Page 88 of Scarlett and the Big Bad Billionaire
What was I going to do if something happened to her? I hadjustfound her. There was so much more I wanted to know about her and tell her about me.
So much lost time to make up for.
When we arrived at the ER, Gray and I followed the gurney inside. An admitting nurse asked some more questions while Vivi was taken into a curtained-off room.
“Can I go with her?” I asked.
“Family only,” the nurse said.
“We’re family,” Gray said and started to follow her.
I turned to look at him. “You can go home. I’ve got it from here. I know you need to get ready for your work trip.”
“Fuck work,” he growled.
“Really. It’s okay,” I said in a gentler, less businesslike tone. “You said the trip was important. Besides, I’m her blood relative. You’re not.”
Gray’s eyes were glittering. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to hug me or strangle me.
“Don’t cut me out, Scarlett,” he pleaded. “I love her, too.”
“So? You act like ‘love’ stops people from leaving. Men say they love you and leaveall the time.”
“Not me.”
“No, not you,” I agreed. “You’ve never even said it.”
Spinning away from him, I followed the nurse to the unit where Vivi was being treated. She pulled back the curtain, and I entered.
Gray followed. I shot him a hostile look but didn’t say anything.
Vivi was hooked up to an IV bag and several monitors. The slow, intermittent beeps of a heart monitor caught my attention.
“How is she doing?” I asked the person attending her. I wasn’t sure if the woman was a doctor or a nurse.
She looked up from the clipboard she was holding. “Hi. I’m Dr. Arena. I’m an emergency medicine specialist here at Eastport Bay Hospital.”
She offered a handshake to me and to Gray, and we introduced ourselves.
“Your grandmother is stable right now,” the doctor said. “She might have had a mild heart attack. We’re not sure yet. We’ll have to run some tests to determine how much damage might have been done. Don’t worry. We’re monitoring her closely, and we’re going to admit her. Just waiting for a room right now.”
She looked down at the paper on her clipboard again.
“Her records don’t show any history of cardiovascular disease, but of course, at age eighty-nine, a lot of things can happen out of the blue. Do you know if she did anything outside of her usual routine today? Was there a lot of excitement? Anything disruptive or upsetting?”
Gray and I exchanged guilty glances.
“It’s my fault,” he said. “I upset her.”
“No, it was me. We were bickering, and I mentioned the fact that we’d both be leaving town soon,” I said.
“You’re married?” the doctor asked.
“No.No,we’re… just friends,” I told her.
The doctor smiled. “I highly doubt overhearing some bickering between friends could lead to myocardial infarction. It’s more likely she’s got some blockage in her arteries. Like I said, we’ll be running some tests and keeping an eye on her. I am a little concerned to hear you say you’re both leaving town. Is there anyone to take care of her when she’s released? A hospitalization at this age is stressful to the system. Elderly people can lose some of their mobility simply from being off their feet for several days and in an unfamiliar environment.”
“I can stay with her,” I said without even hesitating to think about it.
