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Mina looks doubtfully at me. “How are you feeling?”
“Not great.” I take a drink of the water and set it back myself, patting the bed next to my hip. After a long moment, Mina sits. “I’m sorry. For not asking before giving you power of attorney. Are you mad?”
She sighs, but shakes her head. “No. Yes. I don’t know. Last night, they told me everything and let me see you. But what if I’d had to decide on life support?” Her voice cracks. “We’ve never talked about it. That’s not fair to either of us.”
“I trust you to make decisions for me.”
Mina shudders. I take her hand and squeeze. “And the will?” she asks softly. “What am I going to do with a motorcycle, Timothy?”
“Forget the motorcycle.” I run my thumb over her knuckles. “I have a trust fund, a house, and good life insurance. I want you to be taken care of.”
“I’m not your responsibility.” She pauses, frowning. “You never told me…I thought you were just a stuntman. You have a trust fund? And how is your mother Celia Foley?”
“I think she asks how I’m her son at least twice as often,” I joke.
Mina gives me a look.
“I like being Timothy Foley, Handsome Stuntman. Not Timothy, Celia Foley’s Son with the Trust Fund. Besides, you weren’t impressed with Nic, I didn’t think you’d be impressed by my mom.”
“Your mom is Celia Foley!”
My head is pounding now. “Yeah, but have you seen Nic’s abs?”
Mina rubs her forehead like she’s the one with the headache. “Jesus, Timothy.”
I shrug. After a moment, she smiles and shakes her head.
Now. It has to be now before she finds something else to be mad at me about. I gently take the ring box out of her hand and Jackie Chan raises his fists in the air.
She has to know what’s coming—her initials are embossed on the box—but I don’t like the way the smile drops from her face.
“Mina.” My heart is pounding, the hills and valleys on the monitor narrowing. Her hand trembles in mine. “I love you. I’ve been in love with you since the day we met. I know this is fast, we haven’t even dated, but that doesn’t matter. We know each other so well, better than a lot of married couples.” I flip the box open. Her eyes snap to the ring. “I can’t get on my knees right now, but as soon as I can, I will. If you’ll say yes. Marry me?”
I wait. Jackie waits. Only one of us needs to breathe and I’m not sure either of us is.
The breath Mina draws is shaky as she reaches out, closing the box. All the light goes out of the room, all the air out of my lungs. It’s a miracle the machine monitoring my vital signs doesn’t blare out an alarm.
There’s so much sadness in her eyes. So much heartbreak and I don’t think it’s all mine. When she speaks, her voice is gentle but certain. “No.”
Jackie Chan clutches his heart and falls to the floor.
Okay, no, we can come back from this. Mom was right. Wrong time, wrong place.
I tuck the box under the blankets. “Sorry. I screwed this up. I’ll wait until I’m out of here. Take you somewhere nice. Do it again without the morphine.”
Mina gets to her feet, and she’s pale. “You’ve been in this hospital bed barely conscious for the last twelve hours—how do you have a Cartier engagement ring?”
“I’ve had it for a while.” Don’t ask. Please, don’t ask.
“How. Long.”
“Eight months.”
Her eyes go wide.
I’m already wincing because I know how this is going to sound. “And four years.”
Mina drops into the chair, staring at me. Her mouth opens several times and closes, no sound coming out.
