Page 67 of Hollywood Undercover
Chapter 28
ALEXANDRA’s fingerswent numb around the guardrail of the hospital bed. The beeps coming from the medical equipment seemed to get louder around her. Her father inhaled and exhaled long, deep breaths from the oxygen mask. It was a bad case of déjà vu. This couldn’t be happeningagain.
The doctor walked in during her slow-burn panic attack. He smiled softly when he saw her. She braced herself. She didn’t want to fall apartnow.
“Ah, Mr. Roberts,” he said pleasantly. “It’s good to see you again, although I wish it were under different circumstances. Have a seat. We can go over your uncle’s radiographs so you can see what we’re up against.” He settled on a round stool and gestured to the chair at hisside.
She took a seat. She was slightly embarrassed. She looked like a kid, the way she was dressed. Sebastian’s things hung off her small frame. She felt like a kid too. She was out of her element. There was no one here to tell her what to do—no manager, no entourage, no image team or the label busybodies who did the grunt work. Rosa wasn’t here either. If she were here as Lexxi Rock, she could probably breeze into the hospital in a designer pantsuit looking like she could buy the building, and would have her ‘people’ take care of everything. As Lexxi, no one would think twice if she broke down and had a bona fide crying spell, given everything that hadhappened.
She wasn’t here as Lexxi. She was Alex. It wouldn’t go over well if she cried. Not only did she have a role to play to protect her father’s privacy, she had an obligation to stay in character. She needed to step up and take charge of this disaster, and see what could be done to salvage this mess. It was her job to take care of Dad. The house caught on fire right under her nose. As much as she told herself bad things happened sometimes, she felt guilty about all ofit.
She sat up straight, and lowered the tenor of her voice. “How bad is it,doctor?”
She took a breath and braced for the worst. The doctor snapped two x-rays up on a little white screen and pointed to some hazy, splotchy areas on thefilm.
“The smoke inhalation has caused some inflammation. That will affect his already strained respiratorysystem.”
“What does itmean?”
“It means your uncle needs to be re-admitted. We’ll keep him here for some time to monitor his condition. His pneumonia could worsen, or it may not. There’s no way to tell at this point. Mr. Storme is a fighter. He’s already shown us that. The important thing is to keep him here, where he can stabilize and get the medical attention he needs. The house isn’t habitable,correct?”
“That’s right, I think. I don’t really know what happened.” She dropped her head. “I was there. I slept right through it, but his neighbor is a firefighter. He saw the smoke. He savedus.”
“You may have a guardian angel looking out for you. Thank goodness it didn’t reach his oxygentank.”
She thought of Bash, and then her mom. A tearful smile wavered on her lips. “Yes.”
“His condition could have been much worse if he hadn’t gotten out when he did. The duration of his exposure to smoke was short. That gives us hope. He’s in good hands here,son.”
Alexandra nodded gratefully. “Thank you, doctor. I appreciate it. Do you have any idea on how long he’ll have to stay thistime?”
“At the very least, I’d say a few days. Probably a week. They’ll have a private room ready for him within thehour.”
“Thankyou.”
“You’ve both been through a lot. You should get some rest. Your uncle will be sleeping a while with the medication I’ve prescribed. I’ve also had the nurse administer a cough suppressant to relax his lungs. If you need to make arrangements for yourself, you might want to go ahead and take care of thatnow. ”
“Iwill.”
“If you’d like, leave a phone number with the nurse. We’ll contact you when he’s moved to hisroom.”
“Thank you,Doctor.”
The doctor left shortly afterward. The prognosis wasn’t as dire as she feared. Soon, her pounding heart calmeddown.
“Once again, you beat the odds, Dad,” she whispered tohim.
This scene was too familiar. He looked exactly the way he did when she first came in from LA to see him. She stroked hishand.
“I can’t leave now, not with you back in here. Is it a sign? Maybe I’m not meant to go back toLA.”
With a long sigh, she kissed him good night and told him she would be back soon. Bash was waiting for her when she returned to the waitingroom.
“You probably think I have got the worst luck in the world,” she said when she joinedhim.
He looked up at her with a smile and retracted his long legs, sitting up in the chair. She plopped down next tohim.
“Or the best luck in the world,” he replied. “Everything happens for a reason. I’m glad you and your uncle made it out ofthere.”
