by Sam Destiny
“I swear, I a) didn’t give your address out to anyone and b) never would. I do have honor, ma’am,” the guy behind the reception said and Tessa crossed her arms, huffing. “I’m serious, lady,” he added.
“I saw that the first day you let us into that space in front of Miss Jackson’s office.”
His brow furrowed in confusion and Evangeline arched a brow.
“The elevator?” he asked.
Evy blinked and Tessa lowered her arms. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “The only space in front of Miss Jackson’s office is either the staircase or the elevator.”
Evy’s jaw dropped. “No, it’s the whole wide space. I only have a storage-sized room with a desk,” she explained.
He laughed until realizing they were serious. “No, the entire space is yours. When the furniture was delivered I put it in the storage room since I figured you’d decorate the office the way you’d want it. And the room was locked because there was a computer in there. You didn’t honestly… oh, you did.”
Ev turned to Tessa, not sure if she should cry or laugh, and just lifted her hands.
It was hers. The entire space. They’d rightfully occupied it.
That also meant…
“We need to go and put everything into your office, sweetie!” Tessa announced.
“Also, you never picked up your security cards, so I had to leave everyone up. You get three to begin with, and after that every new card you have to apply for and fill out the correct info.” The guy held out the cards and Evy arched a brow at him.
“Any reason why you didn’t tell me that the very first time I’d been here? I mean, it would’ve been helpful,” she pointed out.
“You didn’t let me talk. You were up in your head, dismissed me, and so I left. Easy as that.”
Evy couldn’t even protest that. She had been worried about everything, overwhelmed and confused just as much as excited, and the guy leading her upstairs had barely been more than a blip on her radar.
Taking the cards, she thanked him and then went to the elevator.
“It’s the most amazing office ever,” Evy whispered, and when the elevator didn’t move after she pressed the two, she slid the card through and they were on the move. “I feel so important now! Seriously.”
Excitement coursed through her as they exited the elevator. She kicked off her heels before taking off her suit jacket.
“Ready to move that desk?” It would be heavy, but that didn’t matter. She wanted it out and in the pretty glass office with the huge windows. Behind her another pair of heels clattered to the floor.
“So ready. Let’s make this office the way it should be. However… explain to me the other office next to yours,” Tessa ordered.
Evy looked first at her, then at the door to her real office, and further to the door she hadn’t seen so far.
“Are they planning to put someone else in here with me?” She could hardly believe it. They wouldn’t, would they? Not without telling me, right?, she wondered as Tessa walked over, glancing inside.
“I think it’s mine. You know, I can come here, we can take the kids, and I can do my email stuff and whatever. Hey, I might even start helping you with events and whatnot. After all, besides the radio show I don’t really have anything else to do.”
Evy stared at her best friend, totally new possibilities opening up. She couldn’t leave the company as long as her visa depended on it, but maybe she really had a realistic chance of creating her own business, especially if Tessa was willing to do it with her.
“I wish I’d have asked earlier about all of this. I mean, seriously I could’ve been a lot less angry the last days.” She grinned while cleaning everything from her table. She wanted the desk out and Tessa joined her.
The piece of furniture was heavy, much heavier than it looked, but Evy was determined to manage it themselves. She didn’t want to find someone to help them. It would waste too much time. She just wanted the desk in her real office, wanted to feel more important than she had the last weeks.
“Let’s call Tank. You brought him back to his truck, so I think we should be fine. And he’s much stronger. Maybe he can bring someone—”
“We can do it,” Evy interrupted.
“You have a boyfriend now who’s ready to do it all for you and… stop lifting that, you’ll—”
Her best friend trailed off as Evy felt the desk slip from her grip as she’d tried to lift it higher to maybe find a better angle to pull it out.
She heard the crack, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from, not even when pain surged through her and her mind decided to go nicely blank.
He hated hospitals.
Jesus, he couldn’t even say how much, especially after Jazz and all the visitation disasters. Hurrying through the halls of Monterey Community Hospital, he wondered what in the world had happened.
He met Hilary first, carrying a crying Leila, and he took the girl from Hils the moment he was close enough.
“Where’s Tess?” he asked, knowing Jazz’s fiancée had been with Evy when whatever had happened, occurred.
“Trying to get information, but they refuse to give us any because we’re not related to her,” she said, wringing her now empty hands in worry.
“Tank!” Jazz came, followed by Tess, and she shook her head.
“I’m so glad you’re here. Evangeline will want to see you when she wakes up. I didn’t get any information, and they didn’t let me in to see her. I don’t know what to do, I… Ugh, stubborn woman.” Tears glittered in Tessa’s dark eyes and Tank gave her a one-armed hug.
“It’s okay. You can tell me later what happened. I’m going to find out what’s going on.”
He marched ahead, feeling Tessa hot on his heels and not minding one bit. He reached the ER doors and wanted to go through, but a nurse stopped him.
“Evangeline Jackson is my fiancée and this is our daughter. I need to see her. I need to find out what’s up. I—”
“Calm down, Mr.…?”
“Michaels.”
He squeezed Leila closer as she started sobbing again, kissing her forehead. “Daddy’s gonna make sure Mommy’s all right, okay?” He didn’t care about the small lie about her being his daughter. No one had to know, and he needed to get into that room.
“Daddy,” Leila echoed, clearly trying the word on her tongue while his heart stopped. He hadn’t considered how the little girl would react to that, but he could try later to explain to her that he wasn’t her dad.
Yet.
“Calm down, Mr. Michaels,” the nurse said after a second.
“Calm down? She’s in there and I’m out here, not sure what had happened. All I know is she’s here and—”
He’d never before felt true panic, he noted as he wanted to scream and throw a fit.
“I’ll get a doctor. Please walk back to the seating area, and after he speaks to you we can let you in, okay?”
No, it wasn’t okay, but he nodded nonetheless, returning to the waiting area while Tessa just arched a brow at him.
“Want me to take her?” she asked, pointing at Leila, who had her head resting on his shoulder.
“No,” Lei instantly protested and Tank sat down with her to cradle her in his arm better. He wanted her to feel protected and safe, and he needed to hold her in order to be sure at least she was okay.
“What the hell happened?” If they had to wait for a doctor, he might as well get the story.
Tessa nodded and sat, and Tank wanted to punch Jazz when he picked her up to place her on his lap instead, holding her as she shook.
Tank wanted to hold Evy and know she was okay.
“We found out the whole place is her office. We have key cards now and no one else comes in unless we allow it. She instantly wanted to move the desk and…”
“That thing is fucking heavy.” He knew because he’d tried to push it over when something had fallen under the drawer side.
“It is, and she was
n’t listening to me when I told her we should call you and make sure you bring some guys. She wanted it done and was sure we’d manage alone. When I just stood and looked at her, she lifted it, and tried to get an angle so she could pull it out. Ugh.” Tears spilled from those brown eyes. “It’s my fault. I should’ve helped her and maybe she wouldn’t have—”
“It’s not your fault, Tessa. She should’ve asked for help,” Jazz whispered, kissing her cheek.
“Well, so far I heard nothing that would warrant her being in the ER,” Tank snapped. He hadn’t yet decided if it was Tessa’s fault or not.
“She pulled and put her leg under it for leverage. The desk slipped and hit her leg…” He watched Tessa shiver and could imagine the rest. “She collapsed. I don’t know why! I would’ve expected her to scream, but…”
“The pain. She blacked out because her body shut down so she wouldn’t have to feel the agony. I’m Dr. Lee, and I had her under my hands when she came in. Mr. Michaels?”
Tank instantly stood as the guy stepped forward. He was Asian, with dark hair and even darker eyes, and his smile was warm.
“That’s me.”
The doc nodded. “Your fiancée will be perfectly fine. The leg’s broken in two places. We set it and put it in a cast, but she’ll have to stay here so we can see if the cast is enough. She’s awake now and panicking about some gala.”
Tank would’ve laughed if he wasn’t still worried about Evy. “A broken leg? That’s all?”
The doctor nodded. “I promise. Your friend here, Miss Rowan, just freaked out because your fiancée was unconscious. Again, it’s just protection against the pain. She woke up pretty fast after being here, but… well, we cannot give out information without family relations or a medical power of attorney. Technically I wouldn’t even be allowed to tell you, but your daughter is too young, so… Anyway, you’ll be allowed to see her in ten minutes. Just make sure you don’t point out you’re not yet married.” He shrugged and Tank couldn’t help but finally breathe in relief, then he turned to Tessa after the doctor left.
“Had you helped her—” With knowing Evy was fine, he suddenly felt the need to lash out.
“If Evangeline wouldn’t be so damn set on doing everything alone, she wouldn’t have to count on everything being done by others now,” Jazz injected and Tank wanted to punch his best friend.
“Enough, you two,” Hilary all but screamed. “Tank, you and Leila stay here, and we, Tessa, have to check on the event location, the food, and everything else.”
God, Tank should be doing that, should be proving to Evangeline that he was the one she could always count on, but he wouldn’t leave, not now, not when he hadn’t yet seen her to know she was really okay.
“Will you watch Leila or do you need us to take her?” Tessa asked, her voice neutral. Maybe he should be apologizing, but he was too mad at her still.
“Daddy,” Leila muttered, obviously having found she liked the word.
He closed his eyes, kissing Leila’s cheek. “She stays with me. Ev will probably want to see her, and maybe it distracts her a little.”
“Okay.” Tessa turned away, pale and surprisingly silent, and then left, being followed by Jazz and Hilary.
“Mommy otay?”
Tank nodded, hoping it was true as he walked over to the nurse’s station and hoped he finally could see the woman who held his heart.
Evy stared at the white walls of the hospital, her mind clouded by pain killers. She remembered holding onto the desk, but the rest after until waking up where she was? She didn’t remember that.
“There’s mom, see?” she heard and turned her head slightly, finding Tank in the door.
“Your fiancée might be overly tired or slow to react, which is due to the pain medication she received. We cannot imagine how much it must’ve hurt, so be patient with her. She might also come across as slightly confused, but it’ll pass,” a nurse explained. Evy couldn’t see her, but the words carried just fine, even if she felt as if they reached her in a cloud of cotton.
“Thank you,” Tank replied and she found his eyes on her.
“If you need anything, honey, just let me know.”
Honey?
Evy struggled to sit up, a strong wave of possessiveness rushing through her although Tank didn’t react to the nurse one bit as he came forward.
“Hey, slow down, let me help you,” he said softly, placing Leila on the bed before taking her side and gently pulling her up.
“She called you honey. What in the world is she thinking?” Her words came much slower than she wanted, making her anger sound almost comical.
Tank brushed back a strand from her forehead, his blue eyes full of amusement. “What are you talking about?” he asked, looking honestly confused.
Evy drew her daughter in, pointing at the door. “The nurse. Just now. She called you honey.”
He eyed the door, as if mentally going through the talk again, then shook his head. “I didn’t notice. Besides, she was maybe sixty. She probably ‘honeys’ everyone.” His expression got soft. “How are you feeling? Are you in pain?”
She shook her head, kissing her daughter’s head before resting her own head back in the pillows. “I’m fine. Thirsty, but fine.”
Tank moved, taking a glass of water from the bedside table, and Evy took it from him thankfully.
“You should’ve called me,” he whispered and she couldn’t imagine how much it cost him to not fuss at her, to not scold her or anything in that direction.
“We could’ve done it, Tank. And I didn’t want to wait. I had things to do. I—”
“Wanted to prove to the world you could do it alone. I get it.”
“Tessa and her female card. ‘We’re just women, let’s call the big strong guys to help us’,” she mimicked even though it wasn’t what Tessa had said. “I just asked her to help me carry the desk.”
“That thing is fucking heavy, Ev. Like seriously. With any less luck both of you would be hurt now. She was right about suggesting calling me and the guys. You don’t think I’d have done it with just one more guy, do you? Hell no. I tried to move your beast once.”
She pouted and he brushed his thumb over her lips, making her close her eyes. “I lifted it and figured we’d manage. Just a bit at a time, but… it slipped out of my fingers because it was heavy. I just wanted to do it, to move it, and not need anyone else.”
Tank shrugged. “And now you need to count on people to organize the gala correctly because you won’t be getting out any time soon, and after you do you’ll hardly be able to walk.”
Realization settled in. She’d spend the gala in a cast. Tears came to her eyes, spilling over one after the other, and Leila shifted in her arms, surprisingly quiet so far.
“Don’t try, Mom,” she muttered, with her small hands wiping at Evy’s cheeks until she had to laugh.
“I’m okay. Mom’s okay,” she assured her and Leila snuggled into her. She wondered how late it was, how much time had passed where she hadn’t done anything at all.
Sucking on her thumb, Leila closed her eyes and Evy watched how Tank reached out, brushing his hand softly across her daughter’s hair.
“Scarlet and Jo can do a lot. Tessa knows where everything is. I mean…” She shrugged, her voice breaking because he was right. She had to count on them to do it right.
Tank smiled softly. “I’m not worried, but I know you are. You planned everything so closely, we can work off your lists and things will be just fine. I’m going to be there. Tessa will be there, and guess what? Hilary, too. Will you be okay, knowing people helped you if they praise you in the end? Or will you feel like a failure because you weren’t there for part of it?”
She could tell he didn’t mean to insult her. He was asking because he was honestly curious.
“I wanted to prove to everyone that I could pull it off. To Ian, to my mother, to Tessa, to the Army, to myself. I just wanted to do this thing so I know I’m not a failure.”
Tank watched her in silence for a moment, licking his lips, and Evy realized he hadn’t kissed her after coming in. In fact, besides brushing her strands back, he hadn’t done any touching, and she longed to be held by him.
As if having come to the same conclusion, he told her to move over a little. Careful to not disturb her sleeping daughter, she made enough room so he could lay down next to her, with her resting her head on his arm while he let his fingertips dance across her cheeks and eyebrows, emotions chasing each other through his eyes.
“Have you even thought about the fact that the only person who really considers yourself a failure is you? And I’m not trying to be an ass here, but I mean it. Tessa loves you exactly the way you are. The Army doesn’t know anything about you, they are just worried and as long as this gala happens, people give money, and there’s no disaster, you’ll be perfectly fine. They will not consider it a failure, not as much as it would’ve been with the other company.”
She snorted briefly, seeing the smile tugging on the corner of his lips. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. If people talk about it without fussing? It’s a win in their book. And you disappoint me when you keep me out of things, when you don’t let me help you. It’s what relationships are about. You think Jazz is eager to stand in front of those people and host a damn gala? He doesn’t want to get up there any more than I want to sit in a circle of my comrades and cry. But because Tessa has to do it, and asked him to do it with her, he agreed. The Army had offered, had asked, had done anything short of ordering it and that couldn’t convince him, and neither could I, but when she told him she, too, considers it the smartest idea, he agreed. Because he loves her and he can help her. Letting us do things like move furniture gives us the feeling you need us, Ev. There’s no one more independent than you: I know that. Hell, I live it daily because you don’t need me, and,” he rushed on as she took a breath to say something, “you know that as well as I do, but letting me pick up stuff, and watching your daughter? It makes me feel as if you need me in your life. And I want that. Because I need you in mine.”
