It's Only Fake 'Til Midnight
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Katherine Garbera
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One
Dash Gilbert heard the whispers as he walked down the long, sterile hallway at the Gilbert Corners Care Home. Some called him charming and lucky. Others spoke of the curse in town carrying his family name.
He was at the Gilbert Corners Care Home to see his sister. He dreaded Sundays because of the visits yet he never missed one. Rory had a traumatic brain injury sustained after a car crash ten years earlier.
Rory hadn’t spoken or moved since that night she’d been crying in the car, just before it had spun out of control. The doctor that he’d arranged to care for his sister had recently retired, and the hospital who staffed the care home, which was on the same campus, had hired a well-qualified replacement—but Dash had yet to meet Dr. Monroe.
He opened the door to Rory’s room after checking in at the nurse’s desk and noticed that the shades were open. After reading an article about classical music stimulating brain functions, he’d ordered that it be played in the room as often as possible. Instead, “Islands In The Sun” by Weezer was blasting, and a man was leaning low over Rory.
The new doctor? Already Dash knew this man wouldn’t do. For one thing, he wasn’t following the instructions Dash had left. The man was tall and had dark brown hair and wasn’t familiar.
“Excuse me? Are you Dr. Monroe?”
The man stood and turned to face Dash with a smile that faded quickly. “No, I’m not.”
“Who are you? What are you doing in this room?” Dash asked, crossing to him and pinning him with a stare that was known to make more than a few men in boardrooms quake in their boots.
“I’m...a friend of Rory’s.”
“I know all of her friends, and I don’t know you,” Dash said.
The man stood up taller.
“Well, you don’t know me yet,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Get out,” Dash said in a low tone.
The man looked as if he were going to argue but the bedsheets rustled behind him.
“Dash?”
He turned, unable to believe that he was hearing his sister’s voice. It was rusty from disuse, and she looked confused as her gaze moved around the room.
“Here, ladybug,” he said around the emotion that was tightening his throat. He never thought she’d talk to him again. He tried to remain calm, sitting down on the edge of the bed and taking her hand.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“In the hospital,” he said, turning to the nurse who entered the room. “Turn that music off and get the doctor in here.”
He looked back at his little sister and gently took her in his arms and hugged her, careful of the IV in her arm and the feeding tube in her stomach. She hugged him back weakly and rested her head on his shoulder. “I don’t remember anything. How did I get here?”
“We were in a car accident,” he started.
“What?”
One of the machines hooked up to Rory started to emit an alarm and she was almost shaking in his arms. Dash rubbed her back unsure of what to do, which he fucking hated. He always knew what to do...but with this he had no clue.
“Out of the way, she’s in shock,” a woman with a doctor’s coat on said as she pushed past him.
Dash got up and stepped back. He stood there watching with his heart in his throat hoping he didn’t lose Rory again after just getting her back. He took his phone out and texted Conrad that Rory was awake. He didn’t want to move from his sister’s side but needed to make sure that she got help immediately.
As the doctor and the nurses worked around his sister’s bed, Dash turned to find the “friend” who he didn’t know. But the man was gone. Focusing on the stranger was a lot easier than standing in the corner of the room like a chump.
One of the nurses asked him to wait in the hall and Dash went out there, leaning against the wall, unable to forget the last time he’d been in the hallway of a hospital. It had been the night of the accident when Rory went into her coma and Conrad had almost died. He felt the panic and grief starting to come back and took a deep breath. He heard heavy bootsteps coming toward and looked up to see his cousin.
“How’d you get here so quick?”
“I live in town now,” he reminded Dash as he pulled him into a hug. “What happened?”
“There was a stranger in her room and as I was trying to figure out who he was, she said my name... I got to hold her for a second before alarms started going off—”
“She spoke? That’s great. Right?” Conrad asked, pushing his hands through his hair.
“I don’t know. The new doctor is with her now, but I’m not sure what her skills are.”
“The new doctor is an expert in her field and will speak to you in her office when you’re done.”
He turned toward the voice and realized as his eyes met hers that he knew her. Elle Monroe. The woman who had been his date the night of the winter ball a decade ago. He wondered if she’d remember him. He hadn’t forgotten her. How could he? They’d shared an incredible kiss that night, before he’d been pulled away when he heard his sister’s scream.
Life had changed for him that night. It was felt like something out of a fairytale that Rory had somehow brought Elle back into his life.
“Hottie alert.”
Dr. Elle Monroe glanced over the rim of her coffee mug to see a tall, broad-shouldered man walking their way. Backlit by the sun, it was hard to make put his features, but he had thick dark hair that was artfully styled. He wore a designer suit that looked as if it had been custom made for him. The other medical professionals at the nursers station were staring at him as he came closer.
Elle did the same—until his features were visible and she quickly turned, heading toward her office in the hall behind the station.
There was no mistaking those piercing blue eyes, the sensual mouth and the stubborn jaw. Dash Gilbert.
They had history, and as much as she was all about fresh starts—hence her return to Gilbert Corners after all these years—she wasn’t into making the same mistake twice.
Why couldn’t he have put on a few extra pounds, or maybe his hair could have started thinning? There was nothing wrong with either of those things, but why oh why did he have to still look...so breathtakingly hot? Out of all of her exes...okay, there were only three, but he was the only one she still let her mind return to. Just Dash. Mr. Charming. Mr. Unforgettable. Mr. Left-You-Standing-Alone-at-Midnight-at-a-Ball.
Yeah, there was that.
She put the coffee mug on her desk and took a deep breath. She was here to work, not stroll down memory lane, she reminded herself. She stretched and reached for the stack of patient folders that were on her desk. A lot of the information was also digitally available to her on her laptop, but she liked to see the physical copies of X-rays and lab results. Her mind processed things better on paper.
She was a trauma specialist who concentrated on long-term effects of head and spine injuries. She’d been offered this job in Gilbert Corners when their previous specialist had retired. She’d taken the job because...well, she was turning thirty in six months and she needed some closure, and Gilbert Corners was the source of most of her issues.
An alarm went off and she rushed back toward the nurses’ station, glancing at the on-duty nurse.
“Rory Gilbert is awake,” she said. “Room 323.”
Elle dashed down the hall. She hadn’t reviewed the charts yet, so she had no idea what the situation was going to be when she walked in, but she focused on her patient and not the man who she’d spent too much time thinking about.
She had been the one to tell the nurse to order him from the room as she and her nurse worked to stabilize the patient. It seemed to be a spiking pulse, no doubt due to stress.
“Hi, Rory. I’m Dr. Monroe,” Elle said once Rory was stable and had a glass of water to drink. She’d been fed via a stomach tube, so they were monitoring her to see how her body handled the water.
“Elle, right? You and my brother are dating,” Rory said.
Elle knew from her experience dealing with brain trauma patients that they often spoke of everything in the present. So perhaps her mind was just taking a few beats to catch up. “We were. What do you remember?” Elle asked her.
Rory’s hand started to tremble from holding the cup and Elle took it from her.
“Not much really. I mean, Dash of course, and you. How long have I been out?” she asked.
“Almost ten years.”
“What? How could that happen?”
Elle explained some of the medical reasons, but her last doctor had speculated that the trauma Rory had experienced that night played a big part in why she hadn’t come out of the coma. Her mind had been protecting her, not wanting to go back to the world of pain that she’d left. “The brain works to protect the body and sometimes it shuts down for repairs.”
“My brain thought I needed ten years...”
Elle smiled reassuringly at her. “Your body needed time too. Dash can probably tell you more,” she said.
“Where is he?” she asked, looking around for him.
“We had to send him out of the room to make sure you were okay. Are you ready to see him again?” Elle asked. Personally, she wasn’t sure she was ready for Dash to be back in the room.
“I think so. Ten years is a long time,” she said.
“It is. Let me go get your brother and he can catch you up,” Elle said.
She looked over at the nurse who nodded that she’d keep an eye on the patient. Elle took a moment at the door to compose herself before opening it.
She was an expert in the field of head trauma. She wasn’t the same girl she’d been at twenty who had thought that, after dating Dash for the entire fall semester, he was inviting her home to ask her to marry him. She was stronger today and more confident than she’d ever been.
And she totally wasn’t interested in Mr. Dash Gilbert.
She opened the door and heard the low rumble of his voice. The scent of his spicy cologne wafted toward her, and she shook her head against the memory of how it had felt to be in his arms.
He was saying something about her skills. She knew that he’d fought to have an expert brought in from somewhere in Europe instead of her.
He was so arrogant. How had she never noticed it before?
Probably because she’d been so busy kissing him. They hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other in college. Which just made her more determined to deliver the news that his sister was better and never have to see him again.
She cleared her throat and he turned toward her.
“Elle Monroe.”
“Dash Gilbert, still not quite as charming as rumor would have everyone believe you are.”
“Oh, I have my moments. They just don’t come when I’m worrying about my sister. How is she?”
“She’s stable. You can go and visit with her. We’ll run some more tests after you two talk. I told her it’s been ten years. She has a lot of questions, I’m sure.”
“Thank you, Elle.”
“That’s my job, and it’s Dr. Monroe,” she said, turning on her heel and walking away from him.
She did a good job of pretending she wasn’t aware of him watching her until she rounded the corner and entered her office. She collapsed into her chair and shook her head. Gilbert Corners didn’t disappoint. She’d come back here to get closure on her past and it seemed that on her first day at work, she was getting her wish.
Now if only she could stop thinking about how Dash hadn’t really changed much in the last ten years...except becoming even better looking, and definitely more arrogant.
Sitting in the hospital room and hearing Rory laugh at Conrad almost overwhelmed Dash. Dash had to turn away, feeling the sting of tears in his eyes. He had never thought he’d hear these two laughing again. Emotions weren’t something he ever allowed himself to indulge in, but seeing the two people he almost lost talking was a good reason to feel. He knew that.
Con looked over at him and arched one eyebrow, asking silently if he was okay. Dash nodded. He’d been the one behind the wheel that night when they’d left the party. He hadn’t anticipated being pursued and rammed by the other driver as they’d gotten to the icy bridge in the middle of town. And then everything had spiraled out of his control.
“You’re a famous chef?” Rory was asking Conrad after he told her about his cooking show.
“Yeah, and I’ve got a girl now.”
“I bet you have tons of girls. You always did,” she said.
“Just one, she’s special. You’ll like her,” Conrad said.
“So much has changed,” Rory said. “It’s a bit overwhelming.”
“I know,” Dash said, taking his sister’s hand. “But we will take it slowly. What’s the last thing you remember?”
“It was summer, and we were all home before college,” she said.
“That was a fun one,” Dash said. “All those late nights on the yacht.”
“Yes. Elle taught me how to do a flip off the bow,” Rory said.
Dash had forgotten that. He hadn’t allowed his thoughts to dwell on her in the last ten years. He’d been too busy running the company and trying to ignore the fact that his sister was in a coma. But Elle had been so much fun that summer, which was why he’d invited her to the winter ball, though he knew that she didn’t have the right connections for a serious relationship. His grandfather had been pushing for him to date the daughter of the CEO of a company he wanted to merge with.
“She did? How did I miss that?” Conrad asked.
“You were busy,” Dash said dryly.
“No doubt. So, when can Rory leave the hospital?” Conrad asked.
“I don’t know. I think I need to talk to Dr. Monroe,” Dash said.
“Go on, I’ll keep Rory company,” Conrad said.
He left the room and one of the nurses rang for the doctor. He had to admit that Elle scarcely resembled that long ago summer girl he’d met. She had worn her hair down around her shoulders; it was always curling around her face. Her eyes had been full of energy back then. Now she seemed...well, like he felt inside. Like the last ten years had been long for her.
“Mr. Gilbert, how can I help you?”
“Call me Dash for starters,” he said. “When can Elle go home? I’m sure she has to be able to do certain things like hold her arm up. She’s still weak.”
“Yes. I’ll have my nurse provide you with a list of things she’ll need to be able to do through physical therapy before she can be discharged.”
“Thank you,” he said, then shook his head. He was having a hard time dealing with the fact that his sister was awake and might be coming home soon. He’d been in therapy since the accident and survivor’s guilt had weighed on him, and now, he wasn’t sure he could believe that Rory was actually awake.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” he answered honestly. “I can’t believe everything that’s happened today.”
“That’s understandable. Traumatic brain injuries are so unpredictable. Take some time to just enjoy her recovery. There will be a long list of things that you are both going to have to deal with as she recovers.”
She was treating him like a stranger, he realized. He was one, but at the same time he knew the way she felt in his arms, knew the taste of her mouth under his, knew that she wasn’t a stranger. Not exactly.
But it was clear she didn’t want to be on intimate terms with him, so he changed the subject. “There was a man in Rory’s room when I arrived today. He said that he was a friend of hers. But I don’t know the man and I didn’t authorize him to be in there.”
“Okay. I’ll look into our records and see what I can find out,” she said. “Is that all for now?”
“No, I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have said anything about your skills. I am sorry that I did. I want the best for my sister.”
She gave him a half-smile. “I understand. Rest assured the hospital board wouldn’t have hired me if they didn’t believe I was qualified.”
“I know you are,” he said, then gave her that smile...the charming one she had a hard time resisting. “I’m used to being in control and just wanted to pick the candidate.”
“You know you’re not in charge of everything right?”
“Unfortunately yes.”
“Let’s go see Rory and tell her what’s needed to be discharged. I find that patients in her condition need a list to keep them grounded in the present, otherwise she might dwell on the time and memories she’s lost. That’s very stressful and can trigger a relapse.”
They had gotten to the door of Rory’s room when Elle said this. She opened the door and he reached for her arm. Was she saying that Elle might go back into a coma?
“What do you mean by that?”
She looked up at him and put her hand on his chest. Her touch sent a pulse of blazing heat through him. This close, he could feel the exhalation of her breath against his neck. Their eyes met and he forgot about everything but the fact that his sister had woken up today and that he was reunited with the one woman who had seen him as a man, not just a Gilbert. He leaned down slowly to see if she’d react.
She shifted slightly closer to him. She smelled of summer and sunshine reminding him of that long ago time when he’d held her in his arms. He closed the gap between them, brushing his lips against hers.
