Page 32 of When You're Gone
“I woke up to a whole bunch of missed calls and messages from Quinn. It’s my granddad. He had a stroke.”
She sat up too fast, a wave of lightheadedness forcing her to lie back on her elbows. “Oh Ev,” she exhaled. “Come here.”
He cut across the room toward the bed.
She rose up on her knees to meet him. “I’m so, so sorry.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding his head tight against her chest. Her heart crumbled when she felt his shoulders shake with a silent sob.
Rhett was closer to his granddad than he was to his own father; Jonathan was one of the most important people in her husband’s life. Not to mention he was also his boss.
“Shh,” she soothed. “What do you know? What did Quinn say?”
“He’s stable now, but it sounds like it was really bad. He was working late, and he was the only one there. I guess the cleaning crew found him on the floor in his office.”
“Oh my God.”
“My parents are in Vancouver, so they can’t get to Virginia until tonight. He’s all alone at the hospital right now. I have to go.”
“Of course. But you’re not going alone. I’m coming with you.” She shifted to climb out of bed.
“V…” Rhett stood up and looked back toward his closet. She knew his brain was working overtime. “You didn’t want to come to Virginia. You have a lot going on this week. You don’t have to come if….”
She stood up and wrapped her arms around his torso. “Yes, I do. This is different. You need to be there, and I need to be there to support you.”
His voice trembled as he returned her embrace. “Thank you,” he muttered into her hair, kissing her forehead quickly before ducking back into the closet. “I’ll start packing for you and get Quinn to book your ticket if you want to take a shower. The flight leaves in three hours.”
She grabbed her phone from the charger and headed into the en suite, shivering when her feet hit the cold tiles. She turned on the shower and glanced at her phone while she waited for the water to warm up. It was just a few minutes before five am. It wasn’t until she looked at the date below the time that she remembered today was her birthday.
“I didn’t know airport coffee could taste like this,” she moaned appreciatively. She savored another sip of her triple Americano and looked around the swanky business elite lounge. She had driven them to the airport so Rhett could send emails and make the necessary calls on the way. They were all checked in and ready to go—now all they had to do was wait.
He barely looked up to acknowledge she had spoken. His brows were pulled together in concentration as he clicked through emails. Poor guy had sighed at least five times since they sat down.
She ran her fingers down his arm, tracing the muscles and veins in the hand gripping his phone. “Hey… Why don’t you take a break?”
His hold loosened on the device, then he balanced it on his leg and interlaced their fingers. He finally glanced up and met her gaze, his eyes a storm of emotions.
He blew out a long, shaky breath and gave her a slight smile. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For that. For not letting me get lost in this. For coming with me, even though I know you don’t want to be here.”
She squeezed his hand and scooted closer, willing him to feel her empathy. She knew words were a sorry substitute for any real semblance of comfort, but she tried to sooth him anyway. “I want to be where you are. Forever, Everhett.”
“Or for however long we get,” he finished, kissing her on the forehead, then resting his chin on the top of her head.
She instinctively ran her thumb along the underside of the infinity band on her ring finger that held that very engraving. Her heart pulled when she brushed the underside of her engagement ring. It had been Rhett’s grandmother’s: a family heirloom he swore he knew he would only ever give to Tori.
His phone dinged with another notification. She couldn’t fathom how he had so many messages to respond to already. It was seven on a Sunday morning. He peered down at his device, then scrambled to pick it up.
“Fuck. That was fast. This is really happening,” he conceded as he stared at the latest message on the screen.
“What’s really happening?”
He met her eyes before responding. “There’s an emergency board meeting scheduled for this afternoon. Our family holds the majority of the shares, so it’s mostly just procedural, although I guess anything could happen. But there will be a vote, and then that will be it.”
She scrunched up her nose as a yawn caught her by surprise. “What are they voting on?”
Rhett ticked up one eyebrow. “Jonathan’s replacement as CEO.”
