“You never call,” Brooke panted. “What’s wrong?”
“An emergency,” Meredith whined, slumping against the bathroom door and hoping Gray’s family couldn’t hear her.
“What is it? Is Oscar okay?” Brooke asked in a panic, still sounding breathless.
“Yes, Oscar’s fine… Are you okay? You sound like you’re having an asthma attack?”
A pause overtook the line. “Me?”
“Of course you? Who else am I talking to? What are you doing?”
“I’m… sitting with Rajan…” Her voice sounded unusually high, even as she caught her breath.
“Rajan? The cricket player?” Meredith’s eyes bugged. “Where are you?”
“Um… yeah. And he’s not just a cricket player. He’s a junior in chemical engineering. And he speaks four languages, and he says I smell like a cape lily.”
“A what?”
“It’s a lily that grows in India. It’s pink and fragrant and wonderful. Don’t laugh.”
The rumble of a richly masculine chuckle filled her ear. “You are very comical,mere nadee.”An exotic accent trimmed and trilled each word, and Meredith found herself listening more closely.
“Mere nadee?What does that mean?” she asked, grinning. “And where did you say you were?”
“Never mind. What’s the emergency? Do you need me to come over there and kick some McCormick ass?” A booming laugh, deep-bellied and joyful, followed her question. Then the sound went muffled, and Meredith could only hear part of the exchange. “…my friend… now hush!… No… I can’t talk if you touch me there…”
Oh my God.Meredith slapped her forehead.
“Um… Brooke, if this is a bad time…”
“No, no, no. What’s going on?” her friend demanded, coming back to the phone.
“It’s okay. Really,” she said. “It’s not Oscar and it’s not Jamie or Leona. I just wanted to talk. Just call me when you c—”
“No, you sound off. Tell me what’s bothering you.”
That was Brooke. With her through it all. No matter what. Meredith gave a sigh and slid down the bathroom door to settle on the floor.
“It’s Gray.”
Brooke gasped. “What’s gray? You’re too young for gray hair—”
“No. Gray. My boss.”
“Oh, right! How is your sexy author boss?” Meredith could hear the smile shape her words. This was going to be harder than she thought.
“He’s sick.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why he hired you.”
“No, I mean really sick. He has a brain tumor that could kill him at any moment. And, Brooke, if that happened, I think I’d die, too.”
She heard the words right along with Brooke, and as her best friend gasped, she startled at the undeniable truth of her feelings.
“Meredith, honey, could you hold on a sec?”
At this, she heard more murmuring. And then, clearly, the sound of Brooke’s squeaky passenger door.