He groaned. “Otter, you should be celebrating.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to. Lila and I got a lift with Calvin Hughes – you have the same agent.” I paused. “Lila, where are you staying tonight?”
“Booked a hotel, hon. Same one where Cal’s staying. Will you be able to stay at loverboy’s apartment?” She was looking rather like the cat that had stolen all the cream. I wondered whether I needed to give Calvin the head’s up that Lila was probably using him for research.
“I’m going to stay with Ryan at the hospital.” In my dress. Which I still had on. This was going to be amusing, turning up dressed like a Hollywood starlet. “I’ll worry about later when I need to.”
Lila nodded. “Which hospital?”
I gave her the details and paid attention to Ryan who was trying to tell me I wasn’t coming to the hospital.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s nearly four o’clock in the morning. I’ll be seen by a doctor and then I’ll be kept in for observation, I would guess. Do you really want to hang around for that?”
“Yes. Just make sure there’s a chair in the room where I can sleep and I can get changed somewhere.”
He laughed. “You’re still in your awards dress?”
“I am. At least you’ll get to see it.”
A text from Nate told me to tell the receptionist I was there to see Jim Halpert, which I did, still wearing that champagne outfit, my red lipstick still hanging on there. The receptionist smiled, clearly amused by what I was wearing and clearly knowing who I was, which was fine. She wasn’t likely to take photos of us and sell them to the press. As far as celebrities and sports people went, we were small fry in here.
“He’s in suite two-oh-six. If you take the lift on your right, you’ll find it easily. Can I get you anything?”
Usually, I’d say no, because I hated having people do things for me. But right now, I was tired, I felt manky and I was also hungry. “If it isn’t too much trouble a pot of tea and a sandwich would be amazing.”
Her smile was kind. “I can help get that sorted. What sort of sandwich?”
“Seriously, anything right now. I’m not fussy. Whatever you have in.”
“Sure. Congratulations, by the way. On your award.”
I laughed. Tomorrow, or rather when there was daylight and I’d managed some sleep, the events of the last twelve hours would hit me. Elation was there, at the award and at how Ryan was okay after a brief moment where I didn’t know if he was, following fretting that he’d stood me up. A rollercoaster was a cliché, and this really had been more than that. It had been a string of rollercoasters, welded together to make something that I was never going to forget.
I wheeled my suitcase over to the lift, turning down the receptionist’s kind offer to take it up for me, and called for the lift. A whirr of noise later and I was outside Ryan’s suite, the door open and there was no Ryan there.
The name on the door was Jim Halpert, which made me Pam, I guessed. I sat down on the edge of the bed, kicking off my heels, and unzipping my dress slightly at the back.
I wanted Ryan to see me in the dress, but right now, I needed to get into something more like sweats and a T-shirt and keep myself awake until I saw with my own eyes that he was okay.
CHAPTER23
Ryan
It waslike I was one of the three bears and I’d just gotten home to find Goldilocks asleep in my bed. A Goldilocks who was wearing a T-shirt of mine that I hadn’t seen for about three months and a pair of sweats that were possibly bought before she had a growth spurt, given they were tucked up around her calves.
The room smelled of her body wash, and there was an almost finished sandwich on a small table next to a chair.
Someone had made herself at home.
I got out of the wheelchair and walked over to the bed, sitting down carefully on the mattress next to my sleeping guest.
“Someone will be in to check you every half an hour,” the nurse said, keeping his tone low. “You can drink water, but no food at the moment. Do you need me to get you anything?”
I shook my head. “I think she’ll be sleeping there. Is that okay?” I had no idea what the hospital’s policy was on overnight guests, but given the bed was a double, I suspected they didn’t have one.
The nurse nodded. “Someone will be checking you every half an hour.”
