Modern Girl's Guide to One-Night Stands

by DRAYER, GINA

  She pulled onto the street as the phone booted and immediately chimed with messages. Pushing the hands-free button on her steering wheel, Julia braced herself for the messages.

  As expected, the first one was from Simon.

  “Julia, I wish you’d come back and talk to me. Fuck. Please call me back.”

  The next message filled the car and Julia could hear the resignation in his voice.

  “I’m leaving for the airport. I didn’t want to leave like this, but there’s not much I can do about it now. The plane should land in New York by nine thirty. I’ll call when I get there. Please take the call. It’s worth the effort. You’re worth the effort.”

  Julia almost pulled over to call him. He’d still be at the airport. But the next message started.

  “Miss Hopkins, this is Jamie Rodgers from Horizon Village. I hate leaving a message like this, but we’ve been trying to reach you all day. Your mother went into respiratory distress and we had to transfer her to Silver Cross Hospital."

  How she didn’t end up in a ditch was a miracle. Julia pulled into a random driveway and dialed Horizon Village. The director of nursing had already left for the night, but the floor nurse filled her in.

  For a week, her mother had been fighting a cold that rapidly turned into suspected pneumonia. They had tried to reach Julia at home when the fever spiked. And after her mother’s blood oxygen levels fell below ninety-three percent even with supplemental nasal oxygen, the director called an ambulance to take her to the emergency room.

  Julia immediately dialed the hospital and waited for what seemed like an eternity until a doctor finally picked up.

  “We placed your mother on a BiPAP machine a few hours ago. She’s stabilized and resting comfortably, but at this point her oxygen levels haven’t returned to a normal state. If her condition doesn’t improve in the next few hours, I’d recommending placing her on a ventilator.”

  “If that will help, why haven’t you done that yet?”

  “I was hoping to hear from you before it became necessary. Once your mother is placed on a vent, it’s likely she’ll become dependent. And then there's the matter of her infection. Her overall condition has deteriorated since she was brought in. Is there any way you can come to the hospital for us to discuss your options?”

  “I can be there in a few hours.”

  Julia was thirty minutes into the drive when she remembered her gear was still on the boat. She wasn’t going back. There was a chance the caretaker could move the gear into the boathouse until she had a chance to come back and collect it, but she didn’t have his number.

  “Call Megan. Cell phone.”

  She just hoped Megan wasn’t in the middle of a class or whatever she did at those conferences.

  “Hello, caller. You’re on the air. Tell me about your wildest sexual fantasies.”

  “Megan, Mom’s in the hospital.”

  “Oh, honey. What can I do?”

  “Can you get someone out to the dock to pick up my gear? I left everything on the boat this afternoon.”

  “Why didn’t Simon call Roger? I’m sure he’ll take care of anything you need.”

  “Simon’s not with me. He had a work emergency and he left.”

  “What the hell do you mean, he left?” she said, practically screaming into the other end of the phone. “I know that things are complicated at work, but you're not telling me that he left you to deal with your mom—”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Julia said, interrupting her before Megan could start in on her rant. “Can you just call Roger for me and see if he’ll take care of my things? I just left. All my gear and clothing. Everything.”

  “I’ll take care of it, sweetie.” Her voice was infinitely softer when she asked, “Are you okay? Do you want me to fly back to be with you?”

  Julia had been her mother’s medical power of attorney since she was twenty-three and her grandmother died. By now she was an old hand at dealing with medical issues, but this one was different. This wasn’t a bladder infection or a bedsore. The outcome of this illness wasn't clear, and Julia wasn’t sure what to do. “I’m fine. I can handle it," she finally said, hoping her uncertainty didn’t transmit through the phone. “I’m just going in to meet with the doctors. I don’t have to stay long. And if I do, I still have that Xanax you gave me.”

  “I’ll be on the next flight out.”

  “Please don’t. You know that making a big deal about it just makes me more anxious. If it gets bad, you’ll be the first person I call. Promise."

  Chapter Twenty

  Modern Girl Tip #18: Parting Ways—Don’t sneak off without saying goodbye. Even if it wasn’t life-altering, leaving without a word cheapens the whole affair and can make your partner feel used.

  The pre-boarding announcement filled the terminal just as Simon’s phone rang. Hoping it was Julia, he pulled it out only to see his sister’s face staring back at him from the screen. He’d been expecting this call, but Simon was really hoping it would be a day or two before Megan heard he’d left. Luckily, she only had ten minutes to berate him before he had to turn off his phone.

  “You’re a bastard. I spent months telling Julia what a great guy you were, and it took you three days to prove me wrong. How could you leave her like that?”

  “Listen, Megan, I appreciate you looking out for Julia, but you need to stay out of this. Julia’s upset, and I’m glad she called you to talk, but this isn't any of your business. I get that this would happen, because of her history, and I have every intention of working things out with her when I’m back. But this is my company we’re talking about. I can't shirk my duties just to smooth out things with Julia. I have employees counting on me.”

  “I guess that tells me how much she means to you. Right after your employees. Nice, Simon. That sounds exactly like Dad. I thought the number of times we sat in a hospital room with Mom while Dad was dealing with work issues would have made you more compassionate. Don’t worry. I'm taking the next flight out so Julia doesn’t have to be alone.”

  “Don’t you think you’re being a bit melodramatic? It’s not as if I abandoned her in the wilderness. She said she was going to pack up and head home early.”

  Megan said something right as the flight crew announced the first boarding call.

  “I didn’t hear you, but can we talk about this later? My plane is boarding so I have to go.”

  “I said, didn’t she tell you about her mom?”

  “I know she needs to stay in Chicago because of her mom,” Simon said as he gathered his carry-on. “If not for that, I would have asked her to come with me. I'm not an idiot.”

  “You are an idiot. Her mom was rushed to the hospital. She keeps saying it’s fine, but Julia left everything at the lake house. Everything. All her gear and her camera. She wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t serious. She really didn’t tell you?”

  Simon sat back down, unsure of exactly what Megan was telling him. “We had a fight and she went back to her location to pack up her gear. I tried calling before I left.” He rubbed his forehead, trying to remember if she looked distressed the last time he saw her. "Fuck. She said her phone battery was out of charge when she left the house. Do you think it’s bad?”

  “I know her pretty well. She treats that camera like a child. Not only did she leave it—it’s still on the boat. So yes, it's bad.”

  “I can change my flight and be in Chicago in a few hours.”

  With some good luck and a platinum card, Simon just caught the flight leaving at seven forty-five. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about his bags. His luggage was probably going to end up in some unclaimed baggage limbo, never to be seen again. But finding out where Julia’s mom was taken was more important. Before boarding the plane, he put out calls to a few people who might be able to help track her down. Julia still wasn’t picking up and Megan wasn’t having any luck either.

  When the plane landed, he was greeted with a handful of messages. Ther
e was still no contact with Julia, but his assistant was able to find out the hospital and room number with the help of Beth’s brother-in-law. Megan had also managed to track down Peter. He promised to be on the first plane tomorrow morning to take care of the mess in New York.

  Everything was falling into place. All he needed to do now was find Julia and let her know she wasn’t alone. That, however, turned out to be easier said than done. When he got to the hospital, the staff wouldn’t allow him admittance to the ICU. When he tried to get one of the nurses to run a message to Julia, he was asked to wait in the ICU waiting room until she came out. And fuck if that didn’t take forever.

  Simon waited. He texted her. He asked again and again to have someone let her know he was there. It was going on two hours when another doctor entered the room and he caught sight of her. That quick glimpse almost undid him.

  He couldn’t stay away any longer. Deciding his best course of action was going to be sneaking in, he walked up to the desk and asked for a piece of paper. He stood there and wrote a long note to Julia—just in case he got arrested. All the while, he watched, looking for the right opportunity.

  The attendant got up to get something off the printer behind her, and Simon slipped through the closed doors of the ICU floor. He was sure he’d be caught when the door to his destination opened in front of him and the doctor left the room. She was making a note in a chart and completely ignored him. Without a sound, Simon slipped into the room before the door shut.

  Julia was sitting beside the bed with her head buried into the covers, clinging to the frail hand of her mother like a frightened child. Simon moved around to the other side of the bed and smoothed the hair away from the side of her face.

  “I’m here, Julia. Tell me what you need.”

  She looked up and blinked, confusion registering in her red-rimmed eyes. “Simon?” Sitting up, she looked around the room, confused. “What……why are you here? What about your flight? You should be in New York.”

  “You needed me here.”

  “I’m fine.” She sniffed and straightened her back.

  Then he saw the walls go up, a look of steely determination hardening her features.

  “I don’t need you. When I called Megan earlier, she explained what had happened at the office. You should go back—”

  With a sigh, he pulled the beautiful, frustrating woman out of the chair and into a python hug, hoping to shut her up. “Believe me when I say being here for you is the most important thing I can be doing right now. You’re not alone. I'm here. Megan will be here tomorrow. Let us help you.”

  The tenuous hold Julia had on her emotions cracked. She gripped him tighter and completely unraveled. Deep, bone-shaking sobs racked her body, and a flood of words came rushing out in an incoherent string. “Simon…too late…don’t know…can’t…”

  He could only make out about every tenth word between her hiccupping breaths. “Hold on. Slow down,” he soothed, running a hand down her back.

  It took a few seconds, but he finally got her to stop and just let him hold her until she calmed down. They sat on the uncomfortable hospital sofa as she worked through her emotions. He hated seeing her like this, small and broken by a tragic situation she had no control over. Simon was going to do everything in his power to never see that desperate look in her eyes again.

  Julia didn’t know how Simon found her. She hadn’t even told Megan where her mother had been taken. But right now she didn’t care. Simon was here, and he wanted her to lean on him.

  He couldn’t have offered a more tempting lifeline, and Julia snatched it up because she was drowning. After hearing the news from the doctor about her mother’s condition, Julia didn’t know how she was going to make it through the next hour, let alone the next few days.

  So she clung to him until she was finally able to process everything.

  “Because of her brain injury, Mom has been bedridden since the accident,” she said into Simon’s chest. “She’s more susceptible to complications from simple things like infections or the flu. This was her third bout of pneumonia, and the last time there was some permanent lung damage. They thought putting Mom on a ventilator would help support her while the antibiotics had time to work. The infection is more serious than her nurse originally thought. The doctors did everything they could, but……”

  Saying it aloud made it real, and she had to fight back another round of sobs. Everything was going to change, and there was nothing Julia could do about it.

  “If she’s on the ventilator, will she’ll be okay?” Simon asked. "People live for years while on a ventilator.”

  “The ventilator is just keeping her body alive. She’s gone, Simon,” she said, finally looking up to meet his gaze. The finality of the words hung in the air, sucking all the oxygen out of the room. “I’m meeting with a transplant team tomorrow and then I have to start making arrangements.”

  “Hey, listen to me,” Simon said, caressing her cheek. “I’m here for you. We can figure all that out tomorrow. Just let me take care of you tonight.”

  His easy use of the word we sent her back into a fit of tears. Except for those few years while her grandmother was still alive, it had always been her—singular—that had to take care of her mother. She curled into him, absorbing his warmth, a weight lifting from her. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel so alone.

  They stayed like that for the longest time, with the hum and buzz of the hospital machinery the sad soundtrack to her life, until the floor nurse came in to check on her patient.

  “I’m sorry, but only one person can be here at a time,” she said. “I know it sounds cruel, but it’s for the patient’s safety. People in the ICU are highly susceptible to infection. I hate to ask you to leave, but it’s policy."

  Simon reluctantly let go of Julia and stood up. There was no way in hell he was leaving her alone, rule or not. His features were hard when he spoke to the nurse. “Let me make a few phone calls. I’m sure the administrator would be happy to make an exception in this case, but I'm not sure how happy he’s going to be to get a call at midnight.”

  Julia stood up and pressed herself against his side, trying to soothe the beast. “It’s okay, Simon. I’ve spoken with the doctor and there's nothing more I can do tonight. Why don’t we go downstairs and get something to eat? I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had anything since breakfast.”

  Simon’s angry gaze softened and he pulled her tighter against him. “We can do anything you want, but I’m not leaving you to deal with this yourself."

  She melted just hearing the words. This was the connection that had been missing in her life. The intimacy she’d tried to force with Luke by bending to his every demand. From their first meeting up to this point, Simon was different. With him there was nothing to force about it. Everything just clicked in place. Even in this low moment, Julia felt it and it made everything just a little easier to handle.

  They made their way down to the lower level, but unfortunately the kitchens were closed when they reached the cafeteria. Their only options were cold sandwiches and microwaved burritos.

  “This is crap. You need something better than this. I can go out to get something for us to eat. Are you okay to stay here while I’m gone? I can always call my assistant and see if she can pick up something.”

  “Don’t you dare. You can’t call her at home to get us dinner. I’m exhausted. I was going to head home after I met with the doctor. There’s not much I can do here since I didn’t bring my laptop. I need to start making funeral arrangements. Fuck, my laptop is in Michigan.”

  “I had Roger grab your stuff and drive it here. It should all be at my house by now.”

  “Simon, I can’t believe you—” Julia got choked up on the words. God, she was like a leaky water hose. Tears stung her eyes and she bit her lip to stop from breaking down again.

  “I told you. Whatever you need. Just ask.”

  “I think what I really need is some sleep. I know y
ou changed your plans and made all these arrangement to get my things, but can my stuff wait until tomorrow? I just want to go home.”

  “Why don’t you come back to my place? That way you can get some sleep and pick up your stuff. Besides, I don’t want you to be alone tonight."

  Julia shifted uncomfortably. They needed to talk. This was the part she didn’t know how to handle. Things between them were shifting again. This wasn’t a one-night stand, and a summer fling didn’t cancel an important business trip at the drop of a hat. She didn’t know what they were.

  “Stop overthinking it,” he said as if reading her mind. “Staying the night doesn’t have to mean anything if you don’t want it to. We’ll talk about us later. Right now, let me be there for you.”

  Wishing she had whiskey to give her a little Dutch courage, Julia tamped down her butterflies and made a choice.

  “Okay,” she said, more to herself than him. “Let me talk to the floor nurse and let her know that I’m leaving.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  Modern Girl Tip #20: Check Your Emotions At The Door—This is probably one of the most important rules. A one-night stand is not the time to get attached. This doesn’t mean you get to behave like a douchebag. Checking your emotions simply means that you should be invested as little as possible. It’s just sex.

  Simon woke up the next morning with his arms around Julia’s waist and his face buried in her sweet, orange-scented hair. He loved the smell of her and would have happily spent the entire morning lying in bed holding her, but they had things to do. When he shifted to get out of the bed, she looked up at him sleepily and tossed a leg over him.

  “Where are you going?” she asked, her voice husky from sleep.

  If she kept looking at him like that, he’d never find the strength to leave the bed. Steeling his will, he tried to slide out from under her leg. She stubbornly held on and whimpered. The sound made his balls ache and he was fast losing the fight. “Sweetheart, we need to get up and head back to the hospital,” he said in a last-ditch effort to stay on track.