Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Caroline

M o says nothing and places a container on the side table beside me. It smells like chicken soup.

"Thanks," I say, wondering if it's laced with arsenic.

Barbie hands me the latest copy of Vogue . "For your reading pleasure."

They're standing in a circle around my bed like a coven of witches about to chant.

"Will you please sit down?" I say.

Mo and Barbie sit in the only two available chairs. Evie settles on the edge of the bed. No sign of Paul. Thank heavens. He'd never let me out of his sight again.

I riffle through the magazine's pages, trying to distract myself from the crazy situation I'm currently in. "How long do you think I'm going to be here?"

Barbie says, "Question for the doc."

Calvin is gone and I realize I didn't properly introduce him to the club gals.

Evie leans in. "Can I just say, Dr. Handsome was a good name for him."

Barbie nods. Mo is holding back a grin.

Then we all laugh.

The curtain is pushed aside. Speaking of the devil.

Calvin is standing there as handsome as ever, despite the determined look in his eye. "Ladies, I need to have a chat with the patient."

His tone is firm and authoritarian, like a school principal about to suspend a student.

The women stand. "We'll wait outside," Evie says, shuffling out with the others.

I meet Calvin's intense gaze. "What's this about? I feel like I'm in big trouble."

"You are, Mrs. Page."

I raise a brow at the formality. "Pretty sure you should be coddling me right now rather than—" I gesture at him. "This."

Calvin's face softens, his eyes are watery. He just returned from a crazy long trip. He must be exhausted with jet lag. Lucky him, now he's dealing with me. "Sorry," I say. "What's on your mind?"

He falls back into the chair next to my bed and puts his head in his hands. "I wasn't joking earlier. We could have lost you."

I feel queasy. "That bad?"

He nods. "Your blood pressure and heart rate were so elevated, you're lucky to not have suffered a stroke."

I'm stunned speechless.

He says, "The way I see it, you have two choices. Be on regular anti-anxiety meds or cut out all high-stress matters from your life."

I nearly chuckle but my head is spinning from what he just told me. I nearly died! I swallow hard. I need time to process but Calvin isn't finished. I'm not sure how much more I can handle.

"That means walking away from litigation and giving yourself some real time off."

"You're diagnosing my legal matters now?"

"I'm dead serious, Caroline. You've been through the wringer with your husband dying and now with his kids taking you to court over his estate. It's more than most people could manage."

I'm dumbfounded. What he's suggesting would be irresponsible. I'd be giving up my lifestyle, my sole means of support, handing it all to Josh and Rachel on a silver platter.

Calvin must see the shock on my face because he comes closer, taking Evie's vacated spot and then my hand. I feel a strong, tingly sensation. The good kind. Gently, he squeezes my hand and for a brief moment I forget who he is to me.

"I was really scared," he says.

It occurs to me his damp eyes are not from fatigue. My heart lurches. "I'm so sorry," I blurt out. It's funny to apologize for almost dying but somehow it makes sense.

"So you'll slow down, give Bernard's kids what they want and get some R and R?"

"I don't know."

He shakes his head, removing his hand. It feels like being unplugged. All my energy drains in an instant. I'm hit with a wave of fatigue.

"We can figure all that out once you're feeling better. For now your sole priority needs to be your health. I'm going to tell your friends to go home so you can rest."

I want to argue but I can't keep my eyes open. "Thanks for saving my life," I whisper as he walks toward the curtain.

He turns back and as I'm dozing off, I feel his lips on my forehead, a feathery kiss that peacefully escorts me off to dreamland.