Flirt (Chasing Hope Book 1)

by Lavinia Leigh

  Emmeline sucked a breath in. It wasn’t a surprise, but not easy to hear either.

  “On the bright side, you got her to the hospital quickly. There is some damage, but we won’t know the full extent of it for a while. The thing is, though, she is not critical. I hope to be admitting her into the hospital in a few hours so that she can be transferred to one of the other floors to recover. She’s going to be just fine.”

  Ginny jumped in with a pile of questions, and Emmeline started to explain to Millie what was going on so she could understand it. Emmeline’s phone rang in the middle, but she let it go to voicemail. She knew it was Joel calling back. It was all going to be okay—at least for now.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Callum came and picked up Millie, who desperately didn’t want to leave Grammy Pernella even though she was getting tired of munching on stale cafeteria sandwiches and slightly dizzy from walking around bored in a figure eight pattern. After a bit of cajoling, she admitted that she was afraid if she left, Grammy Pernella would be mad.

  “You know Grammy could never be mad at you,” Callum said. “She would be annoyed if you were just sitting here when you had the option of going out and having some fun.”

  Millie’s eyes were big and round and slightly damp as she silently nodded in agreement. Callum promised her McDonald’s, and Emmeline promised to call when Pernella was up to seeing people. Millie finally agreed to go without a fuss.

  “Is there anything else you guys need?” Callum asked, anxiously looking around the hospital. It didn’t seem like it was his favorite place to be.

  “I think we’re good. We’re just waiting until she’s stable enough for family visits; they’ve finished running all the tests,” Emmeline explained.

  “Well, then, you know where to find us.” Callum hugged Emmeline, holding her close for a few extra seconds, rubbing her back. Emmeline could smell his spicy scent, and it reminded her of simpler days. As he walked out the automatic doors with Millie, her hand in his, Emmeline swore he’d been using the same soap, same cologne since high school.

  Ginny stared right into Emmeline’s eyes. “You know that man is head over heels in love with you, right?”

  “Callum is not in love with me. I would know if he was in love with me.”

  “You’re an idiot.”

  “Why would you even say that?” A shot of annoyance cut through Emmeline’s voice. This conversation had quickly taken a ridiculous turn.

  “Let’s look at the facts for a second, Your Honor.”

  “So, you’re going to pull your lawyer tricks on me, are you?”

  “I’m all but officially a lawyer, and I think this is a very worthy case. May I proceed?”

  “You’re wasting your time. I know Callum.”

  “Point one, has he or has he not been there practically your whole life?”

  “Yes. So have you, and you’re not in love with me.”

  “Point two, does he not drop everything each time you need him?”

  “Mostly, maybe? He’s been amazing, especially with Millie. But he promised he would be after Nicholas died. He’s just carrying through on his promise. You don’t need to read anything into it.”

  “And…?”

  “And nothing. He’s just a good person, and he wants to make sure that Millie stays connected to her dad. Full stop.”

  Ginny took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. Emmeline stared blankly.

  “You know people don’t do what he has done without there being more to it. He loved you before you even got together with Nicholas. Everyone can see it.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Did he or did he not sabotage your relationship when you made that horrible blunder when you first asked Nicholas out?”

  “He didn’t do it on purpose. The whole thing was a mess. Besides, he’s not vicious like that. He wouldn’t go out of his way to break anyone up.”

  “Maybe not on purpose, not that he would admit to, but would you consider that he may have done it subconsciously to stop you two from getting together? Moving on. Next point. He flirts with you—I mean, a lot. I saw how long he held that hug, and I got nothing more than a wave.”

  “Callum is a flirt. He flirts with everyone. How many girls has he gone out with? Remember in high school? You hardly saw him without his arm around someone.”

  “That was high school.”

  “I doubt much has changed.”

  “Emmeline, when is the last time you heard him mention another girl?”

  “He doesn’t talk about that stuff with me.”

  “Maybe because you’re the only girl.”

  A nurse came into the lobby and called out Emmeline’s name. Emmeline relaxed her shoulders. She hadn’t realized how tight she had become while Ginny was presenting her made-up case. They both stood and followed the nurse back to Pernella’s cubicle-sized room.

  Pernella was pale and looked abnormally small lying on the hospital bed. Her gray curls, spread chaotically on her pillow, framed her face, which still looked like it was dropping on one side. An oxygen tube was resting in her nose, but she smiled as Ginny and Emmeline pulled back the yellow check curtain, giving her a modicum of privacy. Most importantly, although she was a little dopey, she was fully awake.

  Emmeline leaned down to kiss her, and Pernella reached up her arm to hug her, exposing the intravenous drip that was inserted and then taped to her arm. A machine measuring her heartbeats and blood pressure at the side of the bed beeped softly.

  “My girls,” Pernella said graciously. She held both of their hands in hers and then asked, “What the hell are you two still doing here?” Her words slurred as she spoke.

  Ginny snorted. “Typical.”

  “Well,” Emmeline started, “since you checked yourself into this fancy hotel, we thought we’d stick around and soak in the atmosphere.”

  Pernella laughed. “I couldn’t help myself, I was in need of a holiday. Unfortunately, what they do for recreation around this joint sucks!” She coughed a little and then breathed in loudly.

  “I’ll talk to the concierge for you, if you like,” volunteered Ginny.

  “Please do on your way out.”

  “You can’t get rid of us that easy, Pernella. We aren’t going to leave until we know you’re okay.”

  “You are such a worrywart. The last thing you need to be doing is sitting here fretting about me. Where’s Millie? She needs you. What about that boy of yours?”

  “Crap! I haven’t called Joel back!”

  “Then go!”

  “Ginny, you try and talk some sense into Pernella. I’ll call Joel and tell him what’s going on.”

  Emmeline disappeared down the hall for a bit of privacy, hoping that Ginny could convince Pernella to let them do something for her. She dialed Joel’s number and he picked up on the first ring.

  “Emmeline! Are you okay?” he blurted into the phone without even saying hello. Emmeline apologized for her bizarre voicemail earlier, and explained everything that had happened that day.

  “What can I do? Where’s Millie? Do you need me to come and get her?”

  “No, Callum has her. They skipped off to McDonald’s, and who knows where else Millie will drag him once she gets started.” Emmeline laughed a little.

  “Oh,” said Joel, his voice dropping. “Is there anything else I can do?”

  “I don’t think so at this point. I’m not sure Pernella is going to let us stay either. She tried to get rid of us the second we got in to see her.”

  “I have to meet this woman.”

  “You will, soon. I better get back.”

  “You really are so strong. I don’t know how you do it. If it was my parent, I’d be a mess.”

  Emmeline smiled. She hadn’t really thought of Pernella as a parent before, but in so many ways she was. She taught her a million things. She was patient and persistent, helping Emmeline in ways she didn’t even realize she was helping until so much later. So much for being the one th
ere to take care of her. Emmeline said goodbye and went back into Pernella’s room, where she found both women sharing not so discreet comments about a male nurse who was quickly making his exit.

  “I thought at least one of you would have the good sense not to hit on the staff!” Emmeline chastised her. Ginny shrugged her shoulders, and Pernella looked pretty pleased with herself.

  “They won’t get mad at me. Old people get away with everything. Either they label me as cute or senile. Either way works for me. I wonder what he’d do if I called him back and asked him to bend over so I could see his butt better.”

  “Senile. They are definitely going to label you as senile,” Emmeline said through her snickers.

  “Is your Sugar Boy coming over?” asked Ginny.

  “I told him no. He did volunteer to pick up Millie, though. That was pretty sweet.”

  “Where is Millie?” Pernella asked.

  “Callum came and got her.”

  Ginny and Pernella exchanged a knowing look.

  “What was that?” Emmeline exclaimed, placing a hand on her hip.

  “That was Pernella agreeing with me that Callum loves you.”

  Pernella tried unsuccessfully to cross her arms, which were attached to tubes and wires, and then nodded.

  “You guys are nuts. You are mistaking his kindness for something that it’s not.”

  The doctor came in, giving Emmeline a happy reprieve from their nonsense, and delivered some test results. She explained that they were officially admitting Pernella into the hospital, and they could expect her to be there for a while as she recovered and they observed her to make sure this was an isolated incident. The left side of Pernella’s body seemed sluggish to respond, and she would need some physiotherapy and would probably have some trouble walking. For how long, the doctor couldn’t be sure yet.

  After the doctor left, a pair of nurses, including the male nurse Pernella was harassing earlier, came and transferred her onto a gurney they could push up to the ward where she would be staying. Pernella looked overwhelmingly tired as Ginny gathered the rest of her stuff and they followed behind.

  “Hold my hand, young man,” she said. “I’m so scared.” She winked at Ginny.

  “I have got the feeling that nothing scares you,” the nurse responded.

  “Just humor me,” Pernella answered. “It’ll be easier on you that way.”

  The nurse rolled his eyes.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  With a sleepy Pernella settled into the hospital room, as comfortable as she was going to get, Ginny and Emmeline left, feeling pretty exhausted themselves. It had been a long, scary day. It was comforting to know at least Pernella was in good hands and more than likely the worst was behind them. She would recover, her body would heal, and everything could return to the way it was supposed to be.

  The sight of the old farm house with the front porch lights glowing a soft yellow was a welcome relief, and Emmeline could feel her whole body relax as she got out of the car. Callum’s faithful red truck sat in the driveway. She ran her hands along the side of it, feeling a small dent here and there. She teased him from time to time about getting rid of it. In response, he would always grumble, protesting a little too much about it being pointless to get a shiny new ride when he was just going to bang it up. His work was tough on a vehicle, picking up antiques and dropping them off and hanging out at dusty auction sales, looking for new things for the shop. He still refinished furniture—it was his first love—but the shop seemed to be his bread and butter.

  The real truth was that he was a sentimental kind of guy, even if he’d never admit it. Emmeline was sure not very many people would even guess how much; what he presented to the world, and who he really was, were vastly different. The truck was his dad’s, and he really missed both of his parents. Florida agreed with them too much, and these days they rarely came home.

  Emmeline swung the old door to the house open and called out, saying she was home, to no response. She started to walk through the house, looking for where they were hiding, when she heard Ginny’s voice on the phone. She was calling her parents to let them know what was going on with Pernella.

  Emmeline found Callum and Millie in the living room, watching the very familiar director’s cut of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the director’s running commentary. Millie was slurping back a Coke, and her little fingers were stained orange, most likely from the empty bag of Cheezies that sat beside her. Callum softly snored.

  Seeing the two of them there made Emmeline wonder for the first time if perhaps Ginny was right. She looked at Callum, his long legs propped up on the coffee table, his slightly ginger hair softly ruffled. He had a strong jaw line, and if his eyes were open, she’d be able to see their intense green, which he used to make girls fall under his spell. Ginny’s words darted through her mind. She was right; he had always been there, he had always dropped everything for her, he had flirted obsessively.

  The problem was she couldn’t tell if Callum meant any of what he said, or if he was simply teasing her. If she was being brutally honest with herself, Callum was her first crush an entire lifetime ago. She had tried her best to get his attention only to end up hopelessly in the throng of sixth grade girls vying for his attention. Emmeline figured early on that she wasn’t in the running, and gave up.

  It was easier to be his friend, and it had been a perfect decision. She got to chat with him, coming to know him better than any of the girls who ran in and out of his life without complicating feelings getting in the way. Besides, Emmeline had that nasty habit of making an idiot out of herself when she really liked someone. At least she was safe with Callum. He knew her better than almost anyone, and took her mix ups in stride; she didn’t need to be embarrassed around him. She watched them both for a moment, not saying anything. Millie was so absorbed in what was onscreen that Emmeline wasn’t sure she even knew she was in the room.

  She leaned against the doorframe thinking about what Ginny had said. It hit her hard. Perhaps somewhere in the back of her mind she suspected, maybe, but even if his feelings had changed for her somewhere through the years, she’d no idea. Callum never said anything to her. There was no grand declaration of his feelings that she could take with any sort of seriousness. His words rang shallow in Emmeline’s ears, and “Oh Baby, you know I love you” completely lacked the sincerity she needed in order to know that something had changed.

  Joel’s face flashed through her mind, and her body pricked with guilt. It was only last night that she was declaring her love for him. She did love him, right? She had said it before she even really knew what she was doing. God, it felt like an eternity ago. So much had happened. So much that she wasn’t prepared for.

  I’m such an idiot, she chastised herself. It was true on so many levels. The worst thing was that she hadn’t wanted to put herself in the same position she was in when Nicholas died, completely dependent on someone else. She wasn’t even close to prepared if Pernella had dropped dead on the spot. Emmeline relied on Pernella as much as Pernella relied on her.

  “Okay, everyone is up to speed, and I don’t know about you, but I could fall asleep on my feet,” Ginny said as she joined her in the living room. Then she lowered her voice, asking, “Were you watching him sleep?”

  “Shhh…guys!” Millie exclaimed. “I’m working!”

  “What?” Callum startled awake. “I’m here. Director feels like he’s in the midst…”

  “It’s okay, Callum. I never make it through these commentaries either,” Emmeline said, crossing the room and sitting on an overstuffed mahogany and leather chair beside him.

  “I promised, I did try.” He looked a little sheepish.

  “If you guys are going to talk, can you please go away?” begged Millie.

  “I think we’ve just been told. Let’s go to the kitchen,” Ginny suggested.

  “Wait! How is Grammy doing?”

  “She’ll be just fine, Angel Face.”

  Millie made a
small smile, and then glued her eyes back to the TV screen while the grown-ups in her life made their exit.

  “Guys, I’m done. I’m going to hit the sheets,” Ginny confessed. “I want to get up early, and get to the hospital early so that the family doesn’t overwhelm Pernella. I already had to stop them from driving down right now. I think Pernella needs some rest, and besides, the nurses are probably going to be poking at her all night. I don’t imagine she’s going to take that very well at all.”

  “Night, Ginny. I seriously couldn’t make it through today without you. I am so glad you were here.”

  “Of course, me too.”

  “Night, Ginny, I’m going to head off too. It’s a long drive.” Callum stretched out his arms and arched his back.

  “You can stay, Callum. I’ll make up a bed for you.” The phone rang loudly in Emmeline’s purse. “Just give me a second.” She ran to grab it.

  “Joel, we just got back. She’s going to be okay,” she said into the phone.

  Callum picked up his coat as Emmeline and Joel talked.

  “Wait, Callum, you don’t have to leave,” Emmeline insisted.

  “Is Callum still there?” Joel asked.

  “Yes. He stayed all afternoon as Millie tortured him with director’s commentaries.”

  “Ha,” Joel said, not really sounding happy.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “I’m just sorry that you have to go through all this.” Emmeline wasn’t sure if she believed him. This was the second time he sounded weird when she mentioned Callum. He couldn’t be jealous, could he? She didn’t like the thought and brushed it away. It was good to hear his voice, soothing and calm, and she easily remembered why she said “I love you” the night before.

  “Wait, Callum, I’ll be off in a second.”

  “No, you talk, I need to go.”

  Emmeline waved helplessly as she watched him walk out with shoulders slightly slumped, unsure if she should run after him or not. But hearing the door close quickly behind him made the decision. She talked to Joel for an hour, and then tucked herself into bed, sleep overtaking her within moments.