by Early, Mora
Josh saw his mother’s fingers whiten around her coffee cup. Even Ben’s shoulders tensed. The acid in Josh’s stomach churned like a washing machine in a permanent rinse cycle.
“Well,” Kara Owens snapped, her wide mouth tight with worry. “Have you figured out what’s wrong with my husband yet?”
The doctor, Josh couldn’t remember her name, gave a slow nod. “We have some news.”
***
As soon as William was situated in a private room and the doctor had assured her he was in no immediate danger, Emma called Maisie Ransler. Though Warren had been confident that the knot on William’s forehead was nothing more than a simple contusion, Emma hadn’t wanted to take any chances with the film star. Not to mention, she wanted to make sure their asses were covered if this became an insurance issue.
She’d been on the phone with people from the studio – everyone from the payroll department to Arnold Purefoy himself, it seemed – to make sure every ball that needed to get rolling had been put in play. Her ear was sweaty from being pressing against her cell for the last several hours. And despite the doctor’s assurances, she still wasn’t looking forward to making this call.
Someone was supposed to have notified Maisie already, but Emma wasn’t willing to take the chance that all the people she’d spoken to today, none of whom she knew personally, knew how to do their jobs. She was a double-checker. That was just her nature.
Maisie answered on the first ring. “Emma? Is everything alright?” Emma blew out a breath. Judging by the strained tone of Maisie’s voice and the hum of an engine in the background, it seemed like someone had called Maisie after all.
“William’s fine. Did someone from the studio call you?” Emma rubbed at her temple, hoping to subdue the steady throb that had taken up residence in her skull, but the massaging had little effect.
“Yes, a little while ago. They said you were accompanying William to the hospital. I appreciate that.” The anxious thump-thump-thump of Maisie tapping her hands on the steering wheel filtered over the line. Emma tipped her head back against the wall, wishing the cool surface could numb her brain.
“No problem. I just wanted to let you know the doctors have already taken a look at him. They agree with the medic’s prognosis. Just a bump, nothing severe, but they’ll keep him for a few hours for observation. I’m probably being overly cautious, but I don’t want to screw anything up for Josh.”
Maisie chuckled a little. “No, it’s fine. Where is Josh, anyway? No offense, dear, but as hands on as he is, I figured he’d be the one riding herd on this.”
Emma glanced toward the elevators, wanting to sprint there right now and take them down to the floor his father was on. Ben had texted her the room number earlier. “He’s here at the hospital too. His... uh... his father was brought in as well.” She didn’t know if Josh would want her to tell Maisie such personal information, but she felt compelled to explain his absence to the other woman.
“Oh no! Is Cam alright?” The was the chunk of a car door closing echoed over the line as Maisie exited her vehicle. Emma had forgotten that Maisie met the elder Mr. Owens at her and Josh’s wedding.
“I don’t know, honestly. I have no idea what’s going on. This all happened at the same time and I’ve been dealing with the crew and the studio and –” Emma cut herself off. “Not that I mind, of course. I’m glad I could be here for William. Did they tell you what room he’s in?”
“I’m on my way up. Why don’t you go find Josh, Emma? I really appreciate everything you’ve done. I’m sure William does too. But Josh needs you more right now.”
Emma loosened the knot of her bun and squeezed her scalp. Still no relief from the pounding headache. “I can wait until you get here, Maisie. It’s fine. Ben’s with Josh, and Kara too.”
“Don’t be silly. Will’s just got a bump on the noggin and I’m a few floors away. He’ll be fine. Give Josh our love and tell him we’ll be sending lots of good vibes his dad’s way.” Maisie hung up before Emma could say another word.
With a sigh, she tucked the phone into the pocket of her jacket. She glanced quickly through the small window in the hospital room door. The doctor was still speaking with William, who nodded and smiled amicably, despite the purpling bruise on his forehead.
Arnold had specifically said not to leave William alone for a second. He was nervous about paparazzi hounding the star, getting pictures of him in his hospital bed, and spinning it into some tale of a jinxed film or something. Emma hadn’t really followed his logic. The man was as fidgety as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, as her dad used to say.
The memory made Emma smile a little, despite the thumping in her head. She didn’t have many memories of her parents, since she’d been so young when they’d each passed away. But there were a few. More than Todd had, since he was two years younger. Frank Ness had had a saying for everything, it seemed, and they often occurred to Emma out of the blue like that.
Thoughts of her father led, unsurprisingly, to thoughts of Cam Owens. The small smile faded. Pushing away from the wall, Emma squared her shoulders and poked her head into William’s room.
“Your wife is on her way up. I’m going to see how Josh is doing. Don’t hesitate to call me directly if you need anything.” Her smile was a little unsteady, she knew. But she couldn’t help it. Her brain felt as if it was being whirled in a blender.
William’s smile was front page quality. “Thanks for everything, Emma. I’m fine, I told you.”
She gave him and the doctor a brief nod and ducked back out.
Emma found Josh, Ben, and Kara in a private room two floors down. Cam was tucked beneath the thin white hospital sheets, IV tubes hooked into his arms. His sandy blond hair was tousled and his cheeks were pale beneath his neatly trimmed beard. The thin skin beneath his eyes, which were closed, was a soft, bruised violet.
Kara sat in the chair beside him, her strawberry blonde hair glinting in the overhead light as she stroked her husband’s arm. Ben and Josh stood in one corner, talking in soft murmurs.
Josh saw her first, and Emma almost thought there was a flare of relief in his blue-green gaze. Had he not expected her to come? Had he been waiting for her? The idea startled her, freezing her in the doorway. Her sudden stop drew Kara’s gaze to her.
“Emma, sweetie, come on in.” Kara’s smile was wan, but it was genuine. That was promising. She looked just as tired as the unconscious Cam. Waiting in hospitals sapped your energy. Emma knew that. She hated hospitals. No matter that she was all grown up now; she still couldn’t shake the childhood notion that hospitals were where you went when you died. Both her mother and father had died in a hospital, her mother in the Maternity ward, and her father in the ER.
Just seeing Cam in that bed, someone she’d known for years, first as a kind professor and later as her (granted, fake) father-in-law, made the blood throb in her temples and bile rise in her throat.
“Any news?” She tried to keep her tone light as she stepped further into the hushed room, but she didn’t think she succeeded. Her throat was lined with razor blades, shredding each word as it came out.
Josh just stared at her, as if she were speaking in tongues. Ben crossed the room in two strides and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her tightly against his side. Kara’s tired smile grew both wider and more uncertain.
“They’re pretty sure the c-coma,” she stumbled over the word, her voice catching, “is a side effect of this new blood pressure medication he’s on. He has to be weaned off it, or it might cause more damage, so... it looks like he’s going to be here for a few days.”
Emma swallowed past the jagged lump in her throat and forced her lips to curve upward. “I’m sure they’ll be able to figure it out, Kara. The doctors here are great.” She didn’t sound very convincing, even to herself. All she could think of was the day her father had died... in a hospital just like this one. But she had to keep those thoughts out of her voice, and off her face.
Emma stretched her smile wider. “He’s actually upstairs in his own room with Maisie. He’s fine, just a simple head bump according to the EMT, and the doctors here confirmed it. I figured it was better to be safe than sorry so he’s staying for a few hours for observation. I had the crew wrap up for the night and pushed the call time for tomorrow. Once we get the doctor’s okay, William should be back on set. We’ll just need a bit of extra magic from Cleo.”
“Did you notify the studio?” His thick blond brows drew down. Again, Emma had to stifle the burst of hurt at his sharp tone. She must have stiffened though, because Ben gave her another squeeze.
“Knowing Emma, she notified not only the studio but she talked to Arnold himself.” Ben winked at her.
She felt the sting of heat in her cheeks and her smile grew a little more genuine. “I did speak to Arnold, actually. He wants to put a guard on William’s room to keep the paparazzi out.”
Kara nodded solemnly at her words. “Not a bad idea. Damn paps will stop at nothing to get a story.”
Kara should know, Emma mused. The woman read any and every gossip rag she could get her hands on. ‘Damn paps’ indeed. She probably paid for at least one’s salary.
Emma inclined her head at Josh, trying not to wince at the sickening thud in her brain. It felt like someone was taking wooden mallets to her grey matter. “I did everything I could think of, and a few more things on top of that, I promise. I’ve only just gotten off the phone for the first time five minutes ago.”
Josh shoved a hand roughly through his honey blond locks. His hair was rumpled, wavier than normal, falling over his forehead and curling around his ears. She had the overwhelming urge to smooth it back and trace the soft skin of his earlobes with her fingertips.
Slipping from Ben’s embrace, Emma crossed the hospital room and twined her arms around Josh’s waist. She fit herself against him, resting her chin on his chest. “William’s fine. The movie will be fine. How are you?” she asked softly.
His hands came up and rested lightly on her shoulders, not exactly holding her, but not pushing her away either. “Tense. Frustrated. Angry.”
None of that was surprising.
“At the doctor who prescribed the meds?” It was a guess, but she saw the flash of surprise in Josh’s gaze. His fingers tightened on her shoulders.
“Yeah.”
Emma smoothed her hands up his broad back, rubbing gently at the tense muscles there. “I know. But I’m sure he didn’t think Cam would have this reaction. Sometimes people’s bodies don’t do what you expect them to.” Like a young, healthy mother succumbing to a post-delivery infection, the tiny voice whispered, conjuring up muddy watercolor images of her long deceased mother. Emma didn’t even bother acknowledging the sharp sting of pain.
Unable to resist the urge any longer, Emma reached up and brushed her palms over Josh’s tousled hair, running the tips of her fingers over the delicate shell of his ears. He sighed, his eyes closing. Emma linked her hands behind his neck and leaned into him, resting her cheek lightly against his chest.
If she concentrated on listening to the low, steady throb of his heartbeat and the soft sound of his breathing, the nearly nauseating pain from her headache receded a bit.
Josh’s arms slid slowly around her waist and pulled her tighter against his chest, tucking her head beneath his chin. They both sighed. Emma felt some of the tension drain out of her, replaced by the warmth of Josh’s body. She thought he might feel the same thing. His frame slowly relaxed against her.
This wasn’t about putting on a show, although it had certainly occurred to her that Kara would expect Emma to comfort Josh, as his wife. Unlike so much of their relationship up to this point, Emma wasn’t thinking about what she should or shouldn’t be doing; what purpose it would serve or what trouble it might cause. She wasn’t thinking at all. She was acting on instinct.
After too brief a moment, in her opinion, Josh pulled out of her embrace. “Does anyone want coffee?”
“I’m good, sweetie.” Kara turned to Emma, her eyes tired. “Visiting hours are technically over, but Josh managed to persuade them to let you all stay. At least for a little longer.” Kara’s fingers squeezed her husband’s hand tightly.
“I guess I’ll head out, now that Emma’s here. I’m sure if we all camp out, the hospital’s patience will wear thin.” Ben moved to Kara’s side and pressed a kiss against her hair. “Call me if there are any changes.”
Emma tapped out a text on her cell. “Ben, Martin booked a suite of rooms at the Mandarin, if you want to stay close. I’m texting you the confirmation number.” Ben tipped her a small salute and gave Josh one of those one-armed man hugs.
He paused in the doorway to watch Cam for a second before repeating, “Call me. I’ll be close.” Ben flashed a quick grin at Emma at those words, and then he was gone.
Josh stared at her. Emma shifted uncomfortably at the strange look on his face, slightly wide-eyed, one corner of his mouth twitching slightly upward. Strain, she expected. But he looked... wary? She tried to smile. “How about we get that coffee?”
“Yeah. Okay.” He strode out, expression gone stiff. Emma turned to Kara, but the older woman was focused intently on her sleeping husband. With a brief touch on her shoulder, Emma followed Josh’s rigid, receding form.
Chapter 9 ~ Revelations
The cafeteria coffee was scalding hot and bitter. Josh grimaced as he sipped from the tall Styrofoam cup. The cashier, a young girl in her late teens, cast him and Emma surreptitious glances from beneath her pale blonde lashes. He jingled the change in his pocket, waiting for her to ring them up for the coffees, and Emma’s honey-glazed beignet.
Emma plucked at one corner of the pastry, her wedding band and engagement ring glinting in the bright white light from the buzzing overheads. Josh stiffened as the girl, who couldn’t be more than seventeen, stopped pressing buttons and stared at the rings.
Her mouth fell open and she raised wide, glistening brown eyes to stare at Emma. Then her gaze drifted to him and she gulped.
“You’re Josh Owens.” She breathed the words, a flush staining her pale cheeks. Her doe eyes shot back to Emma. “I saw you guys on the cover of People magazine! Your wedding was like... crazy romantic.” The cashier sighed, her eyes going glassy. “I can’t believe you were working for him when you guys fell in love! That’s so romantic! Like a movie... the office assistant and the hot CEO!”
She seemed to realize what she was saying then, and her flush deepened to an almost cherry red. Emma cleared her throat a little.
“Um, thank you.” Emma’s glanced at the small, white name tag on the girl’s maroon smock. “Thank you, Jenny. That’s very nice of you to say. How much –”
“Was it just like the most amazing thing ever? Getting swept off your feet by him?” Jenny breathed ‘him’ the same way very religious people did, capitalization implicit, and peeked at Josh again. He took another sip of his too hot coffee. His face felt like it was made of cold plastic. He really just wanted to turn and walk away.
Normally, Josh didn’t mind when people recognized him. He wasn’t a celebrity on the level of someone like Ransler. Producers weren’t nearly as newsworthy as the stars. But he was young, rich, and attractive and he got more than his fair share of press. So, while he never got mobbed by fans, he was used to being recognized and occasionally approached by someone who wanted to talk. Usually by someone who wanted to pitch their ‘totally blockbuster’ movie idea. But it had never really bothered him before.
Today was different. Tonight. What time was it? He didn’t want to deal with some giggling teen who wanted every last detail of his and Emma’s ‘fairytale romance’.
Emma set her own coffee down on th
e counter and rubbed her hand up and down the steely length of his spine. Her lips curved upward into a lush smile that seemed to hint at shared secrets. The cashier sighed again. Emma’s hand slipped around his bicep and squeezed gently.
“Meeting Josh was the best thing that ever happened to me.” Her words were soft, barely a breath. And damn it if they didn’t sound sincere. His chest burned and his stomach flipped.
Just like that, Josh couldn’t take it. Not right now. This stupid charade had been his idea and he knew it, but he just couldn’t deal with listening to Emma lie so convincingly about loving him. He needed to concentrate on his dad.
He tugged free of her loose grip, spun on his heel, and stormed toward the entrance to the cafeteria without a word. He knew it was rude. He could practically hear the cashier’s jaw hitting her bony chest. Emma muttered a few words of apology, something about ‘stress, family’ and then he heard the clatter of change on the counter and Emma’s hurried footsteps behind him.