Page 56 of My Sexy Rival (Stars In Their Eyes 2)
Kat quirked up her lips, a knowing twinkle in her pretty brown eyes. “Maybe it occurred to you because you were finally ready to consider it. Maybe you never thought about it because it was never something you would do. Maybe the idea came to you because it’s what you want?”
“But am I even ready to be married?” I asked, my voice starting to break.
“All I know, Jess, is that love comes around when you least expect it. It has a way of wreaking havoc on your life and your plans and challenging you in ways you never saw coming. But when you meet the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you’ll often upend all your plans.” Then her chair legs scratched across the deck. “I need to pee. These babies,” she said, patting her belly. She dropped a kiss to my forehead and whispered, “Listen to your heart. The heart knows what’s right for you.”
She walked inside, leaving me alone with my dog, and my racing thoughts. I closed my eyes and raised my face to the sun, letting the last two months wash over me until it was time to head to the hospital for my volunteer shift.
I leashed up Jennifer and visited the children’s ward for the next hour, the visit reminding me that nothing in life was easy.
But one thing was easy. Texting William and asking him to meet me here when my shift ended.
Helen peppered me with questions as she walked with me down the hall and to the emergency room exit. “Are they going to let you on the set of My Life As a Teen Paparazzo when they start shooting?”
I laughed. “Why? You want a report on all the hot young actors?”
“Duh,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Anaka just finished the first rewrite last week so we’re still a ways off.”
“Promise me one thing,” she said, tucking the papers she was carrying under her elbow.
“Sure.”
“You’ll snap some photos just for me of the guys.”
“Of course, Helen.”
“Thank God. I could use a little eye candy in my life. I’ve been up to my ears in HR paperwork these days.”
“Less time to read the gossip rags?” I asked as Jennifer trotted by my side.
“It’s killing me,” she said in mock desperation. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. “There’s your hottie, and I swear he gets better looking by the day.”
I scanned the lobby up ahead, my eyes landing on William as he walked through the door. He did get better looking every day, and my eyes would surely miss looking at his fabulous face. I raised my hand to wave, but then, as fast as a whip, William turned his gaze away from me. As we rounded the corner, the lobby coming into full view, I saw a man crumpled in a chair, bent over at the waist, clutching his belly.
The black-haired man seemed to be wincing, his face screwed up in pain. A nurse was kneeling by his side, her palm resting on his knee, as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you.” The nurse spotted Helen and called out. “Helen, where’s our Chinese translator? I think that’s the language he’s speaking.”
“She quit the other day. I haven’t found a new one yet. Do you know how hard it is to find someone who knows the language well enough to work in a hospital in Los Angeles?”
The nurse shook her head, shooting the man a rueful look.
Time stopped as I tried to speak, as the bubble of hope inside of me turned into a geyser. I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, I heard words. Words I didn’t know at all. Words that made no earthly sense to me. Spoken with just a sliver of a British accent.
The sun ignited in my chest. A supernova streaked across the sky.
You never know what fate has in store.
William asked more questions as he kneeled next to the man, who looked up with so much pain in his eyes, but some kind of relief, too. Finally, someone understood him. Someone could speak for his pain. The man answered, and William nodded, then asked a few more questions, then nodded again.
Feet planted wide, Helen stood in place, her jaw agape. The nurse stared, dumbstruck. Jennifer wagged her tail. And William alone had the answers they needed. He patted the man gently on the knee, rose, and turned to the ER nurse.
“He said he’s had stomach pains on his right side for five days now. They’re not going away; they’re only intensifying. He was told last week by urgent care that he had a stomach virus, but it’s worsened,” William explained, and I wanted to jump up and down.
“It’s not a stomach virus,” I said quickly, answering like I was on a game show. “He has a ruptured appendix.”
