“What did she say?” Evie asked.
“She’ll be by to check on you in a bit, but she’s pretty sure they are going to discharge you the day after Christmas. I know spending the holiday in the hospital won’t be fun, but Blaire—”
“She said she’s going to come by as soon as they open presents,” Evie said. Zach could tell she sounded a little disappointed, he just didn’t understand why.
“Do we have some other plans?” Zach asked Jesse.
“I—we’ll be here.”
“Great. I have to go visit my folks,” Nicole said. “But I’ll be back in time to see you off.”
“You should spend time with your family. Raquelle showed me how to use the video chat on my phone,” Evie said. “I can just call you. You don’t have to rush back.”
“Nonsense. I’ll be here. Don’t worry. You should eat your lunch while those leafy greens are fresh. You gotta get your strength up,” Nicole said. She flashed Evie a smile that turned ice-cold as she turned in his direction. “Uh, Zach, can I have a word?”
“Yeah, sure.” Zach had known Nicole a whole two hours, but he knew what a woman’s friend who was getting ready to drag the hell out of him looked like. He slid Evie’s dining tray into place over her lap, then followed Nicole out into the hall. She closed the door behind them.
“Hey. Hi,” she said, getting right to it.
“What did Jesse tell you?”
“He didn’t tell me anything. She started crying the minute you opened your mouth.”
“Listen—”
Nicole held up her hand to silence him. “I get it. You two have history. Do you still have feelings for her?”
Zach answered as honestly as he could. “Yeah, there are feelings.”
“Is there a woman or many women waiting back in Charming?”
“No. Jesse and I are very focused on the ranch right now. We both decided that work and our family are the priorities for now.”
“Jesse’s single too?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Just thinking.” Nicole let out a quick breath, then looked Zach dead in the eye. He spoke up before she could really lay into him.
“I get it. Evie is your client. You’re just looking out for her, but she is family to us. Yeah, it may have been a while, but we wouldn’t have dropped everything, including our grandmother, on Christmas Day, flown out here for someone we didn’t care about. It’s freezing outside.” That made Nicole laugh. “We’ll take good care of her.”
Nicole considered him for a moment, her eyebrow arching up.
“You don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust guys who look as good as you. Evie’s under enough stress. She feels untethered as hell. She doesn’t need a guy whose smile reduces her to tears, stressing her out even more. Did she remember you? Did she tell you anything?”
“Apparently I’ve been popping up in her dreams. Me and her grandmother’s horse, but she didn’t know who I was. Just that I felt familiar to her.”
“Oh,” Nicole replied, shocked.
“I didn’t jog her memory, but something about me is trying to get through.”
“Well, that’s something. Dr. Manzo will want to know.”
“We’ll let her know.”
“Yeah. I didn’t know your grandmother was Leona Lovell.” There were no secrets when it came to Miss Leona. Just a little digging and you could find her connections to Big Rock, but none of that was as interesting as the Oscars, Grammys, and the few Tony awards she had under her belt. Most people his age knew her best for her recurring role as Althena George on the hit medical dramaRory’s War, Thursday nights at nine, only on ABC.