Chapter Eleven
I ’m fine,” Gia told her daughter and Flynn, both of whom watched her with concerned expressions on their faces as she excused herself to use the washroom. She needed a few minutes on her own to come to terms with her sister’s revelation.
Gia wasn’t a hard-ass like Cami said. All right, so she could be a bit of a hard-ass, but she wasn’t unemotional.
Things hurt her as deeply as they hurt her sisters and mother.
It’s just that she was a private person.
She preferred staying in the background, while her sisters and mother loved center stage.
Her mother said Gia was like her father.
He’d been an artist and an introvert too.
She’d never known him. He’d died not long after Carmen had become pregnant with her, right before their wedding.
It had been the same for generations of Rosetti women.
They were cursed when it came to love and marriage.
So was Gia. Cami too. Her sister had been married three times.
Gia closed the bathroom door on Cami’s sobs and then reached for the toilet paper, unraveling a long piece.
As she dampened the folded wad of toilet paper under the tap, she looked at herself in the oval mirror framed in seashells.
She smiled as she dabbed the damp toilet paper under her eyes.
She recognized her daughter’s design. She had a similar mirror hanging in her own bathroom. Willow was crafty. Sage not so much.
Gia’s smile faded as she thought about Sage, wondering if it was because of her that her daughter was closed off.
Sage was more like her than Willow was. Gia briefly closed her eyes.
Willow was more like her real… her biological mother.
And in that moment, Gia realized she needed to work through her issues with her sister before they damaged not only her relationship with Willow but also her daughter’s opinion of herself given Gia’s negative comments about Cami.
Gia tossed the toilet paper into the garbage pail, pinched some color into her cheeks, tousled her long dark hair, and then opened the door. She walked into a solid wall of male muscle.
Flynn rested his hands on her shoulders, leaning back to search her face.
Whatever he saw in her expression had him taking her by the hand.
He walked her to the end of the hall. Ignoring her whispered protest, he opened the door to a bedroom of dark wood and a breathtaking view of Sunshine Bay, and gently shoved her inside.
“Flynn, Willow is out there, and so is my sister and your father. We can’t do this now.”
“I know. It’s just that I saw your face when I was comforting Cami, and I didn’t like the look in your eyes.
” He held her gaze. “Don’t walk away from what we could have because of my past with your sister, Gia.
We were kids. We’re friends now, nothing more.
” He reached for her, drawing her into his arms. “We’ve got something special here.
Don’t throw it away because you’re scared. ”
“I’m not scared.”
“Yeah, you are, and so am I.” A slow smile curved his mouth. “Are you vibrating for me, or do you have a phone in your pocket?”
“Ha-ha.” She withdrew her phone from the pocket of her denim skirt. “It’s Sage.”
“I’ll give you some privacy. But this conversation isn’t over.” He gave her a quick, toe-curling kiss and then walked out of the bedroom.
“What’s Mom doing in your bedroom? Is she okay?” she heard Willow ask from behind the closed door.
“Yeah. She just wanted to talk to your sister in private. Let’s give her a minute.”
Flynn Monroe was everything a woman could ask for in a boyfriend—an incredible kisser, a great listener, respectful, kind, and honest—and most of all, she could be herself with him, and he made her feel special.
Except for the facts that he’d dated her sister first and had a baby with her, a baby whom Gia had raised as her daughter, he’d be absolutely perfect.
You couldn’t make this stuff up , she thought as she connected the call. “Hey, honey. How’s—”
“Gia, it’s Jake Walker. I’m going to preface what I’m about to tell you by saying Sage is okay.”
“Oh my God, what happened to my baby?”
The door to Flynn’s bedroom swung open, and Willow rushed inside. “Mom, what’s wrong? What’s wrong with Sage?”
Gia held up a finger. “Jake?”
“Yeah. Sorry, the doctor just came in.”
“Is she in the hospital? What hospital is my daughter in, Jake?”
“What do you mean, Sage is in the hospital. Mom, what’s going on?”
Flynn walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He stood at Willow’s side.
“I’m trying to find out,” she told her daughter while holding Flynn’s gaze. Just knowing he was there steadied her.
As if sensing she needed him, he stepped closer and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It might be easier if you put him on speaker, Gia.”
She nodded and pressed the Speaker button, holding the phone out between her and Willow. Flynn appeared to be waiting for something before he said, “Jake, it’s Flynn Monroe. You’re on speaker with Gia and Willow.”
Okay, so he’d been waiting for her to speak. She wasn’t thinking straight. She was usually good in a crisis but not when it involved her children. Then, as she’d clearly proven, she was a basket case.
“Hey, okay. Sorry, they’re in out and of here, and I’m trying to get answers for you. At first, they thought she was having a heart attack.”
“A heart attack!” she and Willow cried at the same time. “But that’s impossible,” Gia continued. “She’s young and healthy.” She heard a familiar voice grumbling in the background. “Is that Sage?”
“Yeah. You can talk to her as soon as they finish up with—Sage, would you do as the nurse says, please?”
Gia raised her voice. “Sage, do what the nurse tells you. She’s always hated being told what to do. Hospitals too,” she said to no one in particular. “I think it goes back to when she broke her leg.”
“Jake, you said they thought she had a heart attack. Does that mean they’ve ruled it out?” Flynn asked.
Gia looked at him, gratitude no doubt shining in her eyes. She was so glad he caught that, which he could obviously tell. He moved his hand from her shoulder and gave her neck a gentle squeeze as they waited for Jake to respond to Flynn’s question.
After this was over, and she was positive Sage was okay, Gia was going to have a chat with Jake about ignoring what was going on in the hospital room so he didn’t leave them hanging. Then again, from what she could hear, he had his hands full dealing with Sage.
Jake came back on the line. “Pretty much. They have a couple more tests to run but she’s bossing everyone around and trying to get out of the bed.
I’m sure she’ll be fine if she follows doctor’s orders.
” They heard Sage giving him crap in the background.
“You don’t need a third opinion, Sage. You’ve already had two.
You’re burned out. I’m not a doctor, and I could have told you that. ”
Willow leaned in and yelled into the phone, “I told you last month that you were burned out!”
“Uh, Willow, I don’t have you on speaker, so if you don’t mind, could you not yell into the phone? You nearly blew out my eardrum. I’m glad you find that amusing, Sage.”
Gia frowned. She’d always been keenly interested in holistic healing and had read enough that what Jake was saying didn’t make total sense to her. “Jake, how did they confuse burnout with a heart attack?”
“She had a panic attack.” He sighed. “Sage, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. People have them all the time, and your burnout probably made you more susceptible.”
“Jake, why would my daughter have a panic attack?”
“It might be better if I let her tell you. Hang on.” There was a long pause. “They’re taking her down to CT. She’ll call you when she’s back in the room.”
“Are they keeping her in the hospital?” The phone went silent for several minutes. “Jake?”
“Sorry, I wanted to wait until they’d wheeled Sage out of the room. She’s dehydrated and her blood pressure was high, so the doctor is admitting her overnight. She’s at Mass General if you’d like to come.”
Gia stood in line at the hospital cafeteria with her sister Eva. Amos had called her family. Apparently, Flynn’s father and Gia’s mother had exchanged numbers at one of the many joint family celebrations they’d attended this past year.
“Okay, so now that we’ve escaped the fam and know that Sage is going to be fine—”
“You were in her hospital room with me, weren’t you? She’s hardly fine, Eva. She’s devastated that she’s been suspended indefinitely. You know how she feels about her clients.”
“I do, but it’s like you used to say to me when you were my cool, chill older sister: Everything happens for a reason .” Eva nudged her with her tray. “She’s suspended with pay, and you heard the doctor, she needs time to rest and recover.”
“I know. And it’s not like we could ever convince her to take time off.” She smiled. “It’ll be nice having her home for a while.”
“Are you going to tell her about Aaron?”
“Did you have to bring him up? I’ve got enough on my plate without thinking about him,” Gia said as she grabbed a yogurt, a bottle of raspberry kombucha, and a salad for Sage. Beside her, Eva loaded her tray with doughnuts, cookies, chocolate cake, and two cartons of chocolate milk.
“That better not be for my daughter.”
Eva grinned. “Which one?”
“The one lying in a hospital bed.”
“A little sugar never hurt anyone. Besides, she’s exhausted. A sugar rush will do her good.” Covering her ears, Eva moved her tray along the counter with her hip. “I can’t hear you so don’t bother lecturing me on the evils of white sugar.”
Gia grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and put it on her own tray, shrugging when her sister looked at her. “Don’t judge. I could use a sugar rush too. It’s been a day.”
“Okay, don’t get mad at me, but you realize the Aaron thing isn’t Cami’s fault, right?”