“She loves Evie too. She’s already offered to—”
“I know. Your brother said.”
“I know how fucked up this all is, but we got her. Trust me.”
“Fine. But do me a favor and turn the charm down about four hundred percent. I’m gay as hell and I can see why she’s having dreams about all this,” she said, motioning toward the general area of his face.
Zach laughed, flashing her his thousand-watt smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s go back in there.”
“After you.”
Blaire came back a few minutes later and the four of them kept Evie company until Dr. Manzo and one of the nurses came by to check on her.
“Oh look, the gang’s all here!” Dr. Manzo said. “I’m gonna have to ask you to excuse us for a few minutes. I try not to do exams in clown-car settings.”
“Sure thing.” Nicole assured Evie that they’d be right back, then led the whole gang to a small waiting area on the floor below.
“So,” she said.
“You said be prepared, but I wasn’t prepared. I’m seeing glimpses of the old Evie in there, but she’s not herself,” Zach said.
“She’d be best off staying with our grandmother. We all live on a private cul-de-sac, but our grandmother’s home has plenty of room to accommodate her and any private staff we bring on to assist. Private garden. The works,” Jesse added.
“Yeah, that makes sense. I don’t—I’m just at a loss here, fellas. I’m covering for her with the network, but that’ll only work for so long.”
“You worry about her job and we’ll take of everything else. If Evie’s on board, day after Christmas she’s coming back with us,” Zach said. “It’s doesn’t have to be permanent thing, but you were right. We can’t send her back to her apartment like this. And, Blaire, we know you need to get back to your life soon.”
“I wish I could stay,” Blaire replied with a grimace. “But yeah, my school only offers so much PTO.”
“I imagine your grandmother has decent security at the ranch,” Nicole said.
“Yeah, we have high fences, cameras, half a dozen loud dogs between our houses,” Zach said. “Most people don’t know she has a place in Charming though. Why?”
Nicole took a deep breath. “There’s something else. I’m not entirely sure Evie fell.”
“What, you think she was pushed? Why didn’t you tell us that before?” Jesse demanded. Zach didn’t blame him one bit.
“Yeah, there’s a big difference between an accident and a murder attempt. How’s the security been here?!” Zach said.
“I didn’t say anything about attempted murder. I just know Evie. She wasn’t drinking, and even if she tripped, I’d expect her to pop up with a skinned knee, maybe a broken wrist. You didn’t see her when we found her. I just don’t think it was an accident.”
“You told the police?” Jesse asked.
“Of course I told the police, but do the police in California do hardcore investigations of living victims they think just got a bad bump on the head?”
“Okay, you have a point,” Zach admitted.
“As soon as she woke up, they officially didn’t give a shit, and I can’t tell the network to make a fuss because they’ll replace her immediately if they hear anything about memory loss. Something just smells fishy as fuck and I’d rather be safe than sorry. Who knows, her memory might come back in two days and she can tell us everything that happened, but in the meantime, I don’t just want her to have some place to rest. I—”
“You want her to go into hiding,” Zach said. Nicole nodded, before her whole body trembled with a stressful sigh.
“Does Evie know?” Zach asked.
“No. She’s already hypervigilant, which is good, but the memory loss is enough. I don’t want to traumatize her even more with a hunch.”
“No one’s been by to see her but us, and Raquelle hasn’t noticed any weird texts or comments on her social media,” Blaire said.