Something Unexpected by Vi Keeland
CHAPTER 26
Nora
“I’M FINE. I got it.” I swatted Beck’s hand away as I pushed myself from the wheelchair outside the front doors of the lobby four days later. I felt weak, but never so ready to get out of the hospital. I’d spent way too much time in them over the last decade. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Fresh air. Something I’d taken for granted for the better part of my life.
Beck stood dutifully by my side as I walked over to the waiting car. He opened the door and watched me like a hawk as I folded into the passenger seat. Once I was sitting, he pulled the seatbelt shoulder strap out and started to buckle me in.
“Can you possibly pretend I didn’t have a heart attack? You’re treating me like a five-year-old. I can do that myself.”
Beck smirked. “You know they don’t take away your women’s-lib card for allowing a man to help, especially when that man wants to take care of you because he’s in love with you.”
And there it was again—in love with me. It was like the cork had come out of the bottle, and now it didn’t fit anymore. I hadn’t told Beck I loved him back, but he’d said it at least a half-dozen times over the last few days.
I stuck my tongue out. Beck eyed it and groaned. “I miss that mouth. It’s going to be a long four to six weeks.”
Beck clicked my seatbelt into place, and I grabbed his shirt as he went to stand. “The doctor said no sex for four to six weeks, but there are other things besides sex…”
“Nice try. I stepped out and asked the doctor to define sex. It includes any activity that gets your heart rate up too high. With us, that probably means no arguing too, since that tends to be our foreplay.”
I pouted.
Beck chuckled but shut my door and jogged around to the driver’s side. The hotel was only a twenty-minute drive. A few days ago, I’d asked Louise to check me out of my room and put my suitcase in hers. There was no point in paying for a hotel when I was in the hospital. I’d asked Beck to see if a new room was available for me before picking me up. He’d said there was. But when we arrived at the hotel, Beck walked toward the elevator bank, when I needed to go to the front desk.
“I have to check in and get my bag from Louise.”
“No, you don’t. Your bag’s already in my room. I upgraded us to a suite. And we’re having lunch with Gram.”
I stopped walking. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Beck.”
“Well, you better warm up to it quick, because I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Beck…”
He rested his hands on my shoulders. “I’m done with your rules. I get that you were trying to protect me. You didn’t want me to get too close so I wouldn’t get hurt. But that’s over now. It doesn’t matter if we’re in separate rooms or if you’re in my bed. I’m with you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“But…”
Beck cut me off by pressing his lips to mine. It took less than two seconds before I melted into him. We stood in the middle of the lobby like that for a long time. When our kiss finally broke, I was missing that hospital wheelchair because I felt dizzy. As if he sensed it, Beck kept a tight grip on me.
“One room,” he said firmly. “I want you next to me. And if you’re thinking it’s because I want to watch you, make sure you’re okay, then you’re giving me too much credit. I want you naked next to me, your body pressed against mine, even if I can’t have you yet.”
With a declaration like that, how could I say no? So I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Good. Then let’s go upstairs. Because my grandmother expects us to join her for lunch, and I want you all to myself for a while before that.”
Beck said he’d upgraded to a suite, but he hadn’t mentioned it was the Presidential Suite. Our room was the entire top floor of the hotel. It had floor-to-ceiling views of the mountain range, a grand piano, a dining room table that could seat at least a dozen, and an internal elevator to get to the second-floor master bedroom.
“Holy crap.” I walked over to the windows. “I don’t think I want to know what this room costs.”
Beck came up behind me. He pushed my hair to one side and kissed my shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. You’re worth it.”
I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you. And I don’t mean for dropping everything and coming to the hospital, or for splurging for this insane room. I mean for being you and somehow always sensing when to push and when to pull back.”
Beck trailed his hands up and down my spine. “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs and into bed for an hour or two before lunch. The doctor said you need rest.”
I lifted a brow. “Rest isn’t what normally happens when we’re in a bed together.”
“Trust me.” He groaned. “It’s not going to be easy.”
But even getting dressed and leaving the hospital to come to this posh room had drained me. Beck wrapped his arms around me and held me so tight, it felt like I didn’t have a care in the world. Or maybe I did, but he would hold them while I took a break from everything. I drifted off to dreamland almost immediately. When I awoke, Beck wasn’t next to me anymore. I heard him talking somewhere off in the distance and pushed up onto my elbows to listen.
“Alright, great. And reach out to Phillip Matthews. He’s the CEO of Sloan Kettering. His daughter owns a medical supply company. Her father was one of the investors. I helped her gobble up her two biggest competitors a few years back. Her father is a good guy. He was appreciative of all the work we did and told me if I ever needed anything not to hesitate to call. I need to cash that chip in now. See if you can set me up with a call, and I’ll take it from there.”
It was quiet for a moment, then…
“I’m still working on when I can get her back. I’ll keep in touch. And nice work getting a consult with that doctor from the UK. I look forward to speaking with him tomorrow.”
I closed my eyes. I should’ve known Beck wouldn’t give up easily. He was too determined a person to accept that he couldn’t find a way to fix me. I’d lulled myself into believing he accepted that I didn’t want any more treatment, because then I wouldn’t have to go back to pushing him away. But he never would accept it. I laid back and stared up at the ceiling.
I’d thought letting go of my hopes and dreams for a future was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. But letting go of Beck might be harder. Tears prickled my eyes, and my chest felt heavy.
Beck came back to the bedroom ten minutes later. He had no shirt on, and it was painful to think I wouldn’t be able to run my fingers along the peaks and valleys of his eight-pack anymore.
He smiled. “You’re awake. How you feeling, sleepyhead?”
I stretched my arms over my head, pretending I hadn’t overheard his conversation. “Good. Where were you?”
“Had some work calls to take care of.”
I forced a smile. “Oh. Alright. What time is lunch with Louise?”
“I told her I’d text her when you were ready.”
“Okay.” I pushed the covers off. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Want company?”
I shook my head. “Not today.”
The smile slipped from Beck’s face, but he took it in stride. “Leave the door open a little so I can hear if you need anything, okay?”
“Thanks.”
I started mourning Beck’s loss in the shower, before I’d even formulated a plan to lose him. A profound feeling of emptiness struck as the hot water sluiced over my body. Tears clogged my throat, but I refused to let them pass, to let myself cry. I’d cried a river and then some. But more importantly, Beck had learned how to read me well. And I didn’t want to explain puffy eyes and a red face. So I somehow held it in.
Though Beck was more observant than ever. For a man who could take the wrong baby home from daycare and keep the wrong dog in his apartment for two days, he wasn’t missing a thing now.
“You okay?” he asked when I finally emerged from the bathroom almost an hour later. I’d dried my hair, but didn’t have the energy to put on makeup.
“Fine. Just tired. My battery drains much faster than normal, even after a good charge.”
“Well, that’s to be expected. Your body needs time to heal. I told Louise we’d meet her downstairs at the hotel restaurant at one. But we can order something up to the room for the three of us if you don’t feel up to leaving—or even cancel altogether.”
“Actually…would you mind if I had lunch with Louise alone?”
Beck’s face fell.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you. But I want to check in on her, and she’ll be more open with me without you there. She wants to protect you.”
Beck pursed his lips. “Of course. Whatever you want.”
“I’ll bring you back something for lunch.”
He shook his head. “It’s fine. I’ll order something from room service. I have work to do anyway.”
I pressed my lips to his. “Thank you for understanding. I won’t be too long.”
Downstairs at the hotel restaurant, Louise was already waiting. She smiled wide and stood as I walked toward the table.
“Finally, I can get a real hug. All those damn wires and monitors got in the way.”
I embraced my friend. At this point, neither of us knew when a hug could be the last, and I wanted to make it a good one.
Louise’s eyes were damp when we finally let go.
“Well, we did it again, lady,” I said. “Defied the odds.”
She nodded. “Can’t keep a good bitch down.”
I chuckled as we sat.
Louise lifted the cloth napkin from the table and laid it across her lap. “I thought Beck was joining us?”
“He wanted to. But I asked him if we could have lunch alone.”
“Getting on your nerves already? He was always a bossy boy.”
I smiled. His bossy side was one of the things I liked about him. “I wanted to check in on you. When you were in the hospital, it hit home for me. When we’re out doing our shenanigans, it’s easy to pretend we’re not living on borrowed time. But when you see your friend in the hospital, hooked up to all kinds of machines, it makes us face our future in a really alarming way.”
“I know what you mean. It wasn’t easy seeing such a vibrant young woman with her whole life ahead of her lying there and knowing how sick she is…” Louise shook her head. “It was far more difficult than I’d imagined. If anything, the experience gave me a better understanding of how my grandson feels. Because I’m not so certain that if I wasn’t going through the same thing as you, at the same time, that I wouldn’t think you should fight for more time. It just doesn’t seem fair that this is all you get. Even I got almost eighty years.”
I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “That’s why we need to make the best of our time left. I should feel up to going to see Charles by tomorrow.”
“I don’t need to see Charles right now. I already told him we could Zoom in a few days when I get back to New York. Even I think you need more rest than a day.”
“No, I can go…”
“It’s already canceled. My heart isn’t in it anymore anyway.”
“I’m sorry.” I looked into her eyes. “My time is coming, Louise. The heart attack was a warning. I’m going to go back home to California sooner than planned, to be with William for the end. It’s the only thing he’s asked, to let him take care of me when it’s time.” I swallowed. “It’s almost time.”
“Oh, sweetheart…” Louise got up from her chair and hugged me again. We were both crying when she sat back down. “This sucks,” she declared.
The way she said it made me laugh. I wiped tears from my cheeks. “You are the only person in the world who could make me laugh while I’m telling you I don’t think I have long to live.”
“I consider it an honor to be that person for you, Eleanor.”
The waiter came over to take our order, and the interruption brought some much-needed levity. We had barely looked at the menu, so I ordered a salad, mostly out of habit.
Louise stopped me. “Do you actually like that rabbit food better than baby back ribs or baked macaroni and cheese?”
I shrugged. “No. But I try to keep balanced and have a healthy meal for lunch and whatever I want for dinner.”
“I’d say right about now, you should stop worrying about eating healthy and enjoy every meal.”
I looked at the waiter. “Can you change my order to the baked mac and cheese?”
He smiled. “Of course.”
I held up the menu for him to take. “Actually…can I also have the baby back ribs?”
“Thatta girl,” Louise said.
My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach, and I couldn’t finish either entrée. But they were both delicious, much better than a bed of lettuce. When the waiter brought the bill, I decided to confide in Louise about where things were going with Beck and me.
“Louise, I really care about your grandson.”
“I’m pretty certain he feels the same. It’s been a long time since that man has opened his heart to anyone.”
I sighed. “That’s the problem. I never meant for us to happen, for him to get hurt.”
“Love can’t be planned.”
“No, it certainly can’t. And in another life, I would be over the moon. My attraction to Beck was there from the moment we met, but I’ve fallen for the man he is underneath all that pomp and arrogance. Beck is nothing like I expected when I first met him. I let my guard down because I thought he was safe—a man I’d never go for.”
Louise smiled. “Some men are wolves in sheep’s clothing. My grandson is a sheep dressed up as a wolf.”
“That’s a very good analogy.”
“I know my grandson well. He doesn’t let many people in, but when he does, he loves hard. He gives his heart and soul and everything he has.”
I frowned. “That’s exactly why I need to back away now. I don’t know how long I have, but every day is just going to make it harder in the end. He shouldn’t have to go through watching the two of us die.”
“I appreciate you worrying about him. But my guess is that it’s too late for saving his eventual broken heart.”
“Maybe. But some time and space between us will help.”
Louise nodded. “I’ll support whatever you do or say.”
“Thank you. Once I’m in California, it will be easier. But I think I need to end things with him when we get back to New York.”
“Don’t you worry. You have my word that I’ll watch out for him when that happens,” Louise said.
I smiled sadly. “And you have my word that I’ll watch out for him.” I looked up. “Forever.”
