Page 74 of The Wedding Hoax

Even when the jig was finally up?

“Excuse me? Mrs. O’Donnell?” A nurse was now standing in front of me with a clipboard in her hand. “I just wanted to give you an update on your mom.”

“Is everything okay?” My heart was racing fast, like it was going to leap out of my chest at any moment.

“Yes, everything’s fine.” The nurse smiled down at me. “Your mother was just put to sleep and she’s reacting normally to the procedure so far. Typically, the surgery takes a few hours. We just like to let the family know in case you need to leave and come back later—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I cut her off. “I’m going to wait right here.”

“Do you have a lobby where I’d be able to plug in my laptop?” Harry asked. “Just in case I needed to catch up on some work?”

“Yes. We have a visitors’ area right down the hall.” The nurse nodded. “And please, let us know if you need anything else, okay?”

As she walked away, I watched Harry shuffle out of his seat next to me.

“I’m going to head to the visitors’ area, if you want to come with me?” He started. “I need to catch up on what’s going on with the magazine’s release.”

“I think I’d rather stay here.”

“Are you sure?” Harry frowned. “Because I don’t know if you should be alone right now—”

“I’m not alone. You’re going to be right down the hall, right?”

“Right.” Harry was still staring at me, his face filled with concern. “All right, then. Just let me know if you need me and I’ll come running right back—”

“I’ll let you know. I promise.”

28

SIMONE

“How’s our girl doing?” Harry asked as he knelt down in front of me. He rested one of his arms against my thighs as he crouched close to me. “Is she out of surgery yet?”

It’d been a few hours since I’d seen Harry, even though the time had flown by. I was so anxious and numb that time didn’t have much of a meaning to me anymore.

“She just got out,” I said with my hands folded in my lap. “They said she’s in recovery mode now.”

“Is she awake?”

“Not yet.”

“Do they know when she’ll wake up?”

“Maybe in another hour or so? But she might not be in the mood to talk.” I shrugged. “Either way, I’ll probably be sleeping at the hospital tonight.”

“Got it. In that case, we’ll need to start thinking about dinner plans. I don’t think we can have anything delivered, but I can pick us up something to eat when I’m done working and bring it back here.”

“Ha.” There was a shadow of a smile on my lips. “You make it sound like we’re having a sleepover.”

“Aren’t we?” Harry quirked an eyebrow. “Or is there somewhere else you wanted me to sleep tonight?”

“You don’t have to do that, Harry.”

“I know I don’t have to, Simone. I want to.” He gently tapped the side of my thigh. “I want to be here for you while you’re going through this. And I want to be there for your mom, too.”

“Stop,” I whispered.

“What?”

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