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The band had been gaining mass market popularity before Liv’s accident, and since, fan support had grown exponentially. The worst pain he’d ever known fueled the success of his life’s dream. The irony ate him alive.
He called Paige at least once every day. Nothing to report, she’d tell him.
Liv was being moved to a rehab facility outside of Colorado Springs. She still didn’t have any feeling below the waist, and the doctors were recommending surgery. Liv was in favor of it, even with the risk. She could end up as a paraplegic, or it might kill her.
They agreed to wait three more weeks, to let her body heal more.
“Let me tell him something, anything.”
“No.”
“I have to tell him you’re being moved.”
“No, Paige.”
“He’s capable of calling the hospital, Liv. They may not tell him your condition, but they’ll sure as hell tell him you’re no longer there. You know him, he’ll be here as fast as that little plane will fly him.”
“Tell him they’re moving me. But that’s all.”
“What will happen when the tour ends?”
“I have six weeks before I need to worry about that.”
CB Rice was bigger than they ever dreamed possible. The record label wanted them to start the European leg of their tour in January. Ben told them he couldn’t agree to it yet.
They’d be off from the middle of November until the end of December, and once he saw his boys, he’d spend the rest of the time with Liv. He’d spend every minute of it with her, until she came out of the coma, and then he’d spend every minute after she did with her, too. He’d even bring his boys over from Crested Butte to stay with him.
Liv checked the social media feed for the second time this morning, and saw they’d posted photos from the concert last night. Then she went on YouTube to watch and listen to the story he told about her, as she had every morning for the last five weeks.
Tomorrow was her surgery. It had been delayed two additional weeks, but now the doctors believed her body could withstand it.
During the seven-hour operation, surgeons would take one of the discs from Liv’s back and fuse it where the damage occurred. Then they’d mend the broken bone with surgical cement and used titanium screws and plates to fix her neck.
The next afternoon Renie and Paige held hands and Mark stood behind them, his hands on their shoulders when the doctors came out to tell them how the surgery went.
“Everything went well. Now we have to wait and see. We won’t know anything until she wakes. She’ll be under sedation for a couple more hours, and then moved to a room, where you’ll be able to see her.”
Jimmy saw it first, and prayed Ben would stay distracted until he could confirm if it was true, or just a cruel attempt by the press to make a buck.
The post read, “CB Rice Cashes in Big with Fake Coma Story.” It went on to say that CB Rice’s recent meteoric rise to fame was due in large part to the fans’ near hysteria over Ben Rice’s girlfriend’s accident and subsequent coma.
According to reports, the woman in question had been out of her coma for weeks. She’d come out of it not long after the first concert Ben told his naive fans the tragic story of the alleged love of his life.
Jimmy looked at Ben’s face. He’d seen it.
“What the fuck is this?”
Ben, Bud, and Jimmy were trying to reach Paige, Renie, Mark, or the hospital. None were answering, and the hospital wouldn’t even confirm that they had a patient by the name of Olivia Fairchild.
Paige and Renie were talking with Liv when Mark saw the story on CNN.
“You better turn on the news,” he said when he walked in the room.
“Oh, my God.” Liv’s head fell back on the pillow.
Paige looked at her phone. “Shit. Seven missed calls. All from Ben.” She raised her eyebrows at Liv. “What now?”
“Get me on a goddamn plane.”
