“I didn’t have a choice,” Avery said.
Kimberly tilted her head to the side with a faint smile. “You know how I feel about that, but your choice is your choice. I just think Carter always assumed you would come back to him. We all did. Once he gets some joy in his life, his anger will subside.”
“I thought Julia was going to be that,” Avery said. She could tell what Kimberly was thinking from the expression on her face. “Before you say anything, no, I’m not happy that he’s with her or anyone else, but I want him to be happy and I thought—”
“No, you didn’t,” Kimberly said. “You know he never loved her. Everyone knows. Hell, she knows. Julia is all about hurting you and making him feel better. Carter isn’t going to find happiness until he makes it for himself, genuinely. A loveless marriage is only going to spread the pain.”
Avery didn’t know what to think. Sometimes she found herself so insanely jealous over the idea of Julia becoming Mrs. Carter Chase. Other times, she just wanted Carter to be happy with Julia so he would stop being so mad at her. The kiss they shared yesterday made her angry and left her excited in ways that Anthony, even when they were having sex, never could. The kiss made her remember what it felt like to want to be devoured.
“This is just such a mess,” Avery said just as a young woman with short red hair approached their table with a disagreeable-looking Evan in tow.
“What did he do, Rachel?” Kimberly asked as soon as the club day care assistant approached.
“Sorry to interrupt you, Mrs. Chase.”
“Ms. Chase,” she corrected.
“Sorry.” Rachel kept her saccharine, Disneyland smile without fail. “Ms. Chase, Evan is saying that he isn’t feeling well.”
“Again?” Kimberly asked, looking at her son, who kept his face looking downward at his shifting feet. “Come here.”
He stepped over to her, and Kimberly reached her palm to his forehead. Expecting to feel nothing, she was surprised to feel a little heat but wasn’t sure if that wasn’t from running around. She cupped his chin with her hand and lifted his face to hers.
“You sick for real, baby?”
Evan nodded slowly.
“Okay, love.” Kimberly sighed as she pulled him to her and hugged him before looking up at Rachel. “Can you please get his brother?”
“Right away,” Rachel answered, and shot off.
Avery could see that Kimberly was concerned. “Do you think it’s serious?”
Kimberly shrugged. “I’m sure it’s just a regular fever, but I’m going to take him home and make an appointment with Dr. Brown as soon as possible. I hope you don’t mind if I cut this short.”
“Of course not.” Avery looked down at Connor, who was squirming around but still fast asleep. She knew what it meant to be a mother with a sick little one. Nothing could be more upsetting.
“Follow me s’il vous plait,” said the French host as he led Leigh through Bastide’s dining room.
Leigh hated how much she cared about the way she looked. After telling Max’s office that she would meet him for dinner, Leigh spent the rest of her time wondering what she would wear. She didn’t want to give him the impression she was trying to impress or look sexy for him, but it was one of the most expensive restaurants in L.A. and had a dress code, and if she went out of her way to not look nice, he would know that she was doing it on purpose. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of the truth.
She had settled on a fitted bodice gray twist dress with a sheath silhouette and neck twist. She accented it with a black belt. It was soft and slid against her skin with ease without hugging any curves too tight.
She took her mind off of what she looked like for the first time when she realized the host was leading her past all of the patrons, and they were heading for another room.
“Are there more tables back there?” Leigh asked.
“Private dining is back here, mademoiselle.” He opened the door and stepped aside so she could walk in.
When Leigh stepped in the doorway, she was a little confused. There was nothing private about this back area. There were people walking all over the place.
“Dr. Chase.” Max seemed to come out of nowhere as he made his way to her with a glass of wine in his hand.
Leigh tried to smile kindly, but not too kindly, as he approached.
“I’m glad you could make it,” he said. “You look beautiful.”
Leigh brushed aside the bit of pleasure his compliment brought her. “So glad I could make it? Your office told you I agreed to meet you for dinner, right?”
“No.” He gestured for a passing waiter to come over and retrieved a glass of wine. “I guess they never got to me. Wine?”
Confused, Leigh took the glass without thinking. “Then what are you doing here?”
It wasn’t until then that she realized he was wearing a suit—but it was an office suit. She looked around the room and noticed that everyone in the room was wearing suits. When it hit her how wrong she’d been, she immediately became horrified at the prospect that Max could figure out her mistake. She only hoped that he wouldn’t notice, but she was too late.
“Dr. Chase.” Max spoke through laughter. “Did you think this was a private dinner invitation?”
“I…” Leigh was too caught off guard to come back with a safe response. “I just…”
“Well, you certainly fancy yourself, don’t you?” he asked.
Her face was taut and strained as she looked at him. “It was an easy mistake.”
“If you say so.” Max shrugged. “You’re more entertaining than I thought.”
“Entertaining?” Leigh asked. “Am I here for your entertainment?”
“Don’t be mad at me,” Max said. “You’re the one who read the message wrong. I sent that same invite to everyone here. No one else thought so highly of themselves to assume it was a date.”
“I didn’t assume it was a date,” she lied. “I just didn’t know other people would be here.”
“Don’t get so upset,” he said. “I’m flattered.”
“Don’t be,” she quickly shot back. “I wasn’t coming because I wanted a date. I was coming despite thinking you wanted one. I’m very serious about this bill, and I was only coming for that.”
Max quickly looked her up and down, not lingering in any one spot long enough to be offensive. “This is what you usually wear to lobbying events? I can’t imagine anyone saying no to you in that.”
Leigh wanted to slap him now. “Are you finished having jokes at my expense?”
His eyes grew openly amused. “I think I have a few more in me.”
“Well I hope you enjoy telling them to yourself.” Leigh turned to leave.
“Dr. Chase, please.” Max reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t leave.”
Leigh jerked her shoulder away from his touch, but she did turn around. “You may not have meant for this to be a private dinner, but you clearly don’t mean for it to be a serious one, so there is no need for me to be here.”
“Even if you could talk to Alan Bud?”
Leigh looked at Max to see if he was serious, then looked around the room. “The governor’s chief of staff is here?”
Max nodded. “I was just talking to him five seconds ago. Him and Ned Artus.”
Leigh immediately recognized the name of the head of pediatrics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “Where?”
Max pointed to the right corner of the room. “He’s over there talking to Anna Wagner, CEO of Pacifica Health Insurance. She’s the one who implemented the free flu shot initiative at schools across the West Coast, right?”
Leigh couldn’t hide her enthusiasm. “I have to talk to her.”
“There are a lot of health care power brokers here, Leigh. That’s why I invited you.” He took a sip of his wine.
All was forgiven as Leigh realized the treasure trove of health care professionals before her. She turned to Max with a smile as apologetic as she could
muster and still have some pride.
“I’m very happy you invited me,” she said.
“So you’re going?”
Leigh wasn’t sure how long Kelly had been standing behind her, but when she turned around, the woman was barely a foot away. “Excuse me?”
“You said you’re happy he invited you.” Kelly’s expression was flat. “So you’re coming to Africa.”
Leigh turned back to Max, who had a look of disappointment on his face. “Kelly, can you give me and Dr. Chase a moment?”
Kelly huffed before walking away.
“Africa?” Leigh asked.
“I was going to wait until you had happily talked to a lot of people and maybe had a glass of wine or two before asking,” Max said. “But, yes, I am going to Nairobi to review and assess our health care–related programs in caring for the thousands of Somali refugees living there now. I’m doing it on behalf of the president, not California.”
“Doing what, exactly?” Leigh asked.
“Assessing their success, worth, and value, among other things.”
“Worth and value?” Leigh asked. “Isn’t that just another way of saying you’re looking for reasons to explain cutting the funding?”
Max pointed his finger at her. “You are a very suspicious one, Doctor.”
“You’re going to go and get publicity shots to add to your political portfolio and come back recommending the government slash aid to needy Africans in half.”
“If you haven’t noticed, Leigh, money to take care of Americans is sparse. You can’t expect us to cut that before we cut money spent abroad.”
“It’s Dr. Chase,” she corrected. “And, no, I wouldn’t expect you to, but I imagine this president is going to have a higher standard than you.”
“Ouch.” His brows drew together in an agonized expression. “Despite what you think, Dr. Chase, I’m a human being, and I actually want to do an honest assessment. That is why I wanted to invite you. You’ve been to Kenya, and you have a unique perspective. You can help me do what’s right.”
Leigh couldn’t help but be tempted. It was a great opportunity to prove him wrong and protect much-needed international programs. This was what she wanted. She would have to check to make sure this trip was on the up-and-up, but how could she refuse an opportunity to have such a direct effect on a report going straight to the president?
“I’ll need some time,” Leigh said. “I’ll have to—”
“You don’t have time,” Max said. “We’re leaving tomorrow.”
When Avery heard a banging sound, she rushed from the kitchen into the living room. Connor was safely in her playpen, so Avery was worried that Anthony had fallen. It hadn’t happened in a while, but it was always a danger.
But when she rushed into the room, she saw Anthony sitting in the La-Z-Boy situated across from the television. His wheelchair was right next to him.
“Are you okay?” Avery asked.
“I’m fine,” he answered, reaching for the remote on the coffee table next to him.
Avery noticed he sounded out of breath, but she also remembered something. The second after she entered the room, something had caught her eye; she let it pass out of concern for Anthony, but his quick breathing brought it back.
The sofa had decompressed. While being firm, it was made to conform to the shape of whatever pressed against it. Once you got up, the sofa had an indentation of your shape. It slowly decompressed and came back to its natural form. It happened so often that Avery almost didn’t notice it, but something about Anthony’s voice bothered her.
Why was he out of breath? The only time Anthony was breathless was when he was doing his upper-body exercises, but he hadn’t been doing those. Had he? Wondering about this was what brought the decompression of the sofa back to mind. It was no longer indented, but Avery thought it had been the shape of something small, like a hand, and it was three feet away from where Anthony was sitting.
“What was that noise?” she asked.
“A book fell off the end table,” Anthony said, gesturing toward the other end of the sofa.
Avery walked over to the book and placed it back on the table. She threw her ridiculous thoughts aside and went over to her baby. She got on her knees outside the playpen and held her arms out, but Connor was too preoccupied with a set of mini-soccer balls to notice.
“Come on, sweetie,” she said. “You should have been to bed an hour ago.”
“I thought I asked for some dessert an hour ago,” Anthony said.
Avery kept her back to him. “I’m tired, Anthony. Just get some ice cream from the refrigerator.”
“So you would like me to spend the next half hour trying to get a pint of ice cream from the kitchen when you could do it in a couple of minutes?”
“Come to Mama,” she cooed.
Connor dropped the ball in her hand and let out a loud yawn. She leaned over and reached for her favorite toy, her black Baby Stella doll. She wouldn’t go anywhere without that….
As Avery reached for the doll in order to lure her daughter to her, it suddenly struck her that only an hour ago, she had taken Baby Stella away from Connor as punishment for a tantrum. Connor wanted her pacifier, but Avery was weaning her off of them and wouldn’t give it to her. Connor threw Baby Stella at Avery in a fit. Immediately after, she grunted her demand for Baby Stella, and as punishment, Avery took the doll and placed it on the third shelf of the walled bookcase.
So how did it get back in the playpen? She looked over at the bookcase and gauged its height. It was possible for Anthony to reach it if he tried very hard. Wasn’t it?
“Avery?” Anthony’s tone was impatient. “I’m still waiting.”
Avery picked up Connor, with Baby Stella in hand. She had to be crazy to think what she was thinking. No, she wasn’t crazy; she was just tired. Her mind was playing tricks on her. She had to have given Connor her Baby Stella back at some time but just forgot about it. Anything else would just be impossible.
“I’ll get your ice cream,” she said, heading toward the kitchen.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Kimberly said as she kissed her son on his cheek.
Evan was cringing as the nurse drew his blood. He hated needles, and it killed Kimberly to see him in pain. She cradled his face to her chest with one hand and gently rubbed his head with the other.
“That’s all,” the nurse said in a sweet voice as she pressed against his arm with a cotton ball. She quickly covered the cotton with a Batman Band-Aid. “That wasn’t so bad.”
Evan responded with a grunt as he leaned into his mother.
Just as the nurse was leaving, Dr. Brown entered the room. He was one of the best pediatricians on the entire West Coast, and he had cared for Daniel and Evan since they were born. They had both become attached to him, and Kimberly found him, a black man who had lifted himself from the L.A. projects to the Ivy League and graduated at the top of his medical school class, an inspiration. It was hard to get an appointment with him earlier than a week ahead, even for his richest clients, but the Chase name, not to mention his involvement with the Chase Foundation and his friendship with Leigh, could get her in within a day or two.
But she wasn’t so happy with him right now. “Are you going to tell me it’s nothing again?”
“I’ve never told you it was nothing,” Dr. Brown said. He was almost fifty but looked much younger, with a shaven bald head and a fit figure. He was a very dark raisin brown with light brown eyes. “I told you it was nothing serious. It was just a little bug.”
“What do you say now?”
Dr. Brown placed his hand on Evan’s chin, gently lifting his head. “Well, I need the blood results and the urine test back before I can say exactly, but it looks like a flu.”
“Swine flu?” Kimberly asked, feeling her chest tighten.
He shook his head. “I’ve seen several of those cases in the past year, and this isn’t that.”
“He has a fever, and he says he’s very tired.
” Kimberly kissed the top of his head. “His neck hurts, he won’t eat, and on the way over here he said he wanted to throw up.”
“That could be several things,” Dr. Brown said. “Maybe a flu just hitting him hard. You need to take him home and get him in bed. His temperature is one hundred and one, so keep him cool, give him a fever reducer, and keep him hydrated.”
“For how long?” Kimberly knew she would be up all night. She could never sleep when her babies were sick.
“I’ve given the test a rush,” he said. “I should be able to call you tomorrow afternoon with the results. We’ll go from there, okay?”
“I just…”
Kimberly stopped talking and looked down at Evan, who seemed to be struggling to get away from her.
“Nurse!” Dr. Brown screamed out as he reached for Evan.
“What?” Kimberly asked, panicked. It took her a second to realize what the doctor had realized immediately. Evan wasn’t struggling—he was convulsing.
As the doctor snatched him away from Kimberly and laid him on the table, he was shaking all over.
Kimberly was screaming, running to the other side of the bed as the nurse came in. “What’s happening?” she asked frantically. “What’s happening?”
The doctor ignored her as he barked orders to the nurse. Kimberly reached for her son, but the doctor pushed her hands out of the way. She tried to stop screaming, but the sight of the whites of her baby’s eyes and his trembling body filled her with shattering fear.
5
“Thank you so, so much,” Leigh said to the flight attendant who met her at the door to her flight. “I know I’m so late. I really appreciate you waiting for me.”
“Thank Senator Cody.” The woman smiled as if just saying his name was exciting. “We were going to take off without you, but he convinced the pilot to wait a few minutes longer.”
“I’ll be certain to thank him.” Leigh stepped aside as the male flight attendant, not interested in being nice, reached for the door.
“Please take your seat,” he said.
Gone Too Far Page 7
