by Sandi Lynn
“Yesterday was my birthday and the day my parents died. So now, it’s become my birthday, the day my parents died, and my fucking wedding day to a man I barely know! A day that is supposed to be special. A fairytale, a goddamn fairytale, and it’s all your fault!” she shouted.
I stood there in shock and swallowed hard.
“Don’t try to pin this on me. For all I know, this is all your fault!” I angrily spoke then immediately regretted my words. “Grace, listen. I’m sorry. This isn’t one of our faults. It’s both of ours. We were both highly intoxicated and neither one of us were of sound mind. So can we at least agree that we are both to blame?”
She stood there with her arms folded and her face softened.
“You’re right. We’re both to blame.”
“Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday?” I calmly asked as I took a few steps towards her.
“Because I don’t celebrate it and I haven’t since I was ten years old. A birthday is supposed to be a celebration of your life, but instead, my birthday is the mourning of my parents’ death. That day, my tenth birthday, started out as a celebration and ended in tragedy, and that is something I never will forget or celebrate.”
I looked away from her because I didn’t know what to say. Any man would have walked up to her and hugged her tight, but I couldn’t. I had my reasons, and all of this was too much to bear.
“I think it’s best if we just go our separate ways now and we agree not to mention a word of this to anyone. I mean no one. Not even your Aunt Cora. We’ll pretend it never happened and it’ll be taken care of soon. I also think it’s best if we stay out of each other’s way from now on. Of course, we’ll run into each other at the hospital, but we just need to keep it on a professional level. There will be no more sex or even friendly conversations. I’m not sure we can even be friends anymore.”
Tears filled her eyes as she took her finger and gently wiped them away.
“I never should have moved back to Los Angeles. I have done nothing but make one stupid decision after another. I never should have broken my rule.” She glared at me as she walked past me and left my hotel room.
I sighed as I stared at the door. There was a part of me that felt bad for her. But this was my life and I needed to take care of me. My focus needed to stay on my work and my work alone. Grace was just as broken as I was and she had her issues and I had mine. There was no room in my life or in my head for that. I knew I was a bastard, but it was the only way I knew how to be.
****
Grace
I went back to my room as I tried to stop the tears that kept falling down my face. I grabbed my phone, called the airport, and changed my flight. There was one leaving in three hours, so I called down to the desk and had them get me a cab. I threw my things in my suitcase and headed to the airport.
When I arrived back in Los Angeles, I opened the door to my apartment and dropped on my couch. My phone rang. It was my Aunt Cora.
“Hello,” I answered in a somber voice.
“Grace? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, Aunt Cora.” I tried to perk up. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, darling. How’s Vegas going?”
“Actually, I just got home.”
“Why? I thought you weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow evening?”
“I came home a day early because I’m not feeling well. I think I might have caught a bug or something.”
“Grace, what happened?”
She always knew when I was lying.
“Nothing.” I coughed into the phone. “I need to go lie down now. I’m exhausted.”
“Alright. I hope you feel better soon. Call me later, please.”
“I will.”
It was late, like really late, and I wasn’t lying about being exhausted. I took my suitcase into the bedroom, changed into my pajamas, and went to bed. As I was lying there, I couldn’t stop thinking about my life, Sam, and Jamieson. My God, what was wrong with me?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jamieson
I spent the rest of my night in my room, where I tossed and turned all night long. The next day, when it was time to head to the airport, I sent a text message to Grace to see if she was ready to leave.
“Hey, we need to head to the airport. Are you ready?”
“I flew out last night. I’m already home.”
I sat there on the bed staring at her message in disbelief. I couldn’t believe she flew out early without even telling me.
“You couldn’t shoot me a text message and tell me that? I was waiting on you.”
“I’m sorry, but why would I? You made it very clear that we are no longer friends.”
I sighed as I shook my head and threw my phone down on the bed. That response didn’t even warrant a reply. Shit. I placed my hands on my head. Fuck it. I didn’t care. I grabbed my bag and headed to the airport.
It felt good to be home. As I was standing on the rooftop with a drink in my hand, staring out into the ocean and listening to the waves crash against the shore, my doorbell rang. When I looked at the monitor, I saw Logan standing there. I pushed the intercom button and told him to come in.
“Come on in. I’m up on the rooftop.”
“What are you doing up here?” he asked.
“Thinking. How did you know I was back?”
“I was driving by and I saw your car in the driveway. How was Vegas?”
“Eventful,” I spoke as I threw back my drink.
“What’s going on? You seem like you’re in a bad mood.”
“Damn it. What I’m about to tell you cannot leave this rooftop. Do you understand me?”
“Of course, Jamieson. You know you can trust me. What the hell is going on?”
I swallowed hard and threw back the rest of my drink before answering him.
“I—I.” I stopped.
“Jamieson. What the hell happened? You’re kind of freaking me out right now.”
“I did something so stupid. So incredibly stupid that I still can’t believe it,” I spoke in a panicked tone.
“Okay.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Calm down and talk to me.”
“Friday after the conference, Grace and I drank all day long. We were so wasted, and when we woke up the next morning, we discovered that we got married.”
“What?” He started to laugh. “You’re such a jokester. Stop it!”
“I’m not joking, Logan. It happened and it’s real. Apparently, we got married at the Little Vegas Chapel.”
His face turned pale as he removed his hand from my shoulder.
“You’re not kidding, are you?” The seriousness of his voice frightened me.
“No. I wish I was.”
“For fuck sakes, Jamieson. Now what?”
“My lawyer is preparing the paperwork for an annulment. I told him to put a rush on it. The faster we get this done, the faster I can put this behind me.”
“What about Grace? Is she in agreement?”
“Of course she is. She doesn’t want this either.”
“And you have no clue how it happened?” he asked.
“No, and neither does she. Like I said, we were both so intoxicated.”
“Look on the bright side. This will be over within a matter of days and you can just go on as if it never happened. At least you didn’t get her pregnant. Alcohol is the devil, bro. Shit. I can’t believe this.”
“Remember what I told you. Not a word of this to anyone.”
“Scouts honor. I swear I won’t tell a soul. But what about Grace? How do you know she’ll keep her mouth shut?”
“She will. She doesn’t want anyone knowing about this either.”
“So, what’s going on with the two of you now?”
“I told her that our relationship is strictly on a professional level and we won’t be having sex again. I told her that I didn’t think we could even be friends anymore.”
“Damn, Jamieson. It’s almost as if you’
re blaming her for this whole thing.”
“I’m not blaming her. Ever since she got here, things have been off, and I just think it’s best that we stay out of each other’s life and way.”
“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think? Grace is a great woman. You both made a drunken mistake. I don’t think that’s a reason just to cut her out of your life.” He narrowed his eye at me for a moment. “Unless you’ve developed feelings for her and you can’t handle it.”
“Don’t be an idiot. I have no feelings for Grace whatsoever. She’s just like all the rest of the women I sleep with.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
“I’m not trying to convince anyone. It’s a straight-up fact. Now, if we’re done here, I’m heading to the hospital to work on my research.”
“Yeah. Okay. Call me later and maybe we can grab a couple of drinks. Or not. I would hate to wake up tomorrow morning and we’re married.” He laughed.
“Get the hell out of here!”
****
Grace
“Aunt Cora, what are you doing here?” My eyes widened as I opened the door to my apartment.
“I came to see how you were feeling.” Her brow arched at me.
“You flew all the way from New York just to see how I was feeling? You could have called.”
“I know I could have, but I had to see for myself. You can’t hide anything from me, Grace. You never could. What happened in Las Vegas that you aren’t telling me?” She demanded to know as she pushed her way past me and into my apartment. “Wow, this is nice.” She smiled as she looked around.
“Can I make you some tea?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen.
“Only if you’re having some. I was up all night worried about you.”
“Well, that was dumb. You shouldn’t be worried about me. I’m fine,” I spoke as I filled the tea kettle with water.
“I can’t help it, darling. You’re my daughter.” She smiled. “Does it have something to do with your birthday?”
I placed my hands over my face as I stood behind the island.
“It’s okay, sweetheart.” She walked over and wrapped her arms around me. “Whatever happened, it can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, but it is, and I’m scared to tell you.”
She broke our embrace and firmly gripped my shoulders.
“Take in a long deep breath. Come on. Do it.”
I did as she asked.
“Another one,” she spoke.
I took in another deep breath and let it out.
“One more. Good girl. Now, tell me what happened.”
The water was ready for our tea, so I poured it into two cups that housed green teabags and took them over to the couch.
“After the conference Friday, Jamieson and I hung out all day. We drank a lot. It was my idea because I just wanted to forget about that day. I needed to forget. We both drank an obscene amount of alcohol and the next morning when we woke up, we found out that we were married.”
“WHAT?!” she shouted as she placed her hand over her heart.
“I told you I was scared to tell you. Don’t make it any worse than it already is.” Tears filled my eyes.
“Grace Elizabeth Harper. How the hell did that happen?”
“I don’t know. Neither one of us remembers,” I cried. “Aunt Cora, my life is so fucked up. What is wrong with me?”
“Nothing is wrong with you, darling,” she spoke as she took hold of my hands. “You’re just going through a difficult time and you did something stupid.”
All of a sudden, she began to laugh. It was like a hysterical laugh and I couldn’t believe she did that.
“Aunt Cora?”
“I’m sorry, Grace. But if you really stop to think about it, you’re Mrs. Jamieson Finn.” She laughed harder. “Of all people. Oh my goodness, I can imagine him now.”
“This isn’t funny!”
“No, of course it isn’t. I’m sorry. So now what?”
“Jamieson called his lawyer and we’re getting the marriage annulled as soon as possible. You can’t tell anyone about this. Please. I promised Jamieson I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t you worry about that. By the way, where is Jamieson?”
“I don’t know. He told me that we can’t be friends anymore and our relationship from now on is strictly professional.”
“And how did you feel when he told you that?”
“A little hurt and confused. I told him that it was not only my birthday, but also the day my parents died. He didn’t say anything but that we needed to stay out of each other’s way. How could he be so heartless? Do you know anything about his family?” I asked.
“No. I can’t say that I do. The only thing I know is that his father has his own urology practice in Beverly Hills. I do know that he is an only child.”
“We ran into his father and step-mother in Las Vegas and the tension between Jamieson and him was unreal. I said something about his mother and he yelled at me. He told me to shut my mouth and to never mention her again.”
“He has his own demons he’s battling, sweetheart, and walking away from any type of emotion has become normal for him. It’s probably all he knows.”
“I don’t care. He’s rude and insensitive. I don’t talk about what happened. I never even told Sam. But I told Jamieson.”
“Don’t you think that it’s weird you never told Sam what happened to your parents? I mean, this was the man you were so in love with. When you’re in love with someone, you want them to know everything about you, especially a big part of your past.”
“What are you saying?” I narrowed my eye at her. “Are you insinuating that I’m in love with Jamieson? I only told him because I was in shock and a marriage was the last thing I needed on that day.”
“Okay.” She slowly nodded.
“Okay? God, Aunt Cora, I hate when you do that. You can’t just say ‘okay’.”
“Darling, you don’t want to hear what I have to say.” She kissed my forehead. “Go get yourself ready for dinner. I’m taking you out.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jamieson
The next morning, I went in the back way of the hospital to avoid seeing Grace. It was eventually inevitable that we were going to run into each other, especially when she needed a consult on a patient. I just prayed that wasn’t today. I had just finished my morning rounds when my pager went off and I was needed down in the ER. That sure as hell didn’t last long.
“Someone paged me?” I walked into trauma room two and saw Grace standing over a patient.
“I did,” she spoke without looking at me. “Patient was hit by a truck walking across the street. She has massive internal bleeding and a skull fracture. Her heart stopped, but I was able to revive her.”
I walked over to the patient and checked her eyes with my light.
“Her pupils aren’t responding and there is no corneal reflex. I’m sorry, Dr. Harper, your patient is brain dead,” I spoke as I stared into her eyes. “You need to prepare the family.” I walked out of the room.
As I was walking to the elevator, I noticed some of the nurses and some of the doctors staring at me. My pager went off. Renata needed to see me stat. I took the elevator up to her office and lightly knocked on the door.
“You needed to see me?”
“Yes, come in, Dr. Finn, and have a seat. How did your presentation go?”
“It went good.”
“And Dr. Harper’s?”
“She did great. Is this what was so urgent?”
“Renata, you needed—” Grace stopped speaking when she saw me.
“Come in and have a seat. I need to speak with both of you. There’s a rumor going around this hospital that the two of you got married while you were in Las Vegas.”
“Who would say that?” I nervously asked.
“Apparently, someone in this hospital, and I’m not naming names, was in Vegas, in the elevator with the two of you. This
person overheard you say, ‘We’ll call my attorney and see how quickly we can get this marriage annulled.’ This person also said that the two of you looked panicked. So, you two better come clean now!” she spoke through gritted teeth.
“Shit.” I placed my hand over my face.
“Did you just say ‘shit,’ Dr. Finn?”
“It’s true,” Grace spoke in calm soft voice. “Dr. Finn and I did get married in Las Vegas, but it was a mistake and we’re having it annulled as quickly as possible. We were drunk.”
“Drunk? You were drunk?” she voiced loudly. “So it isn’t just a rumor, then?”
“No, Renata, it’s not,” Grace replied.
“And you!” She pointed at me. “What the hell did I tell you?”
“It happened,” I voiced loudly. “We were heavily intoxicated and didn’t know what we were doing. We are getting it taken care of immediately. No one was supposed to ever know. Shit.”
“Shit is right. Now the whole hospital is talking, so expect some backlash, Dr. Finn, from all the heartbroken nurses who wanted more from you.”
“Are we done here?” I got up from my seat. “I have an aneurysm I need to clip.”
“You may go, but Grace stays.”
****
Grace
“How did this happen?” Renata asked as she took a seat next to me.
“I don’t know. Neither one of us remembers anything from that night.”
“Why on earth would you drink like that? That isn’t like you. Did you do this on your birthday?”
“Yes. Usually on my birthday, I make sure to take a double shift at the hospital. That way, I’m so busy I don’t have time to think about it. I figured if I just spent the day drinking, I wouldn’t have to. Then we met this couple there and spent a majority of the day with them. After dinner is when everything else is a total blank. Jamieson told me that it’s best we stay out of each other’s way. He doesn’t even want to be friends anymore.”
“Typical Jamieson. Screw them and leave them. Or in this case, marry them and leave them. I’m not the least bit surprised. Are you okay?” She placed her hand on my arm.
“Yeah.” I gave her a small smile. “I never should have come back here. I left New York to get away from my ex-boyfriend. We dated for over a year until I found out he was married. I didn’t know, Renata, just like I don’t know how Jamieson and I got married. How can I be so stupid?”
