The connection we had called my bluff. Or maybe I was just a horrible actress. “You guys are a cuter couple.”
“Right,” I said said with a snort. “She’s gorgeous, he’s gorgeous. It’s like a real-life movie.”
“And you’re gorgeous. But not just on the outside, on the inside too.” When I flashed her a weak smile she added, “Haven’t you been reading the tabloids? I’m selfish and vapid. I wouldn’t socialize with you if you weren’t at least a 9.”
I chuckled at that, stopping when the phone on my desk rattled to life. I leaned forward and grabbed it, hearing Natasha’s surly voice on the other end.
“Jacob’s on the line,” she barked. “He says it’s important.”
I clicked over, dread returning. “Is your mom ok?”
“Can you come back to the hospital? She wants to see you as soon as possible.”
****
I clutched the bouquet of roses as I stepped onto the elevator, feeling all the apprehension from being in a hospital multiply considering who I was there to visit. The doors slid open and the nurse from earlier was waiting near the desk.
She gave me a bright smile. "It must mean a lot to know that you're the second person she asked to see. I wish I had that kind of relationship with my mother-in-law."
It meant something alright, I just wasn't sure if it meant something good or something bad.
I kept that to myself. "Is it okay if I go on back?"
"Of course." Her hand dipped below the desk and the secure doors swung open. "Room I-950."
I started down the sterile hall, each step hollow. The corridor seemed too quiet for an intensive care unit. I'd been expecting noise: nurses rushing into rooms with defibrillators, wails of pain and agony, the buzz of all the machines used to keep those bad off with one foot in the world of the living. Instead, it was eerily silent. Like walking through a graveyard.
I hitched a breath when a door thirty feet away flew open like a thunderclap, the familiar, sleekly muscled frame of Jacob stepping into the hall.
I opened my mouth but left the greeting unsaid when I saw his head was bowed. On the phone. Probably business.
Whatever it was must be serious because his demeanor was terse and unyielding. I approached him slowly, frowning as his words reverberated through the quiet.
"I swear to god if you call this number again--"
My flats squealed on the linoleum and he whirled to face me, instantly going from rage to something softer. Eyes still on me he ended the call and started in my direction.
"Who was that? Everything okay?"
The nerve beneath his eye flickered before he wrapped me in a warm embrace. "It is now."
He was definitely avoiding my first question, but his ill mother was in the room a few feet away. I'd give him a pass for now. Besides, the longer those arms were around me, the more everything else dimmed. Work, worry, everything except his scent, his body didn't matter. I held onto him for dear life.
His hold slackened but I kept my cheek against his chest. "She wants to see me."
"Yes." My arms tightened, but he broke the connection long enough to take the sides of my face in his hands. He caressed me with his gaze. "I don't know if it was the close call with death or what, but she'll be on her best behavior."
Yeah...best behavior for Alicia Whitmore or the average person?
I gripped his hand. "You'll be there?"
He nodded, an understanding smile curving his lips. "Ready?"
He wisely didn't wait for verbal confirmation or we might've never gone through the door.
We stepped inside. The room was as regal as I remembered Mia's being. Lush furnishings that reminded me more of some fancy hotel than a hospital. Alicia wasn't strapped to the bed though--she may as well have been considering all the cords snaking around her, binding her in place. And just like Mia, she was a ghost of her former self. Body frail, all skin and bones beneath the hospital gown. Her salt and pepper hair was oily and hung limply around her splotchy face. With her eyes closed I got this sick image of her laid in a casket.
I gasped when her eyes flew open.
Thunder flashed in the gray as she took me in. "I don't look that terrible, do I?"
"No," I squeaked.
She gave me a signature look full of attitude. "You're a horrible liar. I guess that's a good thing though." She winced as she grabbed the remote and brought herself to a seated position. "Come closer. I'm not contagious."
I was ready to tug Jacob along for the ride, but I remembered the last thing I wanted was for her to see me weak and unable to stand on my own.
He's right over there, I told myself, releasing his hand. And it wasn't like Alicia was gonna attack me, she had IV lines coming out all over the place. Truthfully, I was more worried about the blows she'd dole out with her words. The scars invisible to the na**d eye, but inside, bright and purpled. Memories of that letter I'd found months ago, when she seemed so excited to meet me. And then our first interaction when she offered me a blank check to go away. Every run in after compounded until we hit the apology. It would take more than 'I'm sorry' to rebuild the bridge between us. And the last thing I wanted was for her to see just how much she affected me.
I walked to her bedside, chin up, posture perfect, eyes cool and unaffected. "Jacob said you wanted to see me?"
She cleared her throat and reached for a styrofoam cup. The clink of ice echoed as she tilted a few cubes in her mouth before responding. "Jacob, can you give us a moment?"
His gaze shifted from her to me, silently asking me if I was okay. I gave him a slight nod.
"I'll be right outside."
We watched him go, door clicking shut behind him. She put the styrofoam cup back on the table.
"I know you don't like me."
So we were jumping right in. "Alicia--"
"Don't bother denying it."
"Oh I wasn't gonna deny it," I said simply. "I haven't liked you since you tried to bribe me to get me away from your son."
She licked her lips. "Fair enough. I know the things I did to you, to Jacob, are enough to damn me. And what I'm about to share with you is cliché, but it's the truth."
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. I crossed my arms, waiting.
"When I felt the first chest pain then it multiplied until I was somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, I saw my life flash before my eyes."
Oh geez.
I won't bore you with my childhood or Carlton," she continued. "There was Jacob, only a few moments old, pure and screeching in my arms. He was such a beautiful baby. And I could see how much he loved me. Me--with all my faults. Me that needed someone that cared so badly." Her eyes were filled with tears and one dashed down her cheek. "I remembered everything I missed, every time I hurt him and that was the biggest regret of my life. And you are my second."