Page 81 of Love and Other Champagne Problems

“Who knows? Maybe I’ll be the one running off with him at the end.”

“My parents would be very upset.”

Sumner smiled, which caused my lips to tip up in a mirrored response. His eyes dropped to it, and the knowledge that he looked at my mouth stalled the breath in my lungs, even in a situation such as this. It felt like a lifetime ago that I kissed him in the coat check closet, not just yesterday. A lifetime ago that I met Aaron Astor. It almost made my head hurt how much things could change in just twenty-four hours.

I let go of his wrist and my hand fell back into my lap. “It’s funny,” I murmured in a flat voice. “That no one from the country club is here. I would’ve thought everyone would be nosing their way in, desperate to tryand get on Nancy’s will before she croaks. They couldn’t be bothered, I guess.”

“Who would’ve told them?”

“Ms. Jennings surely would’ve blabbed.”

“She’s here,” Sumner said. “Ms. Jennings. She came about an hour or two after we got here. You didn’t see her?”

I reallyhadzoned out. “No.”

“She said she was going to see Dr. Conan. She didn’t come back.”

Ms. Jennings came to the hospitalnowto see Dr. Conan? She didn’t ride in the ambulance with Nancy and me, but came separately to see the doctor? It wasn’t that surprising, given their adulterous relationship, but for her to come visit him at work seemed strange. Unless…

I laughed once, a hollow sound. “She used him to sneak back to Nancy.” No wonder the rest of the ladies from the club hadn’t come rushing in; if Ms. Jennings spilled the beans, she would’ve had to fight for Nancy’s attention. When Nancy should’ve been resting, recuperating from whatever had her passing out to begin with, Ms. Jennings had weaseled her way in.

I shoved to my feet, dots flooding my vision from the sudden movement. “I’m going to kill her,” I declared, feeling as if I could’ve meant it.

Sumner rose to his feet, too, and this time, he was the one to grab my wrist. “Margot?—”

“It’s ridiculous!” My voice echoed in the hospital’s lobby. One of the ladies at the reception desk looked up, but discreetly, as if she, too, tried to pick up on the gossip. “Even in a situation like this, it’s all anyone thinksabout. Nancy’s money, Nancy’s estate, Nancy’s financial holdings. They’re—they’re vultures. She’sdying, and they?—”

I stopped. The one word sucked all the air from my lungs and from the room, leaving me with nothing to draw on.Dying. All at once, the picture of her slumping forward at the table filled my vision, and the few chips I’d munched felt as if they’d gotten stuck in my throat.

Sumner’s hand slipped from braceleting my wrist to holding my hand, fingers curving around my palm. For one brief instant, I allowed myself to be lulled by the touch, to pretend it meant more than it did. I pulled back, severing the connection. “Don’t. Even if it’s to be comforting, don’t.”Don’t confuse me. Don’t make my heart flutter. Straightening my spine, I started toward the reception desk and the peeping woman behind it.

I only got a few steps away, though, before Nancy, Dr. Conan, and Ms. Jennings all came around the corner of the hallway. Dr. Conan was behind her manning the handles, directing her toward us with a phony smile on his face, and Ms. Jennings walked at his side. Nancy’s expression was in its usual stony grimace. She had on a pair of scrubs with a plastic bag of her clothes in her lap, the knitted blanket long gone.

“Here’s our lovely lady,” Dr. Conan said as he wheeled her closer.

“You’re discharging her?” I demanded.

“Leave it, Margot,” Nancy snapped, finally strength in her voice. Shelookedbetter; at least, she didn’t look so gray. Her eyes still drooped, though, like she could fall asleep and rest for a long while. “Quit fussing.”

“Yes, Margot, don’t be so fussy,” Ms. Jennings pipedin, laying her hand on Nancy’s bony shoulder. “She doesn’t need the stress.

I squared my jaw at her tone, clenching my teeth around a frustrated sound. “You passed out at dinner.”

“I was a little tired, that’s all.”

“The paramedics couldn’t wake you. Your blood pressure was?—”

“Hot stuff, can you wheel me to the car?” Nancy asked Sumner, cutting me off as cleanly as if I weren’t speaking. “I’ve already signed all the paperwork.”

Sumner looked around all of us before reaching a hand into the pocket of his khakis to pull out the key fob. “I’ll go bring it around.” He looked prepared for me to argue, but I remained stonily silent.

Nancy watched Sumner’s retreating figure, and even though her eyes had been slow to blink, they were certainly fixated on one thing. “You think he does squats?”

“Definitely,” Ms. Jennings murmured, also gawking.

They both ignored my burning glare completely, but of course they did. I switched focus. “Dr. Conan.” I let his name hang in the air, my clear questioning of his license hanging along with it.

He pressed his lips into a line and shrugged. “It’s what she wants, Margot.”

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