by Rachel Cross
“So what’s the story? Is he married?”
“He’s separated, papers filed.”
“I’ve seen him in some commercials the hospital keeps running. Quite a catch.”
“He is a great catch for the hospital. I still don’t know how Cielito Community pulled it off.” She shook her head, puzzled. “The guy is a world-class surgeon. Our operating room has never seen so many cardiac patients.”
“I don’t mean for the hospital, dummy! I mean for you.”
Kate glanced at her watch again. “Ava.”
“So now you have a lawyer and a doctor interested — ”
Kate laughed. “Neither one is interested in me. Get real.”
Ava’s brow creased. “What is wrong with you? Haven’t you looked in the mirror lately?” She stared at Kate. “I swear you had more confidence when we were sixteen. You’re a beautiful woman. Believe me, these older, successful guys are in the market for women our age. I see it all the time in my line of work. You’d make a great trophy wife.”
Kate grimaced. “I don’t want to be a trophy wife.” She gave a short, humorless laugh. “I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves here. I’ve never even had a serious boyfriend.”
Uh oh. What was wrong with her? She didn’t usually give Ava that kind of opening.
Ava sat forward in her chair, frowning.
Kate leaned back, fixing her friend with a level stare. Here we go again. Ava was gearing up for her recurring lecture series, ‘the trouble with Kate’.
Kate held up a hand. “Please don’t start. I know what you are going to say and … I agree.”
Ava straightened in her chair, brows raised.
Kate didn’t want to continue living her life the way she’d lived it for the past few years. Raising Emma and finishing college had been the primary focus of her life for so long. It left little time for anything else. With Emma gone and a stable job with plenty of vacation accrued, she had no excuse. She spent most evenings on her couch curled up with a book. Last weekend she had binged on the entire fourth season of Dexter. She hadn’t even left the cottage.
Ava was right. Kate had to live. She knew that now. Something shook loose out there in the ocean this morning. In the surf, on that beach, she had experienced the fragility of life firsthand.
It wasn’t the first time she’s been near death; her mother died young and Kate was inundated with death as a nurse. But old people died. No matter how many advances there were in medicine, it was eventually a losing battle. Young people died in hospitals, too. That was harder to take. She’d seen accidents or injuries take the lives of the young frequently, with devastating consequences for the family and friends.
But nothing, not her mom’s early death from cancer, not her work experiences, nothing made her aware of her own mortality until the rescue. She couldn’t stop thinking about that guy. She couldn’t handle finding out he hadn’t made it.
What Ava had been trying to tell her finally made sense. With college behind her, a good career ahead of her and Emma gone, Kate needed to get out of the rut she’d dug herself and do the things she always wanted to do. Travel. Date. Take risks.
She took a deep breath. “What happened with that surfer this morning has made me … think about my life.”
Ava reached across the table to grip her hand. Kate squeezed back.
“I’m stuck, Ava. I don’t regret waiting for the right person, I just, I just … well, I need to get out more.”
Ava clapped her hands, beaming. “Will you let me set you up with someone?”
Kate tried to muster some enthusiasm. “I guess. Although it didn’t work out so well last time — ”
Ava waved a negligent hand. “I know a couple of great guys.”
Kate pressed her lips together to hide a smile. Debatable.
Ava raised her eyebrows. “I see you trying not to smile. You need to open yourself up.”
Kate pretended to shudder. “There’s nothing wrong with waiting and making absolutely sure it’s right.”
Ava met and held her gaze.
Kate bit her lip, and looked away.
“You of all people should know there are no absolutes. You just have to dive in there and try. I’ve never been able to understand your issues around men.”
“I wanted to set a good example for Emma — ”
“Fat lot of good that did,” Ava said.
“Ava!”
“I’m sorry. The fact that you’ve been saying that since your mom died doesn’t make it true. It doesn’t even apply anymore, now that Emma’s not around. I swear that wackadoodle sister — ”
“Lay off Emma. I mean it.”
“Your sister has healthier relationships with guys than you. I don’t know if it’s because you lost your mom, or your dad is a nightmare, but whatever it is you need to deal with it.”
Kate nodded. “I know. I get it now. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
“Okay then. Let the setups commence.”
Kate groaned. “When you put it that way — ”
“Why don’t you work some overtime so we can take a trip?”
Travel. Now that was something she could get excited about.
“Yeah. Let’s go somewhere.” She could swing it with a few more overtime shifts. Or a lot more. Couldn’t she?
Ava squealed. “Where? Europe? Australia? Hawaii? Anywhere. And I’m sure my mom would donate some of her frequent flier miles to the cause.”
Kate nodded, in perfect accord. “Anywhere. On a budget. But how about somewhere that requires a passport?”
Chapter 4
The incessant vibration of the cell phone woke Kate from a dead sleep and for a moment she was disoriented. The sun shone directly onto her bed. Was it morning or had she been napping? She glanced over at her clock. Eight A.M.? She shot up. After yesterday’s excitement she’d slept hard. She grabbed her cell phone from her night-table and stared, blearily, at the display.
Twenty missed calls. Fourteen voice mails. Her eyes narrowed. What the hell? She scrolled through the missed calls — local, local, Los Angeles, local, Los Angeles, hospital, Ava. Some came in last night after ten, some calls this morning starting around five am. None from Emma. None from D.C. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t about Emma. Kate heaved a sigh of relief.
She scrutinized the numbers again. Three missed calls from the hospital. Nothing new there. They were continually short staffed and trying to get nurses in for over-time. No way was she up for working. Ava had called four times, might as well start there.
The phone vibrated in her hand before she could dial. One of those Los Angeles area codes again.
“Hello?” Her voice was still husky with sleep.
“They’re on to us,” a rich, deep voice rumbled in her ear.
She pulled the phone away, stared at it, then put it back to her head. “I think you have the wrong number,” she said, politely.
He gave a short laugh. “Kate? It’s Alec. Did you just wake up?”
She didn’t like the way her heart leaped. Was that excitement?
“Oh, Alec. I did. How’s it going?” She struggled to keep her tone casual but it came out breathless.
“Have you turned on the TV?”
“No.” She tried to stifle a yawn and failed. “What’s going on? I have a bunch of missed calls on my phone.”
“Good news or bad news first?” he asked, tone serious.
“Good news, please.”
“Our surfer is alive and in stable condition. They think he had a seizure.”
“Wow.” She sat up, riveted. “That’s fantastic news! Better than I expected. Incredible.”
“Yeah, isn’t it? It’s a novelty for me, helping save someone’s life, but I’m sure you do it all
the time.”
“Well, no, I mean it happens of course, but not routinely. Most codes … Never mind. What bad news could there possibly be?”
“We’ve been found out. Someone has been talking and the media is in a lather about it.”
What was he talking about?
“The rescue. The media. If they aren’t calling you now, they will be.”
She drew a sharp breath. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah, sorry about this,” he said. “I’m … I think I mentioned I’m slightly famous in some circles. Apparently they’ve tagged me the ‘rocker rescuer’ and you the ‘local nurse heroine’ and given the interest in all things celebrity or quasi-celebrity, this thing has gone national.”
She sat in stunned silence.
“Kate? Are you with me?”
“Yes,” she croaked, hugging her knees to her chest.
“So, ah, I think we have to get in front of this. I know these guys. With or without our cooperation, they’ll get their story. The paramedics probably have been interviewed already, the guy who let us use his phone … so they can get what happened from us or … ”
“From us?”
“Great.”
“Oh, no, that wasn’t a statement. That was a question. They want to interview us?”
“Yes. Morning in America — ”
“On television? Yikes.” Her heart rate tripled.
He sighed. “This won’t go away. Trust me, I know from experience. If we get out in front of this train we can direct it, but there is no derailing it. This is the stuff that those weekly entertainment magazine folks live for. Hell, if you present right, you might even get a book deal.”
Television? A book deal? Was he nuts?
“Can you stop talking?”
He laughed.
“I have a couple of days off, then I have work … ”
“Oh, your work is totally on board with this. These kinds of things can put a little community hospital on the map. Some of the information on you is probably coming from them. I didn’t have any trouble getting your number from the hospital, once I explained who I was.”
She licked her lips, mouth dry. “Geez.”
“Sorry Kate. It’s my fault.” His tone softened. “If I hadn’t been there, the news might have picked up on this local nurse saves surfer thing, likely it would have stayed regional. But with me in the picture it exploded. My agent and firm are fielding calls from most of the major media organizations and all the morning programs in New York. If it helps, there might be some money in this, other than travel, per diem and stuff — ”
“What? I don’t want money for … what we did.”
“Me neither. But I don’t think either of us can afford to sit back and let the media have their way with us. If you’re up for it, my firm would like us to take the first non-stop to New York for the morning programs tomorrow. So we can put the story out there on our terms.”
“Yeah. Um, can I say no? I don’t want to do … .any of that. Thank you though. I mean, you’re really kind and I’m sure … ”
“You can say no. I don’t want to pressure you, but I think it’s only fair if I warn you about what could happen if we don’t do this.” He sighed again. “Seriously, I get it. Believe me, I totally get why you don’t want to do this. I don’t want to either. The last thing I want is the media back in my life. We didn’t have much time to talk yesterday, but I got sober and left the music industry nearly a decade ago. I’m sober now, but I didn’t leave my old life on a high note. While I was using I did every cliché rock star thing — wrecking cars, fights, jail. I trashed houses and hotel rooms, did court mandated stints in rehab, was too drunk to perform at shows.”
“Which band?”
“Reeking Bliss.”
“Bliss? I listened to them in middle school,” she said. “That’s your band?”
“Was, yes. I was the guitarist.” He went on doggedly, “That was my life. Not anymore. Now I’m mostly an upstanding member of society, but of course they’re still dredging up the bad behavior.”
She could hear bitterness in his voice. “I’m really sorry.”
“Yeah, well. That’s my past. I have to own it, even if I’m not that guy anymore. If you don’t talk to the press, they will interview anyone and everyone about you. It can be nasty. Ex-boyfriends with not-so-funny anecdotes, co-workers, family … ”
“No!”
“I’m sorry Kate, but that is exactly what they’ll do. They might do it anyway. They’ll get the good stuff, but they love dirt too … what kind of dirt are we talking about?”
“Well, I don’t want my sister hounded for one thing,” she admitted. “She’s a freshman in college in D.C.”
“Okay, anything else? You are talking to the king of dirt here, baby. I think there are sex tapes of me out there somewhere.”
“Yikes.” She was startled into a laugh. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. Nothing that bad. Oh. I’m sorry!” she apologized and tried again, “I didn’t mean bad, for you, you’re a guy.”
“There is no such thing as a good sex tape, Kate. I think if it’s any good, they call it porn.”
She laughed again.
“So that’s what will happen? They’ll talk to all those people?”
“Guaranteed. Damage control, spin, image and public relations, are all a part of my job, so I know how this will go down.”
She blew out a breath.
“Can you meet me at the airport?”
“I guess.” Her heart raced. Relax.
“I’ll come get you,” he said.
“That’s not necessary,”
“You’re on my way. Be there in an hour.” He disconnected the phone before she could say another word.
A call to Ava would burn up the time she needed to pack, so she texted her best friend and promised to call as soon as she could. She packed, desperately trying to ignore the cell phone buzzing like an angry insect every few minutes. It was hard to put two thoughts together.
Maybe Emma could meet her in New York? It wasn’t that far from D.C., was it?
Less than an hour later, a black town car pulled into the driveway. She grabbed her purse and her rolling bag, took a deep breath, and stepped through the threshold, locking the door behind her.
Chapter 5
Clearly fate was in full agreement with her decision to take more risks with her life. Here she was, on a plane, in first-class, on her way to do television talk shows in New York. Sitting next to an insanely hot guy. Not that he’d be interested in her, cheek stroking aside. She watched him out of the corner of her eye.
He was dressed casually for the flight in a close-fitting long-sleeved navy henley that did amazing things for both his powerful chest and well-defined arms. Who was she kidding? His chest and arms did amazing things for the shirt. Worn jeans, faded nearly white in some areas, encased slim hips and muscular thighs. She had gaped at his denim clad rear earlier at the airport. The man looked shockingly good in jeans; then again, he looked good in a wetsuit, which she hadn’t thought possible.
Kate’s phone rang as she buckled into the window seat next to Alec. She had been just about to turn it off, but checked the display.
Emma.
“Emma? I only have a minute. The plane is going to take off.”
“I’m so excited. I’ll take the train up and meet you tonight.”
“Cool. I’ll text you the hotel info, okay?”
“I just got out of class and got your message. I can’t believe you’re going to be on national television. You rock! My friends are all going to be watching you tomorrow.”
Kate froze. The air rushed out of her lungs.
Oh no!
National television.
“Kate?”
“I … I have to go.”
“Okay, call me when you land. I’m so excited!”
Kate pressed the red end button on the phone with nerveless fingers and slid it into her purse. A wave of panic swept through her. The seat in front of her swam and she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.
Matt Gibson. What had she been thinking? Clearly she hadn’t. She couldn’t risk being on television. What if her dad saw her? No. She couldn’t do it.
She snuck a glance at Alec. He was frowning at his phone, mouth pulled tight. He turned his phone off with a sigh and leaned forward to shove it into his pocket. The flight attendant notified passengers that departure of the aircraft was imminent.
She’d just have to plead … terror?
But they’re paying for this flight, the hotel room.
She pressed her lips together. They couldn’t make her go on. Surely people had chickened out before?
Alec met Kate’s alarmed gaze.
“Everything all right?” he asked with a warm smile.
Kate grimaced. “Yep.”
Stress turned to fear and the hole in the pit of her stomach grew as the plane picked up speed down the runway. It left the ground, her stomach lurched and she turned away from the window, closing her eyes. She felt his large, warm calloused palm take hers. She didn’t dare open her eyes, focusing all her energy on keeping the plane aloft.
It seemed like forever before the pitch leveled out. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes. Alec’s blue gaze registered sympathy and concern. She tugged her hand but his grip tightened. Butterflies started up in her stomach again, but for a completely different reason.
“First time on a plane?” he asked.
“Third.” The take-off was the most disturbing part.
His eyes widened.
“Excitement and nerves,” she said. “I’m not really scared.” She gave another small tug and he released her hand, smiling.
“So where did you go, last time you flew?”
“I took my sister, Emma, to see at colleges on the East Coast about a year and a half ago.”
“Where did she end up going?”