Page 23 of The Other Plan

“I don’t think I broke anything, dear.”

Lydia continued holding her mother’s head tight while Lydia’s husband, Alfred, dialed.

“You still need a checkup. You could have a spinal injury or a head injury. A brain bleed!” Lydia’s eyes bulged. “I saw one episode where someone died after a bump on their head because they had an undiagnosed brain bleed.”

“Aunt Tilly is dying?” Valentina covered her mouth.

“I’m fine, dear,” Aunt Tilly said, but she grimaced again and settled back down. “You know, on second thought, better to be safe than sorry.”

We all gathered around her while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. By the time they got there, she was already protesting that she was fine, and all the fuss was unnecessary.

“I think I just bonked my head a bit and tweaked my neck. But I’m fine, really.”

“Over here!” Lydia called to the paramedics as they hopped out of the ambulance. “She’ll need a full workup and maybe an MRI or a CT Scan. Make sure you rule out a brain bleed. And compartment syndrome! She said her ankle hurt after. Don’t miss out on compartment syndrome!”

“I don’t need an MRI,” Aunt Tilly argued. “And watching TV doesn’t make you a doctor, so just shush. I’m fine.”

“Mom is right!” Valentina said back. “This could be serious, Aunt Tilly. Let the paramedics check you out and decide.”

As they all fussed over Aunt Tilly, a tall, dark-haired paramedic headed our way.

“Jenna! Uh, Jenna? Evan is here!” Cameron said loudly with a slight slur to the words.

“What? Huh?” Jenna said absently as she held her post beside Aunt Tilly. “Okay. Flag him over.”

“Jenna. Your boyfriend Evan is here!” Cameron said, his eyes widening as he stared at her. Hard.

Great. Her boyfriend was there to save the day. Now I wished I had drunk as much wine as everyone else because I would need some serious mind-numbing pain relief to endure seeing Jenna with another man.

CHAPTER EIGHT

JENNA

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“Your boyfriend, Jenna! Boyfriend! Your boyfriend is here!” Cameron said as his voice rose with every syllable.

His words finally pulled me from my absent-minded state, and I realized why Cameron was panicking.

My boyfriend. Evan. The paramedic. The very same one now heading my way.

Nooooooo. This can’t be happening.

But as I watched Evan getting closer, I knew there was no avoiding this mac truck of mortification barreling straight at me. With any luck, no one else had paid attention to Cameron, and they wouldn’t put together that this paramedic Evan was the same paramedic Evan I’d claimed as my faux boyfriend. Perhaps they wouldn’t notice the big name tag on his chest with “Evan” embroidered into it.

Maybe?

“Wait, that’s your boyfriend?” Aunt Tilly asked as she craned to look back at the man walking her way.

“Don’t move your neck like that!” Lydia scolded. “Hold still until they clear your C-spine!”

“I want to see Jenna’s boyfriend!” Aunt Tilly demanded.

I glanced at Cameron, but the panicked look in his eyes only caused my terror to rise.

Shit, shit, shit.

With all the Bronson eyes moving toward my clueless friend headed our way, I knew I had but one chance to get up ahead of this disaster. I ran forward to intercept Evan and tossed my arms around his neck.