Page 36 of Wingwoman
“It’s hospital policy,” the same nurse said, still smiling. She sure was a chipper little thing, considering she was working an overnight shift at Austin General.
“See? Hospital policy,” Josh mimicked, then leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Annoying as hell, isn’t she?”
I covered my smile with the back of my hand as he rolled us onto the elevator and hit the button for the main floor.
“Don’t we need to go to the parking garage?” I asked.
Josh shook his head. “We came in an ambulance, so Matt arranged for my driver to pick us up.”
“Your driver?” I repeated. “Don’t tell me I’m leaving this hospital in anything less than a limo.” I glanced down at the new boots, now back on my feet, but paired with sweatpants and a T-shirt from the gift shop.
A smile curved on his mouth. “If my muse wants a limo? Then she’ll get a limo.”
“I’m not your muse.”
He gave a little shrug. “If you say so.”
“Josh—” The elevator doors opened and we were greeted by total and utter chaos.
Four security guards greeted us, flanking both Josh and me, while on the other side of the glass doors, a mob of people with cameras awaited, shouting and calling out Josh’s name.
Ten
HOPE
“How the hell did this happen?”Josh shouted over the roar of reporters and fans calling out to us.
“They all showed up about ten minutes ago,” one of the guards said. “They must’ve been tipped off that you were being discharged soon.”
Josh shrugged out of his jacket and placed it around me, pulling it up over my head. “Here,” he said, “use this to hide your face from the cameras.”
The four guards stayed in a circle around us, trying to shield us from the reporters and paparazzi waiting outside and around the limo parked in the roundabout.
“Mr. Gabriel, is it true you have a fiancé?”
“Josh! Who is that with you?”
“What’s your fiancé’s name?”
“When did you propose?”
Keeping my face covered beneath his jacket, I let Josh and the security guards be my eyes, guiding me to the limo and even helping to lift me inside. It wasn’t until I heard the slam of two doors and all the shouting questions muted like someone had stuck their fist into the horn of a blaring trumpet that I peeked out of the jacket.
“You can take that off now. The windows are tinted,” Josh said quietly.
Using only my good arm, I twisted out from beneath the jacket and handed it back to Josh.
“So…” I said. “Maybe you were right after all about that nurse being an idiot. But it turns out, she’s an evil idiot.”
“Funny, I was going to say the opposite. She’s an evil genius if she fooled me into thinking she was harmless.”
But there was no humor in his voice. Josh massaged his forehead. “Truthfully, if she was the one who leaked this, then she violated like every HIPAA law in existence. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can prove it was her. Literally anyone walking by the desk in the waiting room could have recognized me and leaked it to the press that Josh Gabriel was at Austin General, visiting his fiancé.”
“True. But only a select few would have known what time I was being discharged,” I said. “The guards said the press didn’t start showing up until about five to ten minutes right before we came down. That’s too big of a coincidence.”
Josh gave a little nod. “I’ll look into it tomorrow.”
The drive only took about twenty minutes after we managed to get away from the press. The sedan turned down the driveway of the ranch, the same sign swinging and now lit by a flood light at the base of the tree.
