the room and quietly slipped in. Juss was hooked up to a monitor on her left side so I went around to her injured side.
She didn’t move as I stroked the side of her face, and I leaned down and gave her a light kiss. I felt wiped. After all the drama last night and then this morning I was ready to crash. I put her shoes in the tiny cupboard and sat down in the chair next to the bed. It was surprisingly comfortable.
The next thing I knew I could hear Justine moving around so I opened my eyes and sat up. She was looking for something.
“What do you need, baby?”
“I really need my phone. I want to call Cheryl.” What did she need to call Cheryl for? She couldn’t have been awake but for a minute.
“I’m sorry; I left your bag at home. I already called Cheryl, though. She’ll be here a little later. Do you want to use mine?”
“Carter, why are you here? Why were you at my house in the middle of the night? God, I don’t even remember last night.” What the hell was she talking about?
“I love you. Where else would I be? Obviously I’ll stay until we find out you’re all right.” Did she think I would leave her here to wake up by herself?
“Carter, you’re freaking me out. Don’t tell me you love me. That’s just weird. Why were you at my house last night?” Something was very wrong here. She was looking at me like I was the one acting crazy.
“Justine, what are you talking about? Of course I know you, of course I love you. We live together.” I picked up her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze but before I could she jerked it away.
“Don’t say that. We don’t live together. Are you crazy? You. Don’t. Live. With. Me.” Oh shit. This was worse than I thought. My heart started pounding. I needed to get someone in here to help her.
“I’m calling the doctor. Just calm down.” I walked out of the room as calmly as I could, but as soon as I hit the hallway I bolted down to the nurse’s station.
“I need a doctor in room 417 please,” I told the first nurse I saw.
She snapped to attention. “What’s the problem?”
“My girlfriend is having trouble remembering things. She suffered a head injury last night.”
“Oh yes, that’s Dr. Turner’s patient. He’s coming down the hall right now.” She pointed to a man walking down the hallway while looking at a file.
“Thank you.” I turned and met him before he made it to the nurse’s station. “Dr. Turner, I’m Carter Ross, you’re treating my girlfriend Justine Taylor.”
“What can I do for you?”
“She doesn’t remember me. Well, she remembers me but not that we’re involved. She doesn’t even realize we live together. She’s freaking out. Can you please take a look at her?”
“Absolutely. How long has she been awake?” he asked as we made our way back to the room.
“About five minutes.” We arrived at the room and I saw Justine sitting up in the bed.
She looked up at the doctor then at me. “Carter, could I please get some privacy?” I nodded to Justine and left the room.
I stood out in the hallway for a few minutes before Dr. Turner came back out.
“How is she?”
His face had a strange expression. “She’s showing signs of retrograde amnesia.”
“Amnesia? But she knew me. She knew my dad last night. I don’t understand.” My words came out harsher than I was intending. I had to calm down. Justine needed me right now.
“Apparently, Justine believes it is July 2010.” What? “She’s very agitated. I need to set up some more tests. Can you go sit with her or call someone to stay with her until I can get back? I don’t want her working herself up any more than necessary.”
“Of course. I’ll call her mother.” He nodded and walked away while I pulled out my phone and found Gloria’s number.
“Hello?” she asked hesitatingly. I didn’t talk to Gloria that often, and frankly, neither did Justine.
“Gloria, this is Carter. Ross,” I added to make sure she knew who I was.
“Oh, good morning, Carter. How are you?”
“I’m at the hospital with Justine. She fell last night and injured her head.”
“Oh my god. Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s conscious; I just thought you should be aware of what happened.”
“Thank you. Should I drive up there? Is she going to be there for a while?” Wow. Gloria was stepping up to the plate. Unexpected.
“That would be great. I know Justine would appreciate that. She’s at General.” She so wouldn’t appreciate that, but I wasn’t going to tell her no.
“I’ll get myself together and head out. Thanks for letting me know, Carter.”
“No problem, Gloria. Drive safely.” I took a deep breath before opening the door to Justine’s room. I didn’t know what I was going to find.
“Carter, tell me the truth,” she demanded. “Is it 2012? Give me your phone.” I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to her. She grabbed it and pressed around on the screen.
“Yes Justine, it’s 2012. Listen, I called your mom, she’ll be coming in a few hours. She’s leaving right now. Cheryl will be here soon, too. Your neurologist is setting up some more tests. He said he’d be back to talk with you shortly. Is there anything I can get for you?” I plucked my phone out of her hand that was lying limply on the bed.
“You said we lived together? As roommates or…” she left the sentence hanging so I stepped in.
“We’ve been living together for almost seven months. As a couple. We’ve been together for about a year and a half. About as long as Just Add Heat.”
“Just add heat? How did we get together? I hardly ever even spend any time with you.” She was firing off the words so fast I was afraid she was about to hyperventilate.
“You write a food blog. It’s very popular. You try foods at restaurants and then dissect them, recreate them by spicing them up, and post recipes and videos. That’s what we were going to do
last night; you wanted to try out the Thai place for new dishes.” There wasn’t a bit of recognition in her eyes. This was worse than I thought. She didn’t remember anything.
“What about my job? Did anyone call them and tell them I’m in here? I think I’m supposed to work tonight.”
“Justine, the website is your job. You haven’t worked at the restaurant for more than a year. When you started getting popular, you started making enough on advertising to quit your job and do the site full time. You also do a web show. Right now you’re working on a cookbook.” I was willing her to remember something, anything.
She didn’t show any sign of remembering her career, but picked up on something I said minutes ago. “We’ve been together for a year and a half? Together together? How did that happen? No offence, but you’re young. Too young. You’re just out of school.”
No way we were back to that. My age was a big problem for her when I first asked her out. That and the fact that I was Cheryl’s brother. I had to work the charm to get her to say yes to a date.
“I finished school two and a half years ago. I’m a graphic artist at Webster and James, the advertising firm. We started going out last April, after we spent time setting up your website and getting it off the ground. You came to me for some help with the layout. Do remember that at all?”
She shook her head and I sighed. I didn’t know what else to say, but I knew it wasn’t the time to press my case. Luckily, there was a tap on the door. Cheryl was here.
“I fed Lucy, she gobbled up everything. I also fed Fred and Ethel since I wasn’t sure when Carter was going to go back home. Are you feeling okay?” she strolled in without any preamble.
“Cheryl. What did you do to your hair?” Justine blurted out.
“Nothing. We were talking about this the other day, remember, I was looking through those magazines to find a new style?” She touched her hair self-consciously.
“She has some kind of amnesia. She thinks it’s 2010. She doesn’t remember her website or last night. Or me.” I hated even saying the words out loud. It made it more real.