What The Heart Knows (30 page)

“Okay,”
she said, forcing a smile. “Thanks, Shay. I really appreciate
this.”

“Hey,
it's nice to have a patient who doesn't bite me every now and again.”

“You
took care of Mr. Green yesterday,” Emily reasoned.

“Your
point?” she said with a smirk. “So who can I call to
come get you?”

“No
one,” at Shay's objection, she held up a hand. “It's not
that far. It's a ten minute walk from here.”

“A
ten minute walk with two head wounds and a possible concussion,”
Shay clarified.

“Exactly.
No big deal.”

Shay
rolled her eyes, taking off her gloves. “Emily, please be
reasonable.”

“Look,
I will call you when I get to the inn, okay? Then you'll know I'm
alright. Besides,” she said, jumping off the table. “this
is Stars Landing. If I pass out on the side of the road, someone is
going to see. And then tell everyone... and their mama.”

“Alright,”
Shay conceded. “I am gonna drop by to check on your stitches in
a few days.”

“You're
the best Shay,” she said, walking toward the door.

The
staff at the front desk and the people in the waiting room perked up
when they saw her, taking in her odd outfit with mild distaste until
they saw the blood on her sweatshirt and the damage to her face. She
could read the sympathy there, but their respect for her privacy kept
them from asking. She could tell that by the time she got to the
sidewalk, they would all be on their phones. Texting and calling.
Because someone somewhere was sure to know the story.

Tomorrow
there would be baked goods everywhere. Normally, it would be
casseroles and soups. But they knew Emily and her sweet tooth. There
would be every sort of dessert you could imagine at the inn tomorrow.
People would linger, hoping to catch sight of her so they could tell
her that if she needed anything, anything at all, that all she had to
do was give them a call. It would then segway into the whole awful
ordeal. Shocked faces. Accusatory whispers.

She
planned on spending the entire day in bed, out of sight. Meggie was
just going to have to deliver all the food to her.

Judging
by the blinding migraine she was nursing, she was going to be in no
mood for the townspeople's good intention jabbering.

She
pulled her sleeves down to cover her hands as she walked into the
center of Main Street.

“Jesus,
sweetheart,” Eric's voice hissed when he saw her. “what
the fuck?”

Emily
winced at his loudness and shrugged. “Do me a favor and ask
Dane. I don't feel like talking about it,” she said and walked
faster, her head ducked down.

The
pain seemed to be spreading, through her brain, into her jaw, down
her neck, and into her spine. She just wanted to fall into bed. She
wanted to curl up and take four aspirin. She wanted privacy to sink
into her misery all by herself.

She
had just stepped onto the front lawn of the inn when she couldn't
take it anymore, the pain was everywhere all at once, too intense to
allow her to keep moving. She fell to her knees in the cold snow and
waited.

It
wasn't long before Devon and Alec ran out, each taking one of her
arms over their shoulders and half-carrying, half-dragging her
through the inn and into her room. They placed her down on her bed,
forced pain medicine and water in her mouth and left to allow Meggie
in to help her change her clothes. Whatever they had given her (and
she had been in too much pain to care to ask), knocked her quickly
into sleep. Each time she woke, there were two more little round
white pills that looked like aspirin, but weren't aspirin for her on
her bedside table. She took them, and dozed back out. On and off for
a day and a half.

Until
the smell of brownies dragged her groggily out of bed.

Twenty-Five

She
stared at herself in the mirror for a long time. Her black eye was
impressive, all deep purple and blues with a slight smattering of
yellow at the edges. She showered slowly and redressed in gray
leggings and a black long-sleeved t-shirt that came half-way down her
thighs, pulled her hair into a loose braid, and went in search of her
treats.

Devon
was at the check-in, the desk piled with two cakes and a stack of
chocolate chip cookies. She reached for one of the cookies and
started eating, finding her stomach gnawing with hunger.

“Hey
there sleeping beauty,” Dev said, his voice low.

“Speaking
of,” she said over a mouthful. “where the hell did those
little miracle pills come from?”

Dev
smiled slyly. “My mother has half a dozen bottles lying around
from all her plastic surgery. I figured you needed them a lot more
than she did.”

“Thank
you,” she said, never really meaning it more than she did right
then. There was a dull ache in her head still, but one she attributed
to lack of food and caffeine withdrawal. It was nothing compared to
the pain she had been in before those pills. “So has it been a
complete zoo here?”

“You
have no idea,” Dev said, shaking his head. “You have a
huge pile of food and presents in the kitchen. Everyone showed up
after they saw Aiden hauling Molly in. He and Dane personally drove
her all the way to Monroe to get locked up. Then slowly, but surely
people started to get bits and pieces and then trickle in. By
dinnertime, you couldn't walk in here.”

“You
poor things.”

“How's
your head?”

“Better.
A little sore, but better.”

“Good.
You should get some food and coffee in you because in about...”
he looked at the clock. “an hour... Hannah is going to be
barging in here demanding some answers. And asking why you didn't
call her to tell her you were okay.”

“What?
Why? How would she find out?”

“She's
in town. Seeing her mom and dad for Christmas.” He looked at
her, seeing the confusion. “It's in three days, Em,” he
told her.

Emily
groaned. She wasn't ready for that. She didn't feel at all ready to
spend hours wrapping the presents she had, at least, had the good
sense to order online a few weeks before.

“We
have everything all planned out,” Dev told her. “It's
gonna me you, me, Meggie, Alec, and Dane. One big, happy family
Christmas. We'll eat tons of Meggie's dinner, stuff our faces with
desserts, drink eggnog, and watch endless hours of A Christmas
Story.”

She
smiled at him. “That sounds like a great plan.”

“Yeah,
all of us orphans gotta stick together.”

“Literally
none of us are orphans,” she snorted.

“True,
but our family isn't our family, you know? We're our family.”

Emily
smiled to herself, walking behind the desk and wrapping her arms
around Dev's waist. He stood there still for a long moment before his
arms went around her, squeezing tightly. “I like the near-death
experience Emily. She's nicer than our normal Emily,” he said,
chuckling. “Now go get that belly full before your dearest
friend shows up to make you wish you could crawl back into the
codeine coma.”

In
the kitchen, Meggie was making a thick strew that made Emily's belly
growl angrily. “Oh, Em,” she gushed as soon as the door
swung open. “Thank god. I was telling Dev this morning that we
needed to ease up on those pain pills. You have barely been able to
get up and go to the bathroom. You
haven't
eaten anything...”

“Don't
worry, Megs,” she said, going over to the coffee machine. “I
am done with those. I have a lot to catch up on around here. I think
I should probably be conscious to do that.”

“It
would help avoid the lawsuits,” Meggie agreed.

“So
are you alright? I mean aside from just your like concussion and cuts
and stuff... are you okay?”

“Yeah,”
Emily said, nodding. It wasn't a lie. She was going to be alright. As
soon as she could throw herself back into work. She reached into one
of the gift bags on the counter, pulling out a bright purple robe
made of the softest, fluffiest material she had ever felt in her
life. “Oh my god, I want to live in this,” she groaned,
slipping her arms in.

“Yeah,”
Meggie said, her brows drawing together. “That's from Maude.
She said to tell you she's sorry. That some times bad things happen
so love can conquer or something like that. I don't know. It was
cryptic. I think she's losing her touch.”

“Did
you seriously think it would be okay to not call me and tell me you
had your head bashed in by some lunatic employee?” an angry
Hannah called from the door.

Looked
like Dev was a little off with his time line. She had that new mother
look. That ethereal beauty mixed with soul-sucking exhaustion. Her
long hair was pulled back and braided to one side, her face pale and
her eyes puffy from lack of sleep.

“Look,”
Emily said, sending Hannah a smile. “Dev had me all drugged up
for like eighteen hours. I couldn't call anyone.”

“Well,”
Hannah said, struggling for something she could grasp hold of to give
her indignation validity. Finding nothing, she dropped her arms at
her sides. “fine. But the next time you end up at the vet,
getting stitches and being interrogated by the cops, I want a phone
call. Right from the exam table. It takes friggen forever to drive
here.”

“How's
Isaac?” Emily asked, reaching for the pile of brownies that had
pulled her out of bed in the first place. She knew without asking
that they were Lena's.

“He's
a little shit,” Hannah said, making Emily choke on her food.
“I'm joking. Partly. I love him. He's just.. got these lungs on
him. And, oh... and... he doesn't cry at all when his father is
holding him. It's like some bro code or something.”

Emily
nodded. “It starts early,” she agreed.

They
visited for a while until the threat of needing to either nurse or
pump had Hannah rushing out the door, full of promises to get
together before she headed back to her life.

After
the word got out that Emily was lucid again, it was an endless parade
of well wishers. To the point that Devon had them all start to line
up to talk to her. She was hugged and kissed. She was offered a dozen
different remedies for scars (because apparently there was no doubt
about it- she was going to scar). There were invites to Christmas
dinner, all of which she declined.

But
it was her last visitor that had her eyes widening.

Elliott
Michaels came to see her.

“Hey,
Elliott,” she said, sending him an odd smile.

“Emily,”
he said, nodding. “you look like hell.”

“Thank
you!” she exploded, holding up her hands in the air by her
chest for a second. “All I have been told all day is how great
I look. And about how if I apply vitamin e to this mess,” she
said, waving at the side of her face. “I will be as good as
new. I know I look awful. It is good to hear someone else say it.”

“Anytime
you need an insult,” Elliott said, smirking. “you just
let me know.”

Emily
laughed. She was really starting to like him. “So what can I do
for you?”

“Nothing,”
he said, stepping closer. “I just wanted to check on you. Also,
I should probably remind you that your health benefits kicked in from
EM Corp. So any doctors bills should be sent to us.”

“Vet,”
she responded, holding back a smile.

“Excuse
me?” Elliott asked, looking genuinely perplexed.

“Vet
bills. We don't have a doctor in town. I was taken to the vet.”

Elliott
looked like he was dangerously close to laughing. “Can I say
it?” he asked.

She
knew what was coming, and found herself smiling. “Go ahead.”

“Did
you have to go to the vet because you're such a bitch?”

They
both laughed, a short but thoroughly amused laugh. “I like this
Elliott Michaels,” she told him. “not so stiff and
intimidating all the time.”

Elliott
shrugged. “I'm afraid James got all of the good humor and laid
back genes.”

She
knew she flinched at the mention of his name. She had known it was
bound to come up eventually, though Hannah had expertly sidestepped
the subject while they visited. She knew he was going to be mentioned
eventually. She thought she had her unaffected face down pat. Until
she heard his name. She felt herself cringing from it. Like the can
or worms it really was.