Page 79 of Rival Hearts

Another smile stretched across his face. Jim looked in the pharmacy to check on the customer and then nodded. “I’d like that. I don’t mind looking like a fool for a good cause, but not being a fool is always preferable.” He hesitated. “And I meant what I said earlier. I’m glad you and Maggie are so happy together, and you’re working out whatever caused the rift between you before.”

My heart swelled in my chest as the door to the pharmacy clicked closed. Through the window, Jim greeted the customer and rang up their purchases. Talking to him had made me steadier, as though the tightrope I’d been walking might be all in my head.

At home, I filled the dog’s water dish for the second time. Once I’d left the pharmacy, I’d gone for a longer walk than normal, trying to decide about the job and whether the right thing was to discuss the opportunity with Maggie. I wouldn’t leave her, but I wanted the job. There was no doubt in my mind I’d enjoy it, be good at it. Producing would open doors in my career and lead to a steadier, better income. The only cons were the location and timeframe. Managing long-distance with Maggie was the biggest con of all.

I was halfway through a song an established artist had commissioned me to write when my phone rang. Frowning, I grabbed it off the coffee table in the middle of the room.Lila.I sent it to voicemail. In a few minutes, I’d call her back. I was close to nailing down the chorus and didn’t want to break my flow. Concert business could wait.

As soon as I was back in the zone, my phone buzzed again. Annoyance shot through me, and I grabbed the phone, prepared to send Lila to voicemail again. She tended to be persistent. But it wasn’t Lila.

Trent.

Trent called me now, but never in the middle of a workday. He was usually too busy to even answer a text message, and his lunch break was long gone.

“What’s up?” I twirled my pencil across my fingers.

There was a lengthy silence, and I checked my phone to see whether the call had dropped or maybe Trent had pocket dialed.

“Hello?” I said again.

“Sorry,” Trent’s voice was thick, and he cleared his throat. “Lila called me.” His voice cracked.

My heart dropped out of my chest and into my feet. A sweat broke out across my back. “Jesus, Trent. You’re scaring me. Is Maggie okay?” I should have answered Lila’s call. If I’d wasted precious time sending the call to voicemail, I didn’t think I couldforgive myself. A car accident? Something worse? The tightness in my chest was unbearable.

“It’s her dad. He collapsed in the pharmacy.” The words were garbled, hard to understand.

Maggie was okay. Thank God, she was okay. Relief flooded in, and I released the breath I’d been holding. But Jim, Jim was not okay.

“Collapsed? At the pharmacy?” I’d been there an hour ago. I’d just seen him. “Is he at the hospital?” I tucked my phone between my ear and neck, grabbing my keys and coat. Whatever was going on, I needed to be there for Maggie.

“Yeah,” Trent said. “But, Grady…”

“What is it?” I locked my house and jogged to the truck. With a yank on the driver’s door, my thoughts flickered between Maggie and Jim. An hour ago, we’d been chatting. Jim had looked fine, and he was in good health. Fit. Strong. We were dancing together tomorrow. He’d be fine. A blip.

“He didn’t make it.” Through the phone, Trent sniffed, and his voice broke. “He died. Jim’s dead.”

With my hand on the steering wheel, I stared at the back shed, my heart fracturing into a million pieces. “What?” The word left before I could think it through.Shock. I remembered this weightlessness, as though time and space had somehow shifted and no longer made sense. Jim was dead? “What?”

“I’ll meet you at the hospital, okay? I’m on my way now.” Trent sniffed, and for the first time, I realized I was on speaker phone in a car, the traffic noises audible.

Numbness rose like a fog. On autopilot, I started my truck and sat there, staring into the distance.

“Grady?”

“Yeah?”

“She’s gonna need you, man. I know what you’re feeling right now.” He took a deep breath, and his voice was thick with tears.“But you and I gotta get out of our own fucking heads. ’Cause we know.” He exhaled sharply. “We fuckingknow.”

A chill settled in my bones. Throwing the vehicle into reverse, I backed out of the driveway and pointed the truck toward the hospital. When my father died, I shrank into myself, refusing help from anyone except that lone conversation with Jim. Having the security only a parent could provide ripped out of your life was catastrophic. People often described grief as a hole, but I considered it a weight, one that had buckled my knees, almost crushing. A person dragged the weight of grief around, eventually learning to carry it, but they were never the same again. If I had a choice, Maggie wouldn’t bear the load alone.

Chapter Thirty

Maggie

My knees buckled when Grady strode through the emergency room doors. Relief hit so hard darkness tinged the edges of my vision, threatening to drag me under. He swooped me into his arms and kept me from sliding to the ground. His lips skimmed the top of my head, and I sighed. How had he known I needed him?

My thoughts were so muddled. The minute I’d answered Joseph Goldtooth’s frantic phone call about finding Dad on the floor, all logic or reason had fled. On autopilot, I’d met the ambulance at the hospital, but I hadn’t been able to see my father. Instead, Dad’s closest colleague, David Rigilotto, had entered the waiting room with tears in his eyes, and I’d known, before he said a word. Dad’s condition was grave. Not once had I considered what had happened would bethisbad.

“How are you here?” I clutched his shirt, my words garbled, trying to keep in my sob.

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