Between the Lines

Pacing a metaphorical groove into the floor in an effort to obtain and relay news about the surgery, Andrew buzzes between the waiting area and the nurses’ station. The nurses, at first star-struck, quickly become pissed. “He’s. Still. In. Surgery,” one of them says, teeth gritted.

“Hmph!” Andrew responds, and Graham laughs quietly as I giggle into his shirt.

Minutes later, Andrew walks over and holds out his cell. “Richter wants to talk to you.”

I take the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, kiddo, I appreciate you being observant enough to realize Reid needed help. If this had gone overnight, he could have been in big trouble.”

“It was more Graham than me.” My eyes flick to him and he squeezes my shoulder.

“Well, you two possibly saved his life. You don’t need to stay, though. I’m sure Andrew can take care of whatever needs to be done tonight.” Andrew, jittery, does look prepared to jump on whatever task needs doing.

“We’ll be back as soon as he gets out of surgery.”

“All right. Give me Andrew so I can make sure he knows how to reach everyone.” I hand over the phone and Andrew strides for the exit, talking. Time for another cigarette break.

I turn to Graham. “How are those patches working?”

“Pretty well, actually. I still have issues with my hands sometimes, though, because I’m used to holding a cigarette. Not sure what to do with them.” He flexes his fingers and turns his hands palm up, staring down at them as though they belong to someone else. I take the one nearest me without looking at him, and we sit, silently holding hands, until the doctor comes to tell us that Reid is in recovery.

***

The filming schedule is modified to substitute the few remaining scenes that don’t include Reid; he’ll be out a solid week, possibly two. Since he’s one of the two main characters, we do some scenes partially—a stand-in representing Reid’s side of a conversation, or one of us filming a one-sided conversation, his portion to be filmed later, with everything spliced together in the final cut.

Production arranges for us to use the Bennet house again ahead of schedule, and Meredith and I do an emotional scene where her character, Jane, realizes that the guy she loves is gone with no plans to come back. I know from her concentration just before we begin filming that she’s mining her recent breakup for emotional effect. She tells me that she wishes she could use something else, but she knows her leftover feelings for her ex are the nearest thing to a shared experience with her character.

“I talked to Robby last night,” she says as we wait for the set to be readied.

“Oh?” I study her face, and even with the expertly applied makeup, I can tell she had a rough night. Red-rimmed eyes, dark circles still visible under the delicate skin.

“He says he misses me. I’m not an idiot… but it’s so tempting. I know him. He knows me. I’m just afraid that what I’m feeling for him will never be over. Like if I let him go, I’ll just die alone and miserable.”

“Meredith.” I grab her arm, wait until she looks at me. “Please tell me you know better than that. Or else I’m going to have to argue with you about not being an idiot.”

“I know better,” she mumbles. I lower my chin and stare at her. “I do. I don’t want to love him,” she says miserably.

“Mere, what kind of person expects someone he loves to give up what she wants to be, what she needs to do? That’s not love.”

“Yeah.” She’s listening but not hearing, and I want to shake her. “You know what, Emma?” She sighs. “Love freaking sucks.”

Chapter 34

REID

I wake up in a hospital room, and George is sitting on the small sofa. A few seconds pass while I process what happened yesterday. Difficult, because my brain feels numb from what is undoubtedly some sort of analgesic. My manager glances up when I stir. “Reid. Going to stay awake for a few minutes this time?” He comes to stand next to the bed. “They’re keeping you a little sedated, so you won’t move around.”

I look at the IV in my arm. “What happened?” God, my throat feels like I swallowed sand.

“Your appendix decided it didn’t care for Austin so much.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“Jesus. I was supposed to film today.”

Chuckling, George says, “Don’t worry, directors tend to let people off to recuperate from emergency surgery. Everything’s taken care of—private room, of course, and your medical care is being filed and paid, so you needn’t worry about that. Your bodyguard is outside the door, and Andrew will be by in a little while to run errands for whatever you’d like.”

I look down at the worn, mint-colored hospital gown. “Tell him not to even bother coming unless he brings me something else to wear. Shorts, t-shirts… I’m not wearing this.” I pick at one of the stupid ties at the side of the gown. “So I guess Dad couldn’t make it, huh? Sent you as his parental doppelganger?”

“What, you aren’t happy to see me?” George looks slighted. He should win a mini-Oscar.

“I’m complaining about the absence, not the substitution. Of course I appreciate you coming. Why it would surprise me that he’s not here, I have no idea. I mean hell, it’s just major surgery. No big deal.” My eyes are heavy; I’m sleepy already.

George grimaces, one hand on my arm. “Go back to sleep, get healed up. We’ll work on your daddy issues another time.”