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“I can order the test,” he said. “But I’d like to know why you’re requesting it.” He didn’t need to justify the cost to any insurance. Ellie had offered to pay for an MRI of her brain. But the request had come out of the blue, and he wanted a reason. And more practically, the more he understood her concerns, the better he’d be able to refine the process to look for the right things.
Her gaze darted to the pictures lining the bookshelves along the wall. He had books as well, but photos of him and his family occupied most of the space. Some people might think the number of frames and images overkill. But when he had a day that wasn’t going so great, they managed to pull a smile from him.
“Ellie, I understand you don’t know me, and trust may be hard to come by in your world—or so the media would have us believe—but I needsomething. Like I said, I can order the test. But it would help if I—and the radiologist—knew what we should be looking for.” He hesitated, thinking he might be overstepping with what he wanted to say next. Then again, she’d been the one to come to him. If he wanted her to trust him, even a little, he needed to give her a reason. “And this request has me worried. About you.”
Her attention jerked back, and her dark eyes studied him. For a hot second, his breath caught in his throat because, damn, she was beautiful. But the fear on her face had him refocusing his train of thought. “There’s a reason you’re asking for the test. And judging by the look in your eyes, something has you scared. I want to help if I can.”
“Including ordering the test?” she asked. The thin thread of hope he heard in her voice nearly broke his heart. Whatever had brought her to this point hadn’t been easy.
He hesitated then nodded.
A breath left her body, and her shoulders dropped as she closed her eyes. After a beat, she opened them and met his gaze.
“Thank you,” she said. “It may just be paranoia. But Sofia suggested we rule out anything physical.”
“Before…” he prompted.
“Before we start looking for other…reasons I’m having certain issues.”
He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his desk. “What if the test shows nothing?” He hoped it did show nothing. Anything that popped up on an MRI image wouldn’t be good news. But he was digging for information. And she didn’t seem unwilling to talk to him; she just wasn’t comfortable spilling everything all at once.
She pursed her lips. “Then I find a better therapist.”
That simple statement told him what he needed to know for now. Not the specifics, of course. But something had her worried about her mental health. And wanting to be sure that a physical cause, like cancer or a tumor, wasn’t the root issue was a smart step to take. He fleetingly wondered why her own doctor hadn’t ordered an MRI. Ellie may be an actress, but she didn’t seem prone to drama. If she was worried enough to approachhim, then her own doctor should have listened to her. Her own doctor should have done what he or she could to get to the bottom of the problem. Or, as Ellie had said, rule a few things out.
He nodded. “I can’t do it tonight, but I can arrange it for tomorrow. We can use one of the machines in the imaging department rather than the ED, and we can do it after hours. I can’t guarantee that no one will recognize you, though.”
“Will a tech run the test?”
He shook his head. “I can do it, but I’ll need a radiologist to read it. I’ve reviewed my share of images. But for something like this, I’d rather have the opinion of a specialist.”
She nodded. “Thank you,” she said again.
“I’ll still need you to fill out paperwork. But I can give it to you tonight, and I can enter it into the system before we run the test tomorrow. We’ve never had a data leak here at Mystery Lake General, and I don’t anticipate we’ll have one with you, but I’d rather delay adding you to our system until we need to.”
The hospital had treated more than a few celebrities, including his cousin Cody, one of the hottest country singers in the US. But as he said, he’d rather take steps to mitigate risks, especially when they were simple steps.
A few minutes later, he ushered her out to join Sofia in the hallway. They’d agreed to meet tomorrow evening at seven and in her hand she carried a stack of papers. After a round of goodbyes, the two women left. When he no longer heard their footsteps, he returned to his office. Shutting off the lights, he stood in front of the large window. The town had cleared all the roads, and huge banks of snow and dirt were piled in the parking lot and along the streets. But even with the remnants of the storm scattered about, Mystery Lake was still beautiful.
Although most people couldn’t tell, this north end of Main Street was decades younger than the south end. All the buildings, even the newest, replicated the historic gold-rush-era architecture the town was known for. And with the recent storm, pristine snow sparkled on the roofs of the brightly colored clapboard buildings. Second-floor balconies, with their gingerbread railings, extended over raised wooden sidewalks below, offering shelter from the weather. A few shops had even changed out Christmas lights for red or pink ones in honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day.
While his eyes appreciated the sight stretched below his third-floor office, his mind lingered on the woman who’d just left. And he couldn’t help but wonder what had America’s Sweetheart so terrified.
Less than twenty-four hours later, Asher studied the papers Ellie had handed him when she and Sofia arrived at his office. He could see why she might have shortened “Eleanora” to “Ellie” but wondered if she’d been behind the change or her agent. Regardless, it wasn’t his place to ask, and it had no bearing on the reason for her visit.
She’d listed an LLC as the entity responsible for payment—a way to keep a wall between her life and the paparazzi—and he dutifully entered the information into the billing system. When it came to the list of symptoms, he read through what she’d written then glanced at her.
She offered him a wry smile. “You have questions.”
He did. But he didn’t need the answers to all of them before running the test. So keeping to the most relevant ones, he asked, “Any dizziness or blackouts?”
She’d listed extreme forgetfulness and sudden episodes of manic behavior. Either could be a symptom of a number of diagnoses, and he wanted more information. Especially since her primary doctor hadn’t bothered to investigate.
“No dizziness. No blackouts in the true sense of a blackout.” He arched a brow. “I’m not losing chunks of time,” she continued. “But sometimes I’ll forget a conversation with someone.”
“Forget youhadthe conversation or forget the topic of the conversation?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Mostly the latter, but occasionally the former. I don’t know if that’s considered a blackout or not?”
