Chapter 34
thirty-four
MIAMI, FL
Avery unbuckled her seat belt as soon as the large gray hospital building came into view. Once the car stopped, she jumped out and nearly ran inside, only to be stalled at the front desk while a very unhurried receptionist spoke softly into a phone.
“I’m Avery Silver. I’m here to see Teddy Ross,” she said as soon as the receiver was back in its cradle.
“ID please,” the receptionist said.
She found her wallet inside of her green leather tote bag and pulled out her license.
It was all the luggage she’d had with her: she’d gone straight from Ben and Adam’s house to the airport, not bothering to stop at home to pack a suitcase.
She’d chartered a flight, carbon footprint be damned, and had made it to Miami in record time.
Teddy was worth the guilt about the expense and emissions from chartering a jet.
For once she felt incredibly grateful that her wealth made it possible.
Money couldn’t buy happiness but it could get you somewhere faster in an emergency, and she was appreciative.
The receptionist picked up the phone on his desk. “I have Avery Silver here for patient Ross. Can I let her through?”
There was a long pause. She clenched her fists by her side. She was going to explode on this guy if he didn’t hurry up.
He finally turned to Avery. “Thanks for your patience. We’ve had a few reporters and fans try to get in here, so I needed to confirm you were on the approved visitors list.
Avery’s dad was waiting when she exited the elevator, and she fell into his outstretched arms. Ever since she had come clean about the podcast and Teddy to her parents, she’d felt closer to them than she had in her adult life.
Her family had really shown up for her the last few weeks, and had come together to pull off the gala, which was now in great shape.
She was 85% of the way to the funds she needed to cover her parents’ commitments and her own vision.
They’d offered support and suggestions without bulldozing her, letting her make the decisions and take the lead.
For the first time, Avery was feeling like she was working with her family, not for or against her family.
Her dad smiled at her. “Sweetheart, he’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. You didn’t need to fly all this way, but now that you are here, I’m sure glad to see you.”
“I’m happy to see you too, Dad,” she admitted, letting his familiar scent, cigar smoke and newspapers, comfort her. “I just felt like I had to be here. Thanks for the plane, by the way.”
She took a breath and released herself from the comfort of her dad’s hug. “How’s Teddy? Is he expecting me? Can I see him?” she asked him, the impulsivity of what she’d just done, the lack of information she had about the situation finally hitting her.
“I saw him about thirty minutes ago. Everything looks good so far. Passed every head and spine injury test with flying colors. They took him for some x-rays, but once they have him back in his room, I’m sure you can go in and see him.
He’ll be happy to see you, who wouldn’t be happy to see your beautiful face? ”
Avery rolled her eyes, but let go of the strand of hair she hadn’t realized she’d been tugging, pulling it straight one last time before it sprang back into place. “I don’t know about that, Dad, but I appreciate it.”
“Let’s sit down while we wait.”
Avery followed him down a hallway, past security to a small drab waiting area semi-hidden behind a curtain, nodding to two security guards who stood right in front of the flimsy curtain.
“She’s with me guys. In-and-out privileges,” her dad informed them.
She had expected a beehive of activity, the full team there waiting with baited breath on any news about Teddy.
Instead, the room was nearly empty. James was in one corner quietly talking on his phone, presumably managing all press inquiries.
He waved when she walked in, but then got back to his calls.
Overhead, a TV was turned to a sports channel that was broadcasting highlights from the race.
Avery shook her head. Right. The race. It must have re-started after the crash debris was cleared. For the first time in her life, she had completely forgotten about a Formula One race.
She took an internal inventory. Nope, she wasn’t even curious about the results. Her butterflies had nothing to do with race cars, everything to do with seeing a particular guy, who just happened to be a race car driver.
She took a seat on one of the industrial white plastic chairs next to her dad. “Where is everyone?” Avery asked him. “Where’s Stacey?”
“Stacey was here for a while, but I sent her back to the hotel to start looking into various rehab scenarios and plans for Teddy. I offered to bring in a specialist, but Teddy didn’t want, or trust, anyone else,” he cleared his throat.
“He’s more press shy than ever these days, given the uh, well ya know, podcast disaster,” he almost didn’t meet Avery’s eyes.
Avery looked down at her feet.
“So, you and Mom both found dresses?” her dad asked, unable to sit in silence.
“Yep.” She was not in the mood to make small talk.
“Did Sadie show you how she can somersault now?” Her dad tried again.
“Yes. Very cute.”
He raised his eyebrows at her, but took the hint and stopped asking questions. The only sounds were the various hospital codes and pages they could hear through the overhead speaker system. Avery tapped her foot on the linoleum floor and looked at her watch every five seconds while they waited.
Finally, a kindly-looking doctor in green scrubs opened the curtain and walked in. Avery and Michael stood. She sucked in as much air as she could, bracing herself for whatever she was about to hear.
“Hey, I’ve got to go,” James told whoever he was talking to, and joined them.
“Hey, cheer up everyone, you already know he’s going to be okay,” the doctor said. “No head or spine injuries. A broken rib, a couple sprains, and he’s going to have some nasty bruises. I want to keep him overnight for observation, but he should be able to get out of here in the morning.”
Good. This is all good news. Her dad, brothers, and a number of other people had told her he was going to be okay, but hearing from a medical professional hit differently.
“Can we see him?” she asked.
“Sure,” the doctor replied. “If he’s up for it, it’s fine by me. One visitor at a time, please.”
“You go first,” her dad gestured toward the door to the hospital room.
Her heart beat wildly. Teddy was right on the other side of that door.
Her hands flew to her hair, trying to smooth down some of the frizz she knew must be there.
She wished she had a hair brush with her or maybe something else, anything else, to wear other than what basically was pajamas.
He probably didn’t look his best right now either.
But she knew he’d be devastatingly handsome to her, even if he was bruised head-to-toe.
She knocked on the door, holding her breath. Even though she’d had hours to think about what she would say to Teddy, not a single word formed in her mouth. What if he’d been concussed and didn’t remember asking for her?
She hadn’t seen him in real life since Mexico. Will I still feel a magnetic pull toward him? Or would some illusion she had in her head all these weeks shatter once she had to face him in real life?
“Come in.”
Hearing the roughness of Teddy’s Scottish brogue nearly took her breath away.
She opened the door slowly and took the teeniest, tiniest step into the room. “Hi,” she said, scanning his face, and what she could see of his body from underneath a scratchy looking hospital sheet, for any obvious sign of injury.
She saw a red welt on one cheek, but otherwise he looked okay. There was an IV sticking out of one hand, delivering what she assumed were fluids or pain meds. She felt her shoulders drop away from her ears. He was still him. The Teddy she felt so drawn to and couldn’t stay away from forever.
“Avery, hello. Thank you for coming,” he replied evenly, without betraying whatever emotions he was feeling at the sight of her.
Did he mean it? It was possible that he was merely being polite. She stared at him, searching for any hint of some emotion. Delight or joy, ideally. But she’d settle for surprise. As long as he didn’t look at her with contempt.
He stared back at her and she let herself drown in the green and gold of his eyes. She’d pictured them so many nights while they’d been apart. She hung back in the doorway, completely tongue-tied, but her gut told her this was right, that coming to see Teddy had been the right thing to do.
“You can come in, I don’t bite,” Teddy finally cracked a smile, the one she couldn’t resist, breaking the intensity of the moment and the tension between them.
She smiled back involuntarily, like a dork.
“Okay,” Avery slowly took a few more steps into the room, and closed the door behind her.
There was a chair, presumably for visitors, that was settled a few feet away from the bed. It felt too presumptuous to sit there, so she stayed on her feet, and tugged at the hem of her oversized t-shirt.
“I heard you asked about me? And I really wanted to make sure you were okay. I know your family is far away, and I didn’t know how quickly they’d be able to be here.
I didn’t want you to be alone in the hospital.
I mean, I knew you wouldn’t be alone alone, you have a whole team of course, but you know what I mean… ”
“Avery…” Teddy’s eyes softened, his voice losing any of its earlier roughness. “I did. I asked for you. And you came. It means everything, more than you know. I don’t…” Teddy’s shoulders dropped, “I don’t have many people who would do that for me. People who aren’t on my payroll.”