by Lexy Timms
“Come on, I want to hear all about this appreciation that you were going to shower me with,” I told him.
Daniel grinned and lay me back on the bed, beginning to kiss his way along my body. With each kiss, he complimented either my body or my work: “I like that you’re not afraid to make suggestions at work, even to guys who are decades older than you”; “I like this little freckle right here”; “I like that you’re so grateful to be here.”
My phone had quit ringing, but suddenly, the ringtone started again. “Ignore it,” I insisted. “Whoever it is, they’re probably just calling back to leave a message this time or something. Like, they didn’t know what they wanted to say the first time.”
Daniel smirked at me. “Something that you do a lot?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Sometimes,” I allowed. I trailed my fingers down his bare sides, trying to remind him of what we’d been in the middle of.
But my phone started going off again.
I sighed and closed my eyes briefly, ready to practically sob with how badly I didn’t need that call right now. I was enjoying myself, right here with Daniel, and it felt like we’d been working toward this for a long time. I wanted to get in that shower with him, and then I wanted to go down to the spa with him a little while later for that massage. I just wanted one weekend where I didn’t have to worry about everything else.
Because as much as I was happy about this relationship, there was definitely a high level of stress that came along with it. And not just because of the media. Like he had said, it was clear that I had been overworking myself as well. I knew I had been. There had been plenty of mornings lately when it was hard to get out of bed. But I wanted Daniel to see what I could do, and I wanted to prove it to the rest of the guys we did business with as well.
If any of them had seen the tabloids, I didn’t want them to think that the only reason Daniel had hired me was to look good around the office. If they underestimated me, that was their loss, but I needed to show them exactly what I was made of.
In retrospect, maybe that wasn’t the healthiest way to approach the situation. But at least I was taking this one weekend to relax and rejuvenate. I could figure out a new strategy on Monday when we went back to work.
Except that now, someone seemed intent on ruining this nice weekend together.
I frowned and headed over to where I had left my phone, frowning down at the screen. “It’s Leanne,” I told Daniel slowly. I wondered what she was calling for. I had told her that I was going to be away for the weekend, and even though I knew that she still didn’t approve of my relationship with Daniel, I doubted she was calling just to screw up my plans or to give me some sort of lecture.
No, there had to be a bigger reason. I felt my blood run cold, even before I had answered the phone and heard Leanne’s frantic tone of voice.
“Abby, thank god I reached you,” Leanne said immediately. “I’m at the hospital. Lakeshore.”
“What’s going on?” I asked immediately, already rummaging for clothes and beginning to get dressed. I barely noticed Daniel’s questioning look. Immediately, I was kicking myself for not answering the phone on the first ring, and for wondering even for the briefest of seconds if Leanne was just calling because she knew that I was away with Daniel and didn’t approve of my being there.
No, of course there was something much more important than that going on. I swallowed hard, feeling instantly sick to my stomach. Leanne and Matt and the two kids were my family. If something happened to any of them, I didn’t know what I would do.
“Matt was in an accident on his way to work this morning,” Leanne finally managed to choke out.
“Were the kids in the car?” was the first thing I could think to ask. Sometimes Matt dropped them off at various activities on his way in to work. God, what if it was all three of them?
“The kids were already at soccer camp for the day,” Leanne told me, and I felt a weight lift off my chest at that. But my heart plummeted even deeper when Leanne continued. “But Matt’s in surgery.”
There were a million things I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hear them over the phone. Was he okay? Was it bad? What exactly had happened? Did anyone else get injured, bystanders or the people in the other vehicle? Was there another vehicle?
But I’d ask all those questions in person. I had to be there for Leanne. She was my best friend, and Matt was my brother, and whatever romantic plans I’d had for the weekend, they all seemed so trivial now.
“I’m on my way,” I promised Leanne. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Chapter 17
Daniel
I HAD NEVER FELT FEAR even remotely like the fear I felt when I saw Abby turn white as a sheet. Whatever news she had just received from Leanne, it wasn’t good. I wanted to ask her what was going on. I wanted to pull her into my arms and comfort her. But I knew better than to try to do either of those things before she was off the phone with her friend.
Instead, I was left waiting as she finished up the call and simultaneously tried to pull on a pair of jeans. She finally hung up the phone, and I went hesitantly over to her. “What’s going on?” I asked gently.
Abby dashed tears away from her eyes, and I abruptly realized that I hated the universe for this. Not because our plans had been spoiled; I didn’t give a shit about that right now. But I hated that Abby was so upset. I hated that life had done this to her in the first place, whatever it was.
“My brother was in an accident on his way to work this morning,” Abby said, hiccupping on a sob. I wanted to pull her into my arms, but she was already flying around the suite, trying to find all of her things. “I have to pack—I have to get to the hospital. Leanne can’t go through this on her own.” She paused. “And the kids. Someone is going to need to pick up the kids after their soccer camp. I don’t know if they have any other activities today. Or should I call and get them out of camp early? I should have asked Leanne about that.”
“We’ll start by getting to the hospital. You can talk to her about that there,” I said soothingly. “Then you’ll be closer to the kids’ camp if you do need to pick them up anyway.”
“Right,” Abby said, nodding. She looked around at the mess she had made while she was on the phone and trying to wrestle out clean clothes one-handed. “Fuck, I need to get this packed back up. I need to go.”
I finally stepped closer to her, catching her hands. This frantic, frenzied Abby was starting to scare me. She was still thinking through things so logically that it almost hurt. But at the same time, it was so clear how scared she really was.
“Abby,” I said firmly, giving her hands a little shake. She froze, staring up at me. “Breathe.” Slowly, she took a shuddering breath, showing me that she was listening. I reached one of my hands up to lightly cup her cheek, trying to convey an absolute gentleness that I hoped would calm her down a little.
“We have the room booked for the whole weekend,” I reminded her. “So you don’t need to worry about your things. Just leave them here. Finish getting dressed, and I’ll get us to the hospital. Okay?”
Abby nodded, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment, her lashes brushing against my skin. “Okay,” she said quietly, and I could hear the tears in her voice.
I wanted to pull her even closer, to tell her that it was okay to cry, to tell her to get it all out. But I knew that she wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible, and I knew that she would hate herself for causing some sort of emotional delay.
She wanted to be there for Leanne, even when her own heart must be hurting so badly. I had to admire that in her.
We both dressed in record time, and she let me hold her hand as we walked down to the car. I held it the whole way to the hospital as well.
“I’m just scared,” Abby admitted quietly as we drove along. I glanced over, but she was looking out the window. “I don’t know what’s going on with him. Leanne said that he’s in surgery, but I don’t even know what kind
of surgery it is or how bad his condition really is. I didn’t want to ask any of that over the phone. But I hate not knowing.”
“I get that,” I said softly. I squeezed her hand lightly. “But I’m sure that everything will be fine.”
“What if it’s not, though?” Abby’s voice was small, almost child-like in its worry.
I looked over at her, and this time, she was looking back at me. “Then I’ll be here for you,” I promised her. I knew it wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, but it was the only thing I knew to offer.
And from the way some of the worry cleared off Abby’s face, I had to assume that for right then, it was enough.
Chapter 18
Abby
I WANTED TO FULL-OUT run into the hospital when we got there, but Daniel held me close to him with an arm around my shoulders. I knew he was probably right to do that. No sense causing a scene. This wasn’t the movies. And the receptionists would be more likely to help me if I showed I was reasonable rather than hysterical. No one needed a crazy lady running around the hospital.
Plus, there was a certain amount of comfort to be had from the warmth of Daniel’s body against mine. He had been so good, ever since I had gotten off the phone with Leanne. Every time I started to feel overwhelmed, I just had to look over at him, see how calm he looked, despite the worry that I could see reflected in his eyes too. He would make sure that things worked out. I was sure of it.
I couldn’t thank him enough for this, really.
With all these thoughts going through my head, by the time we got to the reception desk at the hospital, I couldn’t even think of what to say. I didn’t even know what kind of surgery Matt was in for; how could they possibly tell me where he was? Should I ask for him by name? Was Leanne maybe waiting somewhere out here? Were there different sections of the ER? I had never been to the hospital for something like this before; I just had no idea what to do.
But Daniel saved the day again. “Hi,” he said to the woman behind the desk. “We’re looking for Abby’s brother. He came in this morning from a car accident, and his wife told Abby that he’s in surgery right now.”
Immediately, the woman was giving him directions to the section of the hospital that Matt would be in. I felt another weight lift off my shoulders. “Thank you,” I said to Daniel as he steered me down the hallway.
Daniel squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it,” he said to me.
We found Leanne quickly, and I immediately threw myself toward her. The kids were there as well, and I could tell that Leanne had her tough face on for the kids. But I could also see the cracks around the edges. She was about to crumble.
I was terrified to ask the question, but I knew I had to. I caught her hands, pulling her a little ways away from the kids. “How is he?” I asked in an undertone.
“He’s still in surgery, so we don’t really know,” Leanne admitted. “He had some internal bleeding from the crash. None of it was his fault, even. Some idiot ran a red light. That was it. And Matt just happened to be there in the intersection at the time.” She drew in a ragged breath, and I pulled her into a hug.
“He’s going to be all right,” I said fiercely. I wasn’t sure whether I really believed it myself, despite Daniel’s assurances on the way over there, but I knew that I had to be strong for Matt’s family. Leanne was already upset enough without me getting hysterical as well.
“How do you know that, though?” Leanne asked balefully.
“Because I know my brother,” I told her simply. “And Matt’s a fighter. He knows that he has to be here for you and the kids. He’ll fight for this.”
Leanne’s lower lip wobbled, and she buried herself back in my arms, sobs shaking her body. “I hope you’re right,” she whispered. “God, I hope you’re right.”
“It’s okay,” I told her, stroking her back. “Everything’s going to be all right.” I could feel tears pricking my own eyes, but I forced them back. Now wasn’t the time. I’d have a cry of my own later, away from here. Right now, I just wanted to give Leanne all the comfort I could.
She finally pulled away from me, and I suddenly remembered that the kids were there as well. They must have been so frightened being here, and seeing their mom go to pieces probably wasn’t helping things. But when I turned around, I saw that Daniel had arranged things so that the kids were sitting on the ground facing him. Zachary was giggling at something Daniel had just said, and even Layla had a smile on her face, although she still looked nearly as worried as her mom.
I went over and sat in a chair next to them, looking down and the kids and putting a hand on Layla’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.
“What are you three talking about?” I asked them, trying to keep my tone light.
Zach giggled. “Daniel was just telling us a funny story about you!” he announced.
I blinked in surprise and then smiled. “Oh, is he now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at Daniel.
“He says you walked into a wall at work!” Layla added, her grin widening.
I blushed and shook my head. “It was a wall made of windows,” I said. “But you’re right—silly Auntie Abby wasn’t looking where she was going.”
The kids laughed harder at that. I gave Daniel a grateful look and mouthed a thank-you to him, and he nodded at me. I could tell from his quizzical look that he was wondering if I was okay, or if Matt was okay, but I didn’t want to talk about that in front of the kids, and he seemed to get that.
“You know, Zach was just telling me that he’s got a loose tooth,” he said, to change the subject.
“Yeah!” Zach exclaimed, like he couldn’t believe that he had forgotten to tell me. He opened his mouth and proudly showed me the wiggling denture.
“Oh wow, I bet the tooth fairy is going to love that one for her castle,” I told Zach.
Zach rolled his eyes and turned to Daniel. “I’m too old to believe in the tooth fairy,” he confided in a stage whisper.
“Oh really?” Daniel asked in wry amusement. He leaned in close, looking pointedly at Layla. “But just because you don’t believe in the tooth fairy, it doesn’t mean that other people don’t either, does it?”
Zach frowned like he was going to say something, but then he clearly understood what Daniel was saying. He looked chagrined. “I mean, she still comes to take my teeth every time,” he admitted. “So maybe she’s a real fairy, I don’t know. But I tried to stay awake for her last time, and I didn’t get to see her.”
“Well, that’s because she’s just so itty-bitty tiny that you couldn’t see her with your human eyes,” Daniel said. “You need a magnifying glass for that.”
“What’s a magnifying glass?” Zach asked, and I was glad to hear that the kids were totally distracted from the strange circumstances.
“It’s what Sherlock Holmes uses when he needs to see things close up,” Daniel said, miming looking through one of the instruments.
“Oh,” Zach said. He frowned but seemed to take what Daniel said at face value.
Layla finally took her fingers out of her mouth. “Are you our new uncle?” she asked.
“Layla!” I sputtered, feeling my cheeks heat with a horrible blush. I looked past the kids to see Leanne smiling sadly at us. She gave me a small shrug. I didn’t know what to say.
But again, Daniel saved the day. “Nope, I’m not your new uncle,” he said to Layla. “You would know if I was because there would have been a great big party to celebrate it.”
“Oh,” Layla said, frowning. She cocked her head to the side. “That’s sad because Aunt Abby could use a husband.”
Daniel looked like he wanted to laugh. “Oh yeah?” he asked with mock seriousness. “And what makes you say that?” He looked over at me, his eyes still serious. “Because from everything I know about your Aunt Abby, I’d say that she’s perfectly capable of living on her own. She’s smart and she’s great at business. She doesn’t need me.”
I couldn’t stop staring at him for a moment, but t
hen I became aware of the fact that Leanne, as well as the two kids, were staring at the two of us. I had to say something. I forced a grin onto my face. “Clearly I do need you since you’re the one who gave me the ride over here,” I joked.
Daniel laughed and put a hand on my knee. “It’s good to know that I’m good for something,” he said, winking at the kids even though they probably didn’t understand the joke.
He started chatting with the kids about school and their soccer camp, distracting them again, and I couldn’t help glancing over at Leanne. She raised an eyebrow at me, and I could tell from her expression that as soon as the drama with Matt was over, as soon as he was stable (because I had to believe that he would be stable again, and soon hopefully), Leanne and I were going to have a long chat about this.
I was almost worried about it. I didn’t know what she would say about my being here with him. She had to know that when she called me in the middle of our weekend trip, I would be with him. That he might show up with me. And she hadn’t told me not to bring him. I had to wonder, though, if I had done the right thing. The kids were at such an impressionable age; wasn’t it weird for me to just show up here with some guy they might never see again? Even if we were quick to tell them that Daniel was just a friend of mine.
Because not only that, but wasn’t there still the chance that some of the paparazzi would find us here? The last thing I wanted was to end up the subject of another series of tabloid speculations about how Daniel was there for me in my time of need, how he was there for my whole family. But even more than that, I didn’t want the kids to end up caught up in any sort of press.
This could backfire on all of us.
I took a deep breath, though. There was no way for the press to have found us here. There was no reason for Daniel to be here right now. And he had all but disappeared for the weekend, that’s what he had led me to believe with the penthouse that we’d been staying in. If we’d been in the clear there, then we had to assume that we were in the clear here.
