Damn!Libby might not like Daniel Jones all that much, but she knew how it felt to have her heart broken.How could she repeat his pain to anyone, let alone the cut-throat world of celebrity gossip?
With a poof, her exclusive, lucrative story disappeared, and Juliana got off her begging knees, sneering.I knew you didn’t have the guts.
Chapter 6
Abirdsquawked.Leavesrustled in the wind.Dan shifted on the soft mattress.Another squawk.Another tree murmuring in the breeze.
Sshhh, sshhh, sshhh, sshhh…
And then a piercing shrill.
His eyes flew open.A blinding white ceiling.Sun streaking into the room.
Where the hell was he?
He sat up with a jolt, his heart racing.
A little boy giggled at the foot of his bed.
Pukey Kid.
Dan rubbed his eyes.By the time his vision cleared, the child had been lifted into his mother’s arms.
“I’m so sorry he woke you,” she said.
Motormouth.
“You’re still here?”When her face fell, Dan hung his head.He hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but damn if he knew what was going on.The flight.His bath.Chucking up in the toilet.He scrambled to piece together his life since he’d left England.“What time is it?”And why was it so bright?Where were the gray clouds and the storm?“Shit, whatdayis it?”
“It’s Wednesday, eight a.m., and you really need to watch your language in front of my child.”
“Sorry.”Dan scrubbed his face.His cheeks were rough, his mouth dry.“I’m just so…just so—”
“Hey, I get it,” she said.“You’ve been sick, and it’s affected your sunny personality.”She put her child down and quickly filled a cloth bag with a ball, towels, and the same red toy truck that Dan had seen on the counter earlier.
No, not earlier.Yesterday.What the hell had happened to yesterday?
And seriously, why hadn’t Motormouth moved out?What had he missed?
“I’m sorry if this comes across as rude,” he said, “but didn’t you say something about having found another place to stay?”
“Sure, we were all set to leave, but then you got sick.”She lowered her bag and cocked her head.“You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?”
“That I called a nurse for you?She checked you over, gave you some anti-sickness stuff.”
“Wow, a nurse?I was that bad?”
“It wasn’t like we had to call an ambulance or anything.As luck would have it, the nurse was Mr.Hehu’s other daughter.She lives in the house across the street.”
A woman’s hands, wiping his face.“Yeah, I remember something… And I certainly remember having my head in the toilet.I’m just hazy about the details.I must’ve had a fever.”
“You did.”
Well, no wonder his memory was shot to pieces, then.“Fevers always make me go a little cuckoo,” he said.Then add in his lack of sleep and the amount of pain medication in his system… He was surprised he remembered anything at all.
“The nurse said you’d be okay, unless you were sick again, which you weren’t.She didn’t like the thought of you being alone.Someone had to keep an eye on you.”
