by Tia Wylder
“So, you’re giving up all of the profits we could make for this woman who isn’t even your girlfriend?”
“Yes.” He handed the portfolio back to her.
Erin sighed, “Okay, but I must warn you that Hartman and Craft are next on my list.”
“They would be lucky to have you.” Derrick smiled and opened the door for her to exit his office. “Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go have dinner with my son.” Derrick pulled out his phone to turn the volume back up. Seven missed calls. His stomach plummeted as he listened to the voicemail. Charlie was in the hospital?! He ran outside to get in his car, but it was missing. Lightening arched across the sky. At the far end of the street, he saw a tow truck pulling it away. In his hurry to get the meeting over with, he had parked in a no parking zone. He had to get to the hospital.
“Is something wrong?” Erin stood beside her own car. Rain pelted both relentlessly.
“My son is in the hospital, and my car just got towed away.
Understanding flashed across her face. “Get in.”
Derrick dove into the front seat of her car, and she peeled out of the parking lot. Erin drove as fast as she could towards the hospital, but even so he wanted her to go faster. When she finally parked outside of the emergency room, Derrick leapt from the car and ran into the hospital. Erin was about to drive away when a loud ringing caught her attention. In the passenger seat beside her, Derrick’s phone lit up.
Chapter 15: Shattered Pieces
Elizabeth was still trying to call Derrick when he ran in through the double doors. “You’re here!”
“Where is he? Is he okay?”
One of the nurses looked up, “Are you the father?”
“Yes. What’s wrong? Is he okay?”
The nurse paged someone in the back, and a doctor came out. “Mr. Page?” Derrick nodded. “Your son had to have an emergency appendectomy. He made it through surgery fine, and he’s resting now. You were lucky this young lady brought him in when she did. Any longer, and his appendix would have ruptured.”
“When can I see him?”
“Once the anesthesia wears off, I’ll come get you.” The doctor walked back into the back after Derrick nodded.
“Hey, you left your…” A redheaded woman stepped into the waiting room holding Derrick’s phone in her hand.
Elizabeth looked from the woman to Derrick. She recognized her from the hotel. He had been with her? He had left his son with her while he went off to meet another woman? Elizabeth felt like she was going to be sick. The joy of finding out that Charlie was going to be okay was instantly flushed away. She shook her head and ran outside. The storm was letting up now.
“Lizzie!” Derrick called after her, but he couldn’t leave the waiting room in case the doctor came back. As much as he cared about her, he couldn’t leave his son alone right now. He had already let him down once tonight. He couldn’t do it again.
Erin sighed and rolled her eyes. She handed him his phone with a bored look on her face. “I’ll go talk to her. You stay here.”
Erin finally found her hunched over a fountain, crying. She sat down beside her and waited for the sobbing girl to look up. Elizabeth wiped her cheeks with her hands, “What do you want?”
“To tell you the truth.”
Elizabeth scoffed, “I don’t want to hear about the sordid details of what happened with you and Derrick.”
“Actually, I think you do. That night at the hotel, he stopped me. We literally kissed, and that was all that happened. He asked me to leave. I was at the hotel to check it out for a business proposal. Tonight, I came to pitch my company to him, but he refused. Do you know why?”
Elizabeth shook her head. She was hanging on every word. “No.”
“He refused because he thought the partnership would make you self-conscious. That man in there just turned down a huge business opportunity because he thought it might make you feel bad since I was the one involved.” Erin chuckled dryly to herself. “He said that some things are more important than money. You are lucky to have him.”
“Why did you have his phone?” She sniffled, but the tears had stopped.
“His car was towed while we were having our meeting. Since it was an emergency, I offered to drive him.”
“That’s all it was?” She was starting to perk back up now.
“That’s it.”
Elizabeth embraced the other woman in a tight hug, “Thank you for telling me all of this. Some women would have just let me think the worst.”
“Yeah, well, when a guy as good as that is involved, I think he should catch a fair break.” She patted Elizabeth awkwardly on the back and pulled away. “Now, there’s a man in there worried about his son and about you. I think you can put him at ease on at least one of those things, don’t you think?”
Nodding, Elizabeth set off to find him. When she got back inside, Derrick was hunkered over in a chair. His fingers grasped the back of his head. The clicking of her shoes across the tiles made his head shoot up.
“Lizzie!” Derrick stood up. He was worried he wouldn’t come back. “I swear I didn’t know it was her tonight.”
“I know. She told me.”
His eyes searched her face. “You brought him here during the storm, didn’t you?”
Elizabeth nodded. Now that everything was over, the fear and anxiety overwhelmed her. “I was so scared.” Her breath shuddered. She felt like she was going to collapse.
Derrick pulled her to his chest and held her head against him. His heartbeat echoed in her ear. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
“Where is he?!” Catherine’s shrill voice screamed at the nurses on duty. A young blonde man stood beside her.
Derrick sighed. He had called her to let her know that Charlie was in the hospital but that he was okay. Their personal differences aside, she still had a right to know. “He’s still in recovery. The doctor will come get us when Charles wakes up.
“Where were you when it happened?”
“I was at work. I had to go in for a few minutes.”
Catherine’s eyes bulged, “You left our son alone with one of your tramps?!”
“She is not a tramp! You should be thanking her. If she hadn’t brought him in, he would have been a lot worse off.” Derrick pushed Elizabeth behind him, fashioning himself into a human shield.
A calm voice interrupted them. “Is the Page family here?” A doctor in a long, white coat stood at the edge of the room.
“Yes, we’re here.” Catherine rushed over to him.
“He’s awake now. You can see him if you like.”
Derrick gave Elizabeth’s hand a squeeze. “Could you wait here for me?”
“Yes. Of course.” She watched as Derrick and his ex-wife followed the doctor behind the closed doors.
“When can he come home?” Derrick tried to keep his voice even, but the truth was that he was still worried.
“We would like to keep him two or three days just to make sure he doesn’t have any complications.”
The doctor knocked on a wooden door before opening it. Charlie was propped up on pillows. An IV was pumping fluids into his arm. He still seemed a little groggy, but he managed a smile. It wasn’t very often that he got to see his mom and dad together in the same room.
“How are you feeling, buddy?”
“Better, but I’m sore.”
“You did really good. You’ll be completely better before you know it.” Catherine tried to keep the pain out of her voice. She didn’t want to worry her son by crying in front of him. Her fingers grasped his little hand.
“Hey, Dad?”
“Hmm?”
Charlie looked around as if he was missing something. “Where is your friend?”
Derrick brushed a few curls back on his son’s head. “She’s in the waiting room.”
“Could you tell her thank you for me?” Charlie’s brown eyes began to droop as the pain medicine kicked in.
“Sure thing, buddy.” Derrick lean
ed in and kissed his forehead.
The doctor jerked his head, signaling it was time for them to step out. Once they were in the hallway, he handed some forms to Catherine. “We need these filled out. One of you can stay with him tonight if you want to.”
“I’ll stay.” She moved the ink pen across the forms, checking boxes and filling out information.
Derrick nodded, “Okay. Call me if there are any changes.” He shook the doctor’s hand and made his way back to the waiting room.
“How is he?” Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip.
“He’ll be okay. Catherine will stay with him tonight. How did you get here?”
“I drove my car.”
“Do you think you could give me a lift back home?”
“Yeah, of course.”
The two of them wound their way across the hospital parking lot until they found her car. Derrick slid into the passenger seat. “Charlie wanted me to tell you thank you for him.”
“He’s a good kid.” A small relieved smile toyed with her lips.
“Yeah. He is. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to him.” His fingers scratched the stubble on his chin, and he let out a worried sigh.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
Elizabeth felt her face growing hotter. “For running off before you had a chance to explain. It’s hard for me to trust you. I keep remembering the way I felt when I saw that other woman leaving your hotel room that night, and it makes it hard for me to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
“Trust and respect are not things that are freely given. They take time to build up. I’m actually glad that you are worried about stuff like that.”
“Why?”
“It means that you are guarding your heart, at least a little bit. Only a child would believe in someone without any doubts at all. Plus, if it worries you that I might do something behind your back with someone else, then I think that makes you less likely to cheat. You don’t want to have to go through that pain, so you will make an extra effort to stay out of those situations. A little jealousy is natural. I just need you to hear me out if you have a concern. I don’t want you to get hurt because of a misunderstanding.”
Elizabeth let his words sink in as she drove. Her heart was still hammering in her chest by the time she parked in her driveway again. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” She walked slowly towards her door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home. I thought that you might want some alone time after everything that happened today.
Derrick reached out and took her hand. “We still have a date to finish.”
Chapter 16: Redo
Derrick flipped on the lights in his home. It seemed quieter without Charlie in it now. Every time his son left, he felt a hole reopening inside his chest. His backpack and toys were still strewn across the living room. Derrick wandered into the kitchen.
“It’s probably cold by now.” Elizabeth scooped up the dirty dishes on the table and began to scrape the excess food on the plates into the trash.
“That’s fine. I’m not really hungry anyway.” He took the plates from her and placed them in the sink.
“What are you doing? I need to at least rinse them, or you’ll never get them clean.”
Derrick had stopped listening to her. His eyes smoldered as he stepped closer to her. Elizabeth stepped backwards until her back was almost against the wall. He was coming closer. Her hands were still hovering in front of her where she had been holding the dishes. Derrick grabbed her wrists and pinned her against the wall. Elizabeth gasped as he closed the rest of the distance between them. She could barely breathe. His head leaned down and hovered just in front of her lips. He let the anticipation build before he let their lips touch. Elizabeth’s body melted into the kiss. His chest pressed against her firmly. The sensation made her moan softly. Being so close to her gave him an adrenaline rush. He wanted to trail his kisses down her body, but now was not the time for that.
Derrick pulled away with a satisfied look on his face. Elizabeth gazed at him in a daze. “What was that for?”
“I just wanted to say thank you.”
“You should say thank you more often.”
He chuckled and smirked at her. “Maybe later.”
She was still trying to gather her thoughts. His kiss had made her brain foggy. “So, um, what are we going to do now?”
Derrick grabbed a fresh bottle of wine and poured them each a glass. “I was thinking we could relax a bit before you went back home.”
“If you wanted to relax, you probably shouldn’t have kissed me like that.” Elizabeth mumbled under her breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” She took her new glass of wine and chugged it.
“Oh, I almost forgot. There will be a charity auction coming up. I’ll need you to be there since you’re the face of the company now. I’ll have Tim put together an ensemble for you.”
The switch back to work from such an intimate moment caught her off guard. “Oh, okay.”
Sensing her disappointment, Derrick sweetened the deal. “You can count it as our second date.”
She perked up as he said this. “Okay!” Beaming at him, she felt herself becoming sleepy. Elizabeth tried to fight back a yawn, but she couldn’t help it.
“Are you tired?” His eyes softened. She looked so vulnerable as the wine began to take its affect.
“Today has just been a very,” she searched for the right word, “eventful. I’ve had a lot to take in, and my emotions are a little zapped right now.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and go home then?”
Elizabeth pouted, “I don’t want to leave just yet.”
Derrick chuckled. “You’re like a little kid sometimes.” He kissed her forehead and smiled at her. “Since you don’t have your furniture yet, why don’t you just sleep here tonight then?” Her eyes widened, and he held up his hands to put her at ease. “Just sleep. I want to make sure you understand that I’m interested in more than just your body.”
Elizabeth’s cheeks blazed. She averted her eyes and tried to keep her composure. “Sleep sounds good.”
Pulling her towards the bedroom, Derrick handed her a set of his pajama bottoms and a plain white t-shirt. “Put these on.” He turned his back so she could have some privacy. It was hard to resist pinning her on the bed. He knew she wouldn’t fight back if he did, but part of him wanted to wait. She wasn’t one of his one night stands that he just used for sex and tossed aside. If he wanted this to go in a different direction, he would have to treat her differently. The sound of fabric hitting the floor made him want to turn around. He closed his eyes tightly and resisted the temptation.
“Okay. I’m decent.” She stood awkwardly beside his bed. His clothes swallowed her, and she could smell his cologne on them.
Seeing her so relaxed in his home made his heart skip a beat. It had been so long since he had let a woman wear his clothes and stay the night. Would he be able to keep his hands to himself tonight? He was already having a difficult enough time. “Get some sleep.” He turned and shut the door to his bedroom behind him. His body sank to the couch. Looking up at the ceiling, he let out a long, slow breath. Breaking his old habits was going to be harder than he had imagined.
Elizabeth slipped under his sheets and curled up on her side. Had she done something wrong? When he had offered to let her spend the night, she had assumed that they would be sleeping beside one another. Now, she felt as though she had kicked him out of his own bed. The chill of the sheets sank into her skin as she buried her head into his pillow. The wine was starting to go to her head. Eventually the comfort of the bed won out over her worries, and she fell asleep.
Sizzling from down the hall woke her up. Sunlight caressed her cheek through a gap in the curtains. For a few moments, Elizabeth didn’t remember where she was. Yesterday’s events slowly came back to her. Her finger
s traced along the outline of her lips. If she hadn’t woken up in his bed, she would have thought it had all been a dream.
The cold floorboards nipped at her feet as she swung them out of bed. The smell of bacon became stronger the closer she got to the kitchen. Derrick was cooking again. He was only wearing a pair of sweatpants. His back muscles flexed as he lifted a pan from the stove and stirred it.
“Oh, you’re up.” He smiled a crooked smile at her and filled a plate with bacon and eggs. A pile of dry toast was mounded in the center of the table. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Dig in. We have the auction tonight.”
“It’s tonight?” Elizabeth nibbled on the corner of a slice of toast.
Derrick nodded and placed a pitcher of orange juice on the table. “Yeah, I thought I would drop you off with Tim while I go to the hospital to check on Charlie for a bit.”
“What about your car?”
“I already called the impound lot. I paid the fee over the phone. They should be dropping it off soon.”
“They’re bringing it to you? I thought you had to go get it from where ever they towed it to.”
“I give them a few free night’s stay at the hotel to compensate them for their troubles.”
“That’s bribery!” Elizabeth shook her head as she laughed.
“That’s business.” Derrick took a sip of juice. A car horn honked outside. “That must be them. Sorry, I thought we would have more time to eat.” Shoving a piece of bacon quickly in her mouth, Elizabeth smile sheepishly at him. “Don’t choke yourself.”
Chewing fervently, she chugged some juice and grabbed her purse. “Don’t worry. I grew up in a house with three brothers. I’m a pro at eating quickly.”
Chuckling, he held the front door open for her. “Now, why wasn’t that on your resume?”
“I couldn’t possibly include all my talents on one sheet of paper.” She flipped her hair brusquely over her shoulder.
“Oh, really? And just what other talents do you have, Miss Adams?” He couldn’t help it. His interest was piqued.