Stealing Her (Covet 1)

“Out of character,” I repeated. “Right.”

“He’s not here and the media is still clamoring around the offices. He won’t be back for at least an hour. I’ll leave him a note like I always do and tell him to text you, alright?”

“Thank yo—”

The line went dead.

I slowly changed out of my dress, my body feeling more and more numb as I tried to put two and two together. He could be looking at the company on his own before telling his assistant and Edward. It wouldn’t be that out of character, would it?

I picked up several shopping bags containing items I’d been given earlier that day, bags of expensive lingerie I was going to wear on my wedding night, provided to me by every single designer in the city who wanted free publicity, and then I grabbed my purse.

“I don’t feel well.” I walked past Marla, past the security standing at the doors, and down the street to the waiting town car. I heard Marla call out my name but I didn’t care, I just wanted to leave.

“Miss Isobel?” Belford, my driver, looked at me in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, I was expecting you to be another hour. Where to?”

“The hospital. I promised I’d stop by so I could start to get back to my regular schedule.”

Belford nodded and took me directly there. Within minutes, I was on the third floor surrounded by the nursing staff and Annie with her pink scrubs and black cropped hair opening her arms wide.

I stepped into them and sighed.

“You’ve been busy.” She pulled back and winked. “Now, we’ve all taken bets. Are you guys getting married this soon because it’s a shotgun wedding?” I could have sworn everyone looked at my stomach and speculated: heavy lunch or baby?

“Guys!” I rolled my eyes and laughed. “It’s more of a publicity thing for the company. The accident shook a lot of people up, Julian included, and honestly, we just want to be married.”

Weird how true that was.

I smiled to myself.

“You literally can’t stop smiling,” Annie pointed out with a grin of her own.

“I’m happy.” I lifted one shoulder and let it fall.

“Yeah.” She shook her head at me like it was almost unbelievable “You really are, aren’t you?”

“The accident seemed to change him, his outlook on life, on me, on everything. Let’s just say it’s been a really good month and leave it at that.”

“In bed or—”

“Sorry, you lost, Dave, I’m not pregnant,” I laughed as he handed Annie fifty bucks. “Maybe next time?”

Groans erupted around the nursing station as money exchanged hands over the shotgun wedding / pregnancy bet.

“Right, right.” He grabbed a clipboard. “Did you want back on the schedule? Annie said you’d be coming in today to get things situated, but I wasn’t sure what your hours would be like because of the wedding.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I honestly wasn’t even thinking of that.”

“Her head’s too far up in the clouds,” Annie teased.

I winked as I took the clipboard and looked over the schedule. “Let me check if I can come back tomorrow and the next day. Then I have the rehearsal dinner to prepare for and all the other things a Tennyson bride has to do.” I said the last part with my nose scrunched up.

“Poor”—he lifted the clipboard out of my hands with a smirk—“princess.”

“Annie.” One of the new charge nurses walked up with a grim look on her face. “I keep trying to get new bedding from the sixth floor, and it’s been hours. I have two kiddos waiting, and both Josh and Sarah just took their breaks.”

“I’ll go.” I put on my badge and shrugged. “I still have at least an hour. What else did you need?”

“Oh, thank you, Izzy!” She handed me another clipboard. “Everything on this list. We just had a few accidents with the little ones, and I swear ever since they brought in the patient who shall not be named, it’s like pulling teeth to get anyone in the old ICU to talk to us.”

“Old unit?” I repeated. “Why would they put anyone there?”

“Security.” Annie rolled her eyes. “There’s another bet if you want in on it. I keep saying it’s George Clooney, someone else swore it was Kanye. You know how celebrities are. They think they need not just one special bed, but the entire floor. They moved him up a floor a few weeks ago. His agent, or whoever the man was, came in with a check for the hospital and that was it.”

“Strange,” I agreed. “Alright, I’ll be right back, then.”

“No peeking!” Annie called after me. “That’s not a fair bet.”

“You can’t peek on patients,” I called back in a hushed tone.

She just shrugged.

I didn’t realize how much I had missed her friendship; she was just so positive and full of life. I was still smiling when I made it to the floor and slid my card through the slot then waited for the door to open.