“Yes, that’s it. I prayed the whole time during her procedure.”
“I remember,” I said. “I prayed, too.”
“Well, I never got to thank you. But look.” He pulled out his phone and showed me his lock screen: a picture of his wife and a beautiful little girl. “We named her Mahasin Semaj. Semaj isJamesspelled backward. My wife wanted to name her after the woman who saved her life.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “Oh wow. I’m honored.”
Amber, now misty-eyed herself, snatched a tissue off a passing makeup cart and handed it to me. “Here,” she sniffed.
“Take my card,” I said, pulling one from my bag. “Please have lunch with me and my staff one day, and bring the family. My treat.”
“We’d love to,” he said with a proud smile. “I don’t want to hold you up—but can I guide you somewhere specific?”
I was so caught up in the moment, I almost forgot why I was there. “Yes. Is Gage Blaque here?”
“He is,” the guard confirmed, “but does he know you’re coming? Mr. Blaque is a cool guy, but surprises throw him off. He likes routine and avoids disruptions.”
“How about this?” I said, smiling. “Just nod in the direction I mightaccidentallybump into him.”
With a chuckle, he placed guest passes around Amber’s and my necks. Before I could even say thank you, Amber was already skipping toward the area he’d pointed out.
The area where Gage presumably was felt way more controlled than the chaos we’d just walked through. A crane arm hovered over an imitation hospital bed, and a gorgeous, brown-skinned actress waddled onto the bed with a fake pregnancy belly.
A birthing scene. Cute, I thought, cracking a small smile.
As the actors settled into their positions, a deep, familiar voice rang out: “Quiet!”
Silence fell over the room like a weighted blanket. You could hear a mouse piss on cotton.
“In five, four, three, two, one—action!” the voice commanded.
I turned my head and there he was.Mr. Gage Blaque. MyGage.
He sat in a director’s chair, half-hidden behind a camera stand, the nameCONNORprinted in bold white letters across the black canvas. Just as I remembered—broad shoulders, crisp fade with thick curls in the middle, calm and confident like nothing in this world could shake him. I swallowed hard and forced myself to focus back on the set.
“Get this baby out of me!” the actress screamed.
“Nurse One, go get some towels! Nurse Two, go get me a Pepsi. This is going to be a long night,” the play doctor announced.
The hell?
This scene was straight garbage. First, what doctor panics in front of a laboring mother? We invented the poker face for a reason. AndNurse OneandNurse Two? What kind of Dr. Seuss-ass setup was this? If you don’t know their first names, at least use their last. And aPepsi? Bitch, are you making a sandwich too? You want chips with that?
“This is some straight bullshit,” I blurted aloud, not meaning to.
Everyone in that damn room turned their heads toward me at once. The silence? Deafening. The attention? Unwanted. The embarrassment? Immediate.
I guess it’s safe to say I just crashed the scene.
“Who said that?”Gage’s voice cut through the silence like a crowd when a new checkout line opened. No one moved at first. Then, one by one, fingers started to point at me.
Even Amber.
I swung my arm and smacked her pointed finger down with a glare. “Really?” I hissed under my breath. She gave a sheepish shrug; all that tough-girl shit went right out the window.
Gage stood from his chair, motioning with a quick swipe of his hand. “Everyone take twenty.”
The moment he stood, the air in the room shifted. This man had so much swag infused in that 6’4”, muscular-built body, he damn near floated out of that chair.
