Page 23 of Embrace
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped. “Sometimes my name.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t expected him to say that.
His eyes expanded so wide that I could see the white around the iris. “Like fucking for real. I can forget my name. My address too.” He scratched his temple. “Sometimes I even forget where I am.”
I touched him gently on the shoulder. “Can you come to the hospital tomorrow for tests?”
“No,” he whispered curtly. Greg checked over both shoulders. “They’re watching me.”
“Who’s watching you?”
“I’m guaranteed thirty-five million dollars on a three-year contract, as long as I’m stopping a quarterback from scoring touchdowns. They want me to play until I die, and that’s no joke.”
“I see,” I said. “Well, if I don’t run scans, then I can’t learn what’s wrong with you.”
He scratched his head as his frown intensified. “Listen, let me figure it out and get back to you.”
I nodded, thankful that we were coming to the end of my spur-of-the-moment consultation for Greg Carrol while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. “I’m at the hospital in the morning. I’ll also speak to a colleague of mine, and we’ll figure something out.”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
We swapped numbers and headed inside. Greg waited for me in the hallway while I went into the guest bathroom to wash my hands. He asked me where I was from and how long I’d been in New Orleans as we walked to the backyard, where Courtney had a monstrous tent set up on the lawn. The inquiries into my personal life stopped once we stepped inside the tarp. Thank goodness she had the sense to make it air-conditioned.Yay, Court!
Greg and I stopped and searched from one corner to the other. Tables were along the canvas walls, which held strings of twinkling lights above the diners’ heads. There had to be over a hundred people in that massive tent. Also, bulbous paper pendant lights looked as if they floated in thin air throughout. I had to get a closer look to see the translucent string holding them in place. There was also a dance floor in the middle and a platform for a band on one side of the space.
“There they are,” Courtney called. She was sitting next to Rich, who was looking at us as if he wanted to take our heads off.
I was very aware that she was hyperfocused on me, and it made me uneasy. Suddenly, it felt wrong to be a guest at the party of my ex-boyfriend, who I was not on good terms with, and his mousy new girlfriend. If I weren’t waiting for Jake to show up, I would’ve feigned not feeling well and had Kirk take me home.
“Over there,” Courtney said, pointing as far away from her and Rich as she could and certainly out of her boyfriend’s line of sight.
I performed a quick search for Zara as I walked to where Courtney was directing us. Not only was she nowhere to be found, but I also remembered that Courtney had made her own seating arrangement, and I didn’t have to be a brain surgeon to guess who I was seated beside.
I so very badly wanted to take Courtney by the shoulders, shake her, and tell her that if she was that insecure about her relationship with Rich, then she should probably do what I had done and dump him. However, Courtney’s love life wasn’t any of my concern. Greg and I smiled faintly at each other and sat down. But then I remembered I was supposed to save Jake a seat next to me. I searched up and down my side of the table—there were no empty chairs. However, when I zeroed in on Court, there were two empty chairs to her left. One of those seats must’ve belonged to Jake and the other to Zara.
I heaved a sigh, considering shifting Courtney’s seating chart. But I couldn’t. That sort of rudeness wasn’t my style. So I decided to make the best out of an infuriating situation.
First, everyone was served drinks and crawfish-and-crab-cake appetizers. They tasted horrible—too fishy and salty. I took one bite and no more. I was pretty sure Greg was happy that we were sandwiched between people who worked at the hospital because he asked me to tell him everything I knew about CTE. I took care to keep my voice low as I explained. And we probably appeared intimate to those who watched us with curious gazes. That was probably why I felt Jake’s presence before I saw him or heard Crystal Collins from obstetrics and gynecology whisper his name to Dorothy, one of her colleagues.
Jake was standing at the entrance of the tent when our eyes connected. I felt my smile steadily grow, a natural reaction roused from within me on seeing his gorgeous face. But I was the only one beaming. Jake did not look happy as his frown shifted between Greg and me.
“Dr. Sparrow. You made it,” Courtney sang. “You’re sitting over here by me.”
I wanted to strangle her.
“So do you think I have it?” Greg asked, not noticing me staring at Jake.
I knew I was looking longingly after him because I felt it on my face. “I don’t know. We’ll have to test for it,” I said, watching Jake sit down.
He wasn’t looking at me anymore, and I wondered if it was because he thought I had transferred my affections to Greg Carroll.
I turned back to Greg. “Actually, the doctor who just walked in is one of the best neurosurgeons in the world.”
Funny, but he looked right at Jake. I hadn’t thought Greg noticed him.
Greg grunted. “I heard you were pretty good.”
I nodded. “I am.”
