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Rush glanced up at me and lifted his cell from the desk. He scrolled, and we both saw a dozen missed calls and messages.
I swallowed.
Rush looked up at Oak who was still waiting at the door with the phone in his hand. “I’ll take it in here.”
He took a deep breath and picked up the cordless extension. Nodding to Oak that he was on, Oak clicked his extension off and backed out of the office.
“What’s up, Lauren?”
I held my breath hearing her voice. I couldn’t make out anything she said, but when Rush’s eyes flashed up to meet mine, I thought I might pass out. She knows. She knows!
“Okay. Okay. Calm down,” Rush said into the receiver. “And where’s Elliott now?”
Oh God.
Oh God.
I’m not ready for this.
I really needed to sit down.
“Okay. I understand. I’m on my way. I’ll meet you there in a little while. Try to relax. I’ll take care of it.”
He barely hung up the phone before I started shooting off questions. “What? What happened? He found out, didn’t he?”
Rush closed his eyes for a few seconds and blew out a heavy breath. “No. It doesn’t have anything to do with you or the baby. Elliott has apparently been down in Florida for a business meeting the last few days.”
“What happened then?”
“It’s Edward. They found him passed out on the ground in his office parking garage earlier. He’s in the hospital. Apparently he had a brain aneurysm that no one knew about. He’s on life support at Mount Sinai. They aren’t sure if they can stop the bleeding or not.”
“Oh my God.” My hand flew to my chest. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry. What are you going to do? Head to the hospital?”
“I really don’t think Edward would want me there. But Elliott can’t get a flight back until tomorrow. Lauren sounded pretty nervous that he might…” He paused. “She doesn’t want him to be alone. He has no other family, really.”
As much as the thought of him spending time with Lauren scared the living shit out of me, I couldn’t be selfish. I looked him straight in the eyes. “You should go, Rush. If you don’t, it could be something you regret for the rest of your life.”
Rush’s face fell, but he nodded. He knew I was right. At certain times in life, the past doesn’t matter, and you need to do the right thing as a human being.
“Do you want me to go with you? Riley is off tonight and didn’t have any plans. I could call her to cover for me.”
Rush looked conflicted as he searched my eyes. His instinct was to protect me at all costs. But I wanted to be there for him. Finally he nodded. “Yeah, I do.”My heart started to hammer inside my chest at the sight of Lauren in the waiting room. She stood as we approached.
“Thank you for coming. I didn’t know what to do.” Lauren hugged Rush and then turned to me.
“You, too, Gia.” She hugged me and squeezed my hand. “I think our guys really need us right now.”
I felt like the worst person on the planet. Lauren was so kind and caring, and here I was standing in front of her carrying her husband’s baby, and she didn’t have a clue. We’d passed a chapel down the hall on the way in, and I hoped she didn’t want to go in there together to pray for Edward. I was certain my feet would combust.
The two of them talked for a while. Lauren filled him in on what she knew so far and then told him the doctor said two people could visit at a time.
Rush couldn’t hide the stress that the thought of walking in to see Edward in ICU caused. I took his hand and squeezed tight. “I’ll go with you.”
We walked through the ICU doors like we were going to our own beheadings. Small steps and terrified. Edward’s little area had the curtain drawn, and we heard people working on him. So we waited.
“Are you here for Eddie?” A heavyset nurse with an unexpected southern drawl asked.
I waited a few seconds for Rush to answer. When he didn’t, I did. “Yes. How’s he doing?”
She attempted to smile and stay positive, but I didn’t need to know her to see she wasn’t that optimistic. “He’s holding his own. He’s a fighter. I just cleaned him up. You can go on and visit. Don’t let the tubes scare you too much.” She took off a paper gown that she had worn over her uniform and crumpled it into a ball. “You must be one of his sons, right? I can see the resemblance.”
Rush just kept staring at Edward in the bed, so I answered again. “Yes, I’m Gia, and this is Rush.”
