Page 32 of Don't Forget Me
With a sigh, she slid it back into the bag and set it where she’d found it. There had to be an angle here, something she could write about that would be different than the same coma story every other reporter had focused on.
The door opened, and Jasmine turned on her heel, coming face to face with a tiny middle-aged woman with black hair piled high on her head and a pair of wide, red-rimmed glasses perched on her nose.
She froze. “Hello.”
Jasmine stood and pretended to check one of the monitors. She wished she could see his medical file, but it wasn’t here and not even she would go as far as to steal that. “I’ll be done in a moment.” In her five years as a reporter since graduating college, she’d learned if she acted with authority, others would assume she belonged.
“I haven’t seen you here.” The woman moved closer, her eyes scrutinizing but not unkind. She wore a bright yellow dress striped with green. It was loud enough to blind.
“I’m new.”
She lifted a brow. “New and they have you in here alone with Nick Jacobs? I don’t think so.”
Who was this woman?
As if reading Jasmine’s mind, she introduced herself. “I’m Beatrice Brown, Mr. Jacob’s agent. You aren’t a nurse.” She looked at the name badge, squinting.
“Jas.”
“Well, Jas, I don’t know what story you’re working on, but you won’t be writing it about my client. I am all he has here with him, his family. You won’t be dragging his name through the mud more than it already has been.”
“Ma’am, I never intended—”
“You gossip reporters never intend for the damage you cause, yet you cause it all the same. If you leave now, I won’t call security to escort you out.”
Jasmine thought back on what she said. “Wait… you aren’t the only one here. Sherrie left a few minutes ago.”
The woman looked like she was trying to decide if she believed her. “Why would Sherrie Thompson be here? I’ve seen the talk shows, but she is nothing to Nick. Their marriage was over, something he was going to announce the day after the gala, but then he… then he…” She shook her head, tears hanging in her lashes.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because, dear, none of it matters now. You want a story? Find out how Sherrie caused this entire mess.” Her voice dropped. “I know it was her.” With that, she dropped into the chair and reached for Nick’s hand, folding it between hers.
Jasmine stepped into the hall, nodding to the security guards as her mind whirled with the new information. Sherrie was only playing at being the dutiful wife.
Her editor would salivate over this, but was it enough for Jasmine? Or did she believe Nick’s agent that there was more to the story?
She got halfway down the hall when two kids almost barreled into her on their way to another room.
“Guys!” an older man called after them. “Your mom isn’t going anywhere.” He looked tired, like most families visiting loved ones in the hospital, but it was more than that. There was a deep sadness in his eyes. He didn’t think whoever was in that room would recover.
She’d seen it—felt it—before.
An older nurse walked toward her. “You okay, honey?”
Jasmine nodded. “Who is in that room?”
“Ah, you must be the new nurse. Nick Jacobs isn’t our only coma patient on this floor.” She looked to the room. “And that girl… she’s beloved in this hospital. The first thing you need to learn about this place is the family in that room gets whatever they want. Nick Jacobs might be our famous patient, but Elizabeth Ross is every bit as important as him.”
“Yes, I think I can see that.” Through the open door, she saw the little girl climb onto the bed, avoiding the tubes and IVs to rest her head on the woman’s leg. The older man sat next to the bed and pulled the young boy onto his lap.
It was such a different scene from the one down the hall that she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Nick Jacobs and this Elizabeth woman were both stuck between life and death, but the worlds they’d come back to were vastly different.
11
NICK
