Impossible Glamour (20 page)

A tiny smile flitted over his mouth but didn’t reach his eyes. Now that I thought about it, Webber never asked for help. He was always the guy taking care of his friends’ problems or his clients’ problems, but who helped him?

“Babe, knowing that I have a shot to see you and spend some time with you, that is mucho-helpo.”

His hand drifted over my hip and toward my sex. With a tiny slip of his fingers, he a trailed slow circle over my clit. A gasp passed over my lips.

“Plus…” His voice was raspy now, thickening with want. “What better way to take our minds off our problems, right babe?”

I nodded and my hips rolled while his fingertip stroked me.

“Who needs sleep?” he whispered and pressed his lips to mine.

His fingers slipped inside me. My body rocked to the gentle rhythm of his touch.

“Right,” I whispered and clasped my arms around his neck.

Who needed sleep when there was so much pleasure?

Webber

The morning came too fucking early. A shower, eggs, coffee, minimal words, and we were out the door and on our way to Ellen’s so she could change and we could carpool to the hospital. Gravel scrubbed across the underside of my eyelids, but the pleasure of Ellen was worth the fatigue. So damn worth it. Even after our shower together (Hoorah!), her scent lingered on my skin. I slid my gaze across the space of the Porsche. Damn. Hotty McHot-a-lot, this woman was off the charts. And she was mine…for now. I pulled into the parking garage and slid into a space near the elevator.

“How long are you here for?”

“Don’t know. Check in with Dr. Minkey, see how Mom is, find out if she’s going home today.”

“Home? She’s going back home?”

My heart jolted with Ellen’s words. “I want her at home, Ellen, not locked up in an institution.” I pressed the elevator button and we walked on.

“I get it, Webber.” She slid in beside me and we leaned against the elevator’s back wall. “But at some point a specialized care facility might be what she needs.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, she doesn’t need that today. What she needs is home and some rest. Maybe if I spent more time with her, the downhill wouldn’t be so fast.”

“You can’t blame yourself for this.”

“Oh yes I can. Babe, I can totally hammer myself with guilt and self-loathing where Mamacita is concerned. With the hours I work? I pop by only three, four times a week.”

“Her decline is not your fault.”

I zipped my lips. While technically Ellen might be right, the pressure in my chest informed me that I should be doing more for my mom.

“Want some company tonight?” Ellen asked.

Wowza. That was a surprise. I’d been certain I’d have to do more chasing than this. I turned to Miss Babe-a-licious standing by my side. “If it’s you, I’m totally in.”

I leaned over and pressed my lips to hers. Heat in the morning. Wished the elevator would stop between floors. The elevator slowed and I grudgingly pulled my lips from hers.

“I won’t be done before seven, and I want to stop by and see Daddy. How about we go to my place tonight?”

“Seriously?”

“Why not?”

“Just figure you’d be pumping the brakes with me. Wasn’t certain what you were thinking.”

She turned to me and pressed her body against mine.

“What I was thinking was how much I enjoyed last night and how I’d like for you to stay at my house tonight.”

Dayum! My day was made aside from the whole my mom was losing her mind thing. “Agnes?”

“Of course. Drummond would like to have a sleepover buddy too.”

The elevator chimed and the doors slid open.

“Good morning, Miss Legend.”

Ellen stiffened and stepped away from my arms.

“Dr. Kazowski.”

The doc I’d met when Dillon and I came to visit one of the kids on the cancer floor stood before us, all ramrod spine and steely eyes. She turned to face the front of the elevator doors.

“Kazowski, the disease?” I mouthed to Ellen.

She elbowed me in the ribs. Two silent floors later, the elevator door dinged again.

“That’s me.” I whispered, “See you later,” to Ellen and slid out the door.

*

Two hours later I watched Mom eat an oatmeal cookie. Her eyes held no glimmer of recognition.

“You’re such a nice boy to bring me a cookie.”

Shredded. Each time I saw her, my heart shredded a little bit more. I loved Mom and I knew she loved me, and yet she had no idea who I was.

“I heard you like oatmeal.”

“Much better than the chocolate,” she said and broke off another tiny bit from the cookie. She watched me as she chewed, her eyes taking in my every feature. Her hand reached out to my face and gently cupped my cheek.

My heart stumbled in my chest.

A worried look filtered through Mom’s eyes. “I know I should recognize you, but I don’t know who you are.”

Tears. Fuck. The burning sensation in my eyes. I blinked them back and swallowed the lump in my throat. “Don’t you worry about how you know me. Just know I bring you the best oatmeal cookies in town.”

A giggle escaped her lips.

Yeah buddy. At least I was worth some joy and a laugh. I could live with that, couldn’t I?

“Such a nice boy,” she said and took another nibble. “And so handsome.”

“I take after my mom,” I said and clasped my palm over her hand. No use arguing, no use trying to explain to her who I was. The neurons that housed that connection had snapped long, long ago.

“Webber?”

I turned and Doctor Minkey stood just inside the doorway.

“Good morning, Louise, how’s that cookie?”

“Oh so good,” she said and took another bite. “Do you know who brought it to me?”

Deep breath. Yep, the miniscule connections we made didn’t last but a second. Every memory lost to that damn asshole of a disease.

“I’m going to talk to the doctor,” I said and stood.

She nodded and turned her attention to the last half of her cookie. Doctor Minkey stood in the doorway. We let the door close behind us, but I could still see Mom through the glass.

“She’s stable,” Dr. Minkey said. “There’s nothing new in the tests. Yesterday was just a very bad day.” She leaned in closer to me. “Webber, you know from what we’ve discussed the bad days are going to increase.”

I scrubbed my hand across my jaw and nodded. My gaze flitted to Mom. She smiled and waved to me, her hand floppy, like a toddler might wave.

Rip my heart out. Why? Who knew? There was no reasonable explanation as to why Mom’s memories had flown the nest. They simply had and they weren’t returning.

“I know.” Deep breath. “Marisol wants to come back. I’ve added another two caregivers so she’s not there as much. Maybe mix it up.”

“Right,” Dr. Minkey said. “Change can be good, but it can also be disconcerting. You’ll want to watch closely while you add new people into the mix.” She tapped her tablet screen. “I’m sending you some links. Places I think might be right for your Mom—”

“I don’t want to lock her away.”

“Webber.” She tilted her head to the side. “I’ve been your mother’s doctor for a lot of years. I don’t want you to lock her away either.”

I nodded. Another deep breath.

“Some of these are places that are daytime care facilities that might help stimulate her mind. There are a couple that are residential, but they’re very close. Great with Alzheimer’s patients.”

“Right.” I glanced at Mom, who couldn’t seem to remember how to work her straw. My heart careened in my chest. I looked toward the doc and she squeezed my arm.

“Webber, I know you do everything in your mother’s best interest. I simply want you to have options. If not for now, then when these options become a necessity.”

“Thanks, Doc.” I shoved my hand into my pocket.

She turned to leave, then turned back. Worry creased her brows. “You call me for whatever you need. Got it? These aren’t easy decisions.” Dr. Minkey looked over at Mom and then back to me. “For anyone.”

A lump choked my throat. Damn, this was my mom. The woman who’d given me life and taken care of me since she brought me into this world. I couldn’t imagine abandoning her. Doctor Minkey walked down the hall.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I slipped it out. “What’s up?”

“Uh, meeting? With Jeff?”

My fingers tingled and my chest tightened. “Fuck! That’s today?”

“That’s now,” Dick Munch said.

“Stall him.”

“Your mom?”

“No way, man, do not tell El Jeffe about Mom.” I glanced through the window at the lady I loved even though she totally didn’t know my name. “Not using her as an excuse. Besides, I don’t want that dick nugget knowing anything about my personal life.” I scrubbed my hand over my jaw. “I can be there in twenty.”

“Got it.”

I pressed the Off button and reentered Mom’s room. She was happily playing with a stuffed animal that looked a lot like Agnes. A smile. Her unfocused gaze landed on me. Another loose-limbed wave. Jeez, this disease was fucking torture on the people that still had memories of the patient pre-Alzheimer’s. Mom, aside from her KO punch to Marisol yesterday, seemed to be content in her own world. Wherever the hell that was.

Too much. Too much going on. Cool, calm, and collected had left the building, and after I said good-bye to Mom so would I.

Ellen

Two hours into what might have been the world’s longest rounds, my phone buzzed. I scanned the group. I was near the back—I could risk it. Kazowski was in deep with her patient, quizzing her on when the pain in her abdomen began. She wouldn’t notice. I slipped the phone from my pocket.

Daddy is being
released
in an hour.

My heart thumped. I wanted to be there to help him get home, or at the very least out of the hospital.

Rounding,
I texted Sophia, not that my reason for not being there would make a difference to my twin. She’d understand if I said fitting or auditioning or whatever else she did…modeling, runwaying. But me doing rounds during my surgical rotation made as much sense to my runway-model sister as organic chemistry.

“Miss Legend, too busy today to be here with us?”

Heat barrel-rolled through my chest. I closed my eyes and slid my phone back into my pocket.

“No, Doctor, of course not. Just…” I looked at Kazowski.

Her lips twisted into a smirk. I didn’t want to mention Daddy, besides she already knew about his surgery and that he was a patient in the hospital. Everyone in this group knew. In fact, Kazowski was the only person who hadn’t had the decency to ask about him.

“A personal matter,” I said.

“A
personal
matter,” she parroted back in a voice that screamed,
how impudent of you.

“Yes.”

“Might I suggest that you take your
personal
matter to a
personal
location.”

“Yes. I’m sorry for the interruption.” I glanced down at my tablet.

Two of my classmates shuffled their feet beside me. Silence. I lifted my gaze and met Kazowski’s glare.

“Now, Miss Legend. I want you to leave
now
.”

I swallowed. My hands grasped my tablet tighter and I pressed it to my chest. My face was impossibly hot, which meant it had to be a bright shade of red.

“Excuse me,” I whispered to a resident who stood between me and the door. I couldn’t see anything. My vision blurred. My fingers grasped the doorknob and I was out and hustling down the hall. No one got booted from rounds. No. One. Especially not me, the student who up until my surgery rotation had been number one in my class. I rounded a corner and yanked at the door of a service closet. Lucky me, it was actually unlocked. I didn’t even flip on the light. The door slammed behind me and I bent forward. Giant heaving sobs broke free. Head-pounding, rib-shaking sobs.

I pressed my hand to my mouth. That bitch. That horrible bitch of a woman. What had I done to piss her off? I’d prepared. I’d overprepared. I took notes, I answered questions, I rounded…what the hell had I done?

I stood and scrubbed my fingers under my eyes. Nope. Not going out there until I had control. Well, fuck her. Maybe I would simply drop out of med school, right? Wrong. No way. I counted to ten, on each beat filling my lungs with Windex-soaked air.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Now! Where are you?

On my way
, I texted back.

If I was going to get kicked out of rounds for the day, at least I had a patient of my own to visit.

Ellen

“Doll, don’t you need to be at the hospital?” Daddy asked.

Carlyle, the personal
male
nurse that we’d hired, walked around Daddy’s bed and plumped his pillows. There would be no young female nurses for Daddy. Nope. Not risking the possibility of a repeat cardiac event.

“I took the day, Daddy, so that I could help.” No reason to tell him I’d been thrown out of rounds. Why have him worry? Or worse yet, why let that Legend temper work him into a froth over Kazowski?

“Well, doll, that’s nice of you, but I’ve got plenty of people fretting over me. You don’t have to stay.” He reached for his water and took a sip.

Across the room, Mama’s suitcase was open. She’d already started unloading her clothes into Daddy’s gargantuan closet. In here? Mama was sleeping in
here
with Daddy? His king-sized bed had seen more action than the Vegas Strip. I glanced up. Yep, the mirror was still there. Above his bed.

Sophia rushed into the room with her phone pressed to her ear, “Daddy, it’s the president of Worldwide Studios. He wants to speak to you.”

Daddy shook his head and lifted the remote. “Not now, doll, way too tired. Tell him I’m good, and if it’s about the dough I owe him from the poker game, I’ll call him in a couple of days. Otherwise, if it’s business tell him to go through Webber.”