“What is it?”
He sighed. “I think … I think you should take a couple of years off.”
“What?”
“I’m serious. I think you should quit your job and go live with your mom until … well, you know. Clearly, this incident has taught you which order your priorities are in, which frankly, is the right order. There’s no way your mom will come to Los Angeles?”
I shook my head. “She loves where she lives. The air is clear, and she has friends. The weather is generally great. Not that this winter was representative of the norm.”
“Damn global warming.”
I couldn’t help but cry some more. Don immediately put a hand on my shoulder.
“Emily …?”
“It’s meant to be a joke when people say that. Damn global warming, as if it’s the punchline to everything that goes wrong. But the punchline is the fact that global warming could be the culprit.”
“Frazier Falls might be subject to more aggressive storms in the next few years.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s even more reason for you to leave Los Angeles to be with her.”
“It’s more than my mom.”
“Your relationship with Eli Cooper?”
My jaw dropped. “How do know?”
He gave me an are-you-kidding look. “Sadie.”
“Figures.” I glanced at him through wet lashes. “Will you be okay if I leave?”
He shrugged. “I was never supposed to hire two people in the first place, remember? You and Sadie were so outstanding that I couldn’t possibly have one of you snatched up by some other city, much to Pete’s displeasure.”
I laughed. “So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying, I’ll crack the whip and make Sadie pull her weight. You don’t have to worry about us. Focus on spending as much time with your mom as you possibly can, okay? Try to make things work with that man of yours. He sounds like a good one.”
We were interrupted by the sound of my phone. I’d taken it off vibrate for the first time in years, setting the call alert volume to high to make sure I didn’t miss the next call. The shrill of the ring shocked me so much that I jumped out of my chair before fumbling for the phone.
When I saw Eli’s name, even though it was who I desperately wanted to hear from, I couldn’t answer the call.
“What’s wrong, Emily?” A frown marred Don’s face.
“I’m scared.”
“Of what the hospital will say?”
I nodded. “What if …”
He reached over and took my phone out of my hand, accepting the call for me.
“This is Emily’s phone. Don speaking.”
I couldn’t hear what Eli was saying in response, but as soon as Don smiled reassuringly at me, I let out a huge sigh of relief and grabbed the phone back.
“Eli, it’s me. What’s going on?”
“Why is your boss screening your calls?”
I laughed at how absurd it sounded. He sounded jealous.
“I didn’t—I was too scared to answer.”
“You’re ridiculous, do you know that?”
“I know. I’m sorry. What’s going on?”
“The doctors think she has the flu. I called Lucy, and it seems as if your mom had been feeling poorly, but insisted it was nothing. Turns out, she was weak and tried to get up but tripped over her oxygen tank. She knocked herself out good, but her condition is stable. She has a concussion and got a few stitches, but she should be okay.”
“You’re … you’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be. Don’t worry. I won’t leave her side until you get here, so don’t die from worry in the meantime.”
“That’s a cruel thing to say.”
“What, that I’ll stay by her side? I thought that was me being nice. A gentleman, even.”
Before I knew it, I was laughing again. “You’re the only gentleman I know who tells a woman not to die in the meantime.”
“Clearly, you don’t know many gentlemen.”
My heart warmed with his kindness. “Thank you, Eli.”
“It’s not a problem. Let me know as soon as there’s a flight available, okay? I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Thank you, and Eli?” I waited a breath. “We need to talk when I get to the hospital. Talk about us because there is an us.”
“You bet your sweet ass we do. Night, Emily.”
“Night, Eli.”
Once I hung up, a wave of understanding crossed Don’s face. “If you needed another reason to leave Los Angeles, it’s right there, in that call?”
Suddenly, I felt embarrassed. “Eli Cooper. He—”
“Is he related to Owen? The one who runs the Green House Project?”
“Yes. He’s one of Owen’s younger brothers.”
At that moment, it looked like Don had a flash of inspiration.
“Your project proposal could do with a trial somewhere smaller than Los Angeles. The data derived could sell his plan to big cities across the globe. Are they implementing anything in Frazier Falls?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Eli
Judy was in stable condition. The doctors had put her on a strong course of antibiotics to clear up the infection and stitched up the cut on her head.
I hoped to God that Emily would be able to get to Colorado soon. Nobody was actually sure if the storm had been the primary cause of Judy’s collapse, but I deduced that she had no lights and had tripped over her oxygen tank.
The doctors were fairly certain she had contracted a late-season winter flu, but given that she was also responding to antibiotics, it was possible that there was something else at work that wasn’t a virus. Lying in a cold, dark house on her own for several hours had certainly not helped.
I hadn’t left the hospital once, instead, relying on my brothers to bring me a change of clothes and a meal. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than Judy waking up to an empty room. It wouldn’t be what I’d want, which was company, and lots of it.
I left Judy’s bedside in search of a cup of coffee. It was bitter and cheap-tasting, but it was coffee, nonetheless. The caffeine hit me, taking the edge away from my exhaustion.
Pax had been in contact with Lucy Rogers to keep her informed of Judy’s progress. The younger woman had wanted to visit her in the hospital, but given the storm that started as rain and turned to sleet, then to snow, it was simply too risky.
John Reilly had called too, as had Rachel Wilkes. It was gratifying that even in the middle of a storm, there were many people concerned enough about Judy Flanagan’s health that they would gladly brave the weather to see her. Even Alice sent pie.
Sadly, the most important person couldn’t make it through the storm to see Judy. I had wondered for a panic-stricken moment if Emily might try to tackle the long drive from Los Angeles to Frazier Falls, but even she wouldn’t risk that. She was in no state to get behind the wheel going by the fact that she had asked her boss to take her to the airport.
It had been a few hours since I’d heard from her, though I figured she had probably fallen asleep. Because of the wildly varying times that she had messaged and called me over the last twelve hours, it would come as absolutely no surprise if she was out for the count. Hopefully, she was on a plane, or in a taxi coming from the airport.