InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (34 page)

            Lexi was
thinking the same thing. “You have to call me as soon as you know something.
I’ll be sitting by the phone. Day or night, you need to let me know, OK?”

            “I will. We’re
just pulling up to the terminal now. Gotta go.” She cut the connection; and
Lexi dropped her phone on the table, put her face in her hands, and wept. 

            “What’s
wrong?” Ryan asked when he let himself into her apartment a couple hours later
and found Lexi sitting on the couch and staring at the wall. “You look like
you’ve been crying.”

            She had hoped
that she’d be able to hide it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Bo lying in
a hospital bed and possibly fighting for his life. ICU wasn’t a good sign, and
she hadn’t heard anything else from Tia. She looked at Ryan, dressed in his
favorite sweater and a pair of khakis, and her stomach turned at the thought of
trying to keep things light over a casual dinner at one of their favorite
restaurants.  For the briefest of moments she considered telling him the truth,
but after the blow up Ryan had after their television appearance, she wasn’t
about to tell him that she couldn’t get Bo Collins off her mind; even if it was
for a damn good reason. 

            She’d washed
her face and reapplied her makeup, but nothing could hide her red-rimmed eyes.
“I’m not feeling so good,” she lied, “I think I’m coming down with
something.”  

            “So, no flaming
saganaki, then, I’m guessing?”

            Lexi put her
hand over her stomach and cringed. “Oh God no. I really don’t feel like eating
anything right now. I’m sorry, I should’ve called you, but I thought that I’d
feel better...”

            “How about I
pick something up?” he suggested. “We can just chill here and watch a movie or
something.”

            “I don’t
know,” she said. “If I am coming down with something, the last thing I want to
do is give it to you. I should probably just try and sleep it off; get some
rest and hope it doesn’t stick.”

            Ryan didn’t
bat an eye, and Lexi felt guilty for lying to him. “OK,” he said. “Maybe I’ll
call Jace and see if he’s up for some wings or something. Rest up and feel
better—I won’t bother you if you’re going to try to sleep, but call me if you
need anything.”

            “Thanks, Ry. I
think that’s what I need to do. Sorry to make you come all the way out for
nothing.”

            “No problem,”
he said, kissing her on the forehead. “Hmm. You do feel a little bit feverish,
actually; you probably should get some rest.”

           
I’m
feverish, all right,
she thought as she closed the door and grabbed her
phone, staring at it and willing it to ring. She opened the fridge, pulling out
some leftover chicken and giving it an appraising sniff. Deeming it edible, she
dumped it unceremoniously onto a plate and tossed it in to nuke it. She was
actually starving, and was glad that her stomach hadn’t rumbled in protest as
she was turning down dinner in Greektown.

            There were
twelve seconds left on the microwave when her phone chirped, and she rushed
into the other room to grab it, relief and trepidation flooding her when she
saw that the call was coming from Qantas Airlines.

            “Oh thank
God,” she said, falling onto the couch and ignoring the beep of the microwave.
“Is he OK? What’s going on?”

            “We still
don’t know much, but the latest info is that they’ve airlifted him to UCLA.  I
guess he’s in pretty bad shape right now, and they’ve got a lot more tests to
do before they can assess the damage.” She stopped and took a few deep breaths,
but they did nothing to cool the fire of fear that was burning in her gut. “The
biggest concern right now is brain swelling, so they put him straight in the
ICU once they got him there.”

            “Brain
swelling? Holy crap, that sounds horrible. What the hell happened?”

            “He was headed
for home on his motorcycle, and an earthquake hit. Not a real bad one, but it
had been storming the couple days before and the rain apparently loosened some
of the rocks on the cliffs along the PCH. From what the witness says, a rock
about the size of a soccer ball hit him right in the head and he was thrown off
his bike…” she swallowed hard as her throat constricted. “He hit the ground
pretty hard and got pelted with a bunch more before the rock slide finally
stopped. Thank God he was wearing a helmet, or it could’ve been…” she paused,
unable to finish the sentence, and took a deep breath before continuing. “They
do know he’s got a couple cracked ribs, a nasty concussion, a broken arm and a
punctured lung. Oh, Lex, his mother said she didn’t recognize him; he’s so
swollen and bruised…he’s got a fractured eye socket…”

            “Oh my God,”
Lexi breathed.

            “That’s what
looks the worst right now, I guess, but the doctors aren’t even going to start
looking at most of the injuries until they’re sure his brain is stable. It’s
awful, but the doctors are still saying that he was lucky…it could’ve been much
worse.”

            “Oh, poor Bo;
I just can’t believe it.”

            Tia choked on
a sob. “Bo’s one of the strongest people I know. He’ll be OK, I know he will.
Chloe, that’s Bo’s mom, is at the hospital now, but they aren’t giving her a
whole lot of information yet. Damn it, I hate that we’re still so far away…”

            Lexi felt some
protective instinct rise up inside her and she felt a desperate need to go
there; to hold his hand and tell him that he was going to be OK. She knew it
wasn’t her place, but she felt so helpless sitting on the phone two thousand
miles away. “I know what you mean,” she said. “Are all the guys there?”

            “Everyone but
Tommy—he was on a sailing holiday somewhere around St. Croix with some friends
and they weren’t able to get a hold of him right away. He’s headed for the
nearest harbor where he can get a flight out. Bo’s sister is on her way there
too; she lives out East somewhere. Boston, I think.” 

            Lexi’s brain
conjured up a picture of Bo’s family—she’d never met Ms. Collins, but she
imagined that she’d be slightly heavy, with long graying hair, cocoa skin, a
warm laugh, and eyes that crinkled like Bo’s did when she smiled. “I’m glad
you’re going to be there too, Tia. Keep me updated, and tell him I love him,
OK? Tell him he’s too damn stubborn not to pull through just so he can continue
to torture the rest of us with his bad jokes.” She sniffed back a sob.

            “I will,” Tia
answered. “That’s all I know for now, but I’ll call as soon as I have any more
info. Dylan’s going to call Ty for an update in a couple hours, and we should
be there by late morning. God I wish this plane would go faster. Poor Dyl; he’s
an absolute wreck.”

            “I can’t even
imagine. Give him a hug for me and let me know as soon as you have some news.”

            Lexi barely
slept; every time she closed her eyes, her mind would conjure up a picture of
Bo lying broken in a hospital bed with tubes snaking out of him in all
directions. She spent most of the night pacing, and when Ryan let himself into
her apartment in the morning and found her curled up under a blanket on the
couch, it wasn’t hard to convince him that she still wasn’t feeling well. She
felt even more guilty that he’d brought her some tea and her favorite pastry
from the bakery down the street to make her feel better, but in spite of his
thoughtfulness, she was grateful that he didn’t insist on staying.

             It was late
morning before Tia called back.  “He’s stable, but that’s all we really know
right now,” she reported. “Brie and I are running out to get some food for
everyone who’s here. They’re still not letting anyone in to see him, but no one
wants to leave.”

            “Who’s Brie?”

            “Bo’s sister.
She’s an amazing person; so much like Bo. I love her already—I just wish we
weren’t meeting under these circumstances. You’d really like her—she’s edgy,
classy, and has a sharp tongue. She’s really holding everyone together; keeping
everyone positive. Here she comes now…I’ll call you when we have some real
news.”

            Lexi ended the
call and sat on the edge of her bed, putting her face in her hands and letting
the tears come once again. Helpless didn’t begin to describe what she was
feeling, but she had no other way to explain it. Better helpless than hopeless,
she thought, bowing her head and saying a prayer that Bo would be OK.

            Tia entered
the room quietly, the soft hum of the respirator hissing and clicking in a
haunting rhythm, dotted with the bleeps of the heart monitor. She’d waited a long
time for her turn to see him, and she pulled up the stool and took Bo’s hand
gently in hers. “Oh sweetie, we’re all here for you,” she whispered. “You have
a whole team of people outside pulling for you, you know that don’t you?” The
only answer was a click from the IV drip, signaling another dose of some
yellowish liquid that flowed down the tube and into a vein. Bo’s skin felt thin
and papery, and despite his bulky frame he looked so fragile that Tia had to
hitch in a breath. “Tommy just got here—he’ll be in to see you in a little bit;
and I talked to Lexi—she isn’t here, but she wanted me to tell you that she
loves you, and that she’s pray…” the heart monitor beeped three times, out of
its normal rhythm, and Tia held her breath as she watched it peak twice, then
fall back into a normal pattern. She let out her breath and felt her own heart
hammering in her chest. “She’s praying for you too, and she knows you’ll pull
through. She says you’re too damn stubborn not to, so just get on with it
already, OK? Come on back to us, Bo. We all love you.”

            She found it
hard to speak around the tightness in her throat, and she felt the burning
sting of tears. Not wanting Bo to hear fear in her voice, if he could hear her
at all, she started humming one of InHap’s songs while gently stroking his
right arm. Soon, there was a light tapping at the window that indicated her ten
minutes were up. “We need you Bo; stay strong,” she whispered before slipping
out of the room.

            Lexi had fully
expected to strut into work on Monday in a hot new outfit that showed off her
freshly bronzed skin and bask in the temporary celebrity she’d surely enjoy
around the office after her TV appearance. Instead, she dragged herself in
after an emotionally taxing weekend clad in a tired old pantsuit and sporting
some major bags beneath her eyes. Even the crowd that waited in the lobby,
applauding and patting her on the back, did little to boost her spirits, and
she had a hard time even forcing a smile. Most of them had heard about Bo’s
accident, and asked if she knew anything about his condition.

            Bo was
improving, but he still had a long way to go. They were able to cast his arm,
but he had yet to regain consciousness and was still in ICU. The doctors were
keeping him medicated so both his lung and brain had more time to heal, but the
prognosis was good, and they were confident that the brain hadn’t swelled so
much or been deprived of oxygen long enough to cause any brain damage.  They
wouldn’t be sure, however, until he woke up.

            Tia had been
keeping her posted, but she still felt out of the loop and wished there was
something more she could do besides worry and wait for her phone to ring. She’d
sent a big bouquet of flowers, but it felt like an empty gesture. What she
really wanted to do was go to him, and tell him how sorry she was for the way
she behaved last week.

            She and Ryan
were on rocky ground; he’d found out about Bo’s accident and determined that
her alleged illness was faked. He was sick of her lying, he said, and sick of
being played for a fool. It was stupid not to tell him—she should have realized
that he’d find out eventually and know that she’d already been made fully
aware, but she had been in some major emotional turmoil and her brain was
barely functioning. Or maybe it was functioning enough to know that she didn’t
want to deal with the bullshit she was going to get from Ryan one way or the
other once he found out. Apparently, he was still pissed about the exchange
she’d had with Bo on Tony’s show, and he just couldn’t seem to let it go. It
seemed that it didn’t take much to piss Ryan off these days, and she always
felt like she was walking on eggshells around him. She couldn’t say exactly
when it started, but if she had to pinpoint a time, it would be the day he walked
out of the locker room and saw her in Dylan’s arms. The shit really hit the
fan, though, on New Year’s Eve, when she got the news of Tia and Dylan’s
engagement…

             “I’m really
sorry I woke you up, honey… I didn’t want to freak you out by showing up
unannounced at four AM, and then I got excited when Tia told me she was
engaged, and I couldn’t help it,” she’d said.

            “Oh yeah, the
whole fucking world’s gonna be turning cartwheels over that news,” he’d said
sarcastically. “At least maybe now you’ll cross
him
off the list of
people you want to fuck.”