Page 37 of Fly with Me

Was it bananas Olive was considering it? Probably.

“Women need to stick together.”

Stella’s fingers had twisted in Olive’s, her thumb stroking across her palm. Olive’s mouth went dry. She jolted as the pager clipped to her collar beeped and a robotic voice said, “Call from Derek Chang.”

She pushed the button, and Derek’s staticky voice came out. “Sorry to interrupt coffee. We have a situation.”

“Be right there.” She lifted her head, surprised to find her fingers still tangled in Stella’s. She pulled away. “Sorry. I have to get back. Can I actually get your number this time?” Olive handed over her phone.

Stella’s dark eyes regained the twinkling quality that had been there underneath the Disney World lights. Stella’s nimble fingers moved over the phone before handing it back. “I sent a text to myself, so I have yours.”

“Perfect.”

“Call from Derek Chang,” the robotic pager voice said again.

“Shit.” Olive tapped the button. “I’m coming.”

With a little shuffle step and a wave that could only be described as awkward as fuck, Olive was run/jogging back upstairs and onto the floor to help.

In Derek’s defense, the emergency was an actual emergency. A cardiac code that lasted all the way to thirty minutes after she was supposed to get off work. Olive flew around the unit, drawing up medications, paging providers, and helping to shuffle assignments until her feet, which hadn’t fully recovered from the half-marathon, were ready to fall off. After she’d given the change of shift report to the next charge nurse, she headed to the parking lot. Derek and Joni were waiting outside the double doors.

“Did you think we weren’t going to ask what happened?” Derek crossed his arms over his broad chest.

“We were just curious.” Joni grinned.

“She wants to be my fake girlfriend.”

For at least an hour or maybe several minutes, nobody spoke.

“Before we get into all the obvious follow-ups about whys and hows… and seriously, why…” Joni’s expression was mystified with a hint of amusement. “Did you tell her no?”

Olive scrunched her nose and eyes and mouth together like that Daenerys Targaryen meme.

Derek laughed.

“I think I said maybe. Maybe?”

“Oh man, Olive.” Derek rubbed his temples, fielding a glare from Joni. “What? She’s got it bad.”

Joni poked Derek in the arm.

“Stella Soriano.” He snorted.

“Stella Soriano?” Joni forced a smile.

“Stella Soriano.” And Olive’s stupid, pathetic heart skipped a beat.

Chapter 16

Rain pelted the window of Jake’s room while Olive sat in the chair by his bed. At some point this should feel normal. She’d seen Jake like this hundreds of times by now. But it was always a shock. Every time she came, her brain rebelled against the scene in front of her. That thin, unconscious person on a hospital bed couldn’t really be him. This person surrounded by machines couldn’t be her brother. She surveyed the room, eyeing the painted light green walls. The curtains framing the windows. The large bulletin boards covered in photos.

She had picked up a sandwich on the way over. It made the room smell more like cheese and tomatoes and onions and less like a hospital. She bought the sandwich at one of their favorite restaurants before the accident. She tried to eat lunch with him at least once a week like they had in the “before the accident” times. Eating also gave her something to do with her hands. A thing to do that made her feel less awkward about hanging out with a person in an irreversible coma.

“Sorry I didn’t bring you one.”

Asshole move, Sis.

Olive knew his answers weren’t real. But she’d known him well enough to have a pretty good idea what he’d say.