“I want to be there for you, too, Devon. I do, but you know how tricky this could get for me.”
Ted inhaled and rubbed a hand across his face again, and she watched, waiting for him to decide.
“I’m sorry. I can’t leave the city right now. There’s just too much going on. You go, and I’ll stay here and do what damage control I can.”
She crossed her arms over her front and squeezed. As a solution, it was okay, but she couldn’t help but wonder… “So that’s all we are? Publicity and image?”
He framed her face with his palms and kissed her forehead before brushing his lips across hers.
“Of course not. But my calendar is packed with meetings I already rescheduled in order to be with you tonight. Go if you insist,” he said, thumb brushing just under her lip. “But go knowing this could change things for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Devon, with all the reports of sexual misconduct and story accuracy, networks want their anchors squeaky clean. Your involvement could negatively influence your job prospects.”
The statement caused her stomach to knot up even more. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You should.”
She closed her eyes and squeezed them tight. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
“My advice to you is to send flowers, call your mom, and stay low until this blows over and you can visit without adding fuel to the fire.”
She fisted her hands, engagement ring forgotten. “What if I can’t do that?”
“You can—you just don’t want to.”
She held up her hand. “What about this?”
“What about it?”
“Would you…like it back?”
Oscar Roman watched as his best friend heeded his doctor brother’s advice and avoided the press-crowded emergency room entrance. Michael drove around the hospital and parked, and they hurried toward a side entrance Michael’s twin had told them to use.
Inside, Oz walked beside his best friend since childhood, their fast strides eating up the distance to the desk that could point them in the right direction.
The woman behind the desk asked a security guard to take them to a waiting area, and once they arrived, Oz’s gaze fastened on the group of people clustered around Rayna Jo Teeks.
His heart pinched at the sight. He couldn’t imagine the pain she must be suffering, and yet she didn’t even know the worst of it.
Oz had been hanging out with Michael and procrastinating on his latest book when Michael’s cousin Dara had texted out an alert to immediately isolate her mother and why.
Thanks to some quick maneuvering, the woman’s friends had gotten Rayna Jo to the hospital and into a waiting area with no television to try to spare her the salacious details of her husband’s behavior at the time of the accident.
On the way to the hospital, a local radio station jockey was already reporting the circumstances of Richard Teeks’s accident due to a passerby snapping a photo or two and actually posting them on the internet. The DJ was having a field day cracking jokes, despite the fact a woman had died and Richard Teeks was in critical condition.
It was bad enough to deal with the news of the accident and her husband’s touch-and-go status, but top it off with an affair and details about the crash?
Rayna Jo, Dara, and Devon didn’t deserve that.
“We came as soon as we heard,” Michael said to his aunt.
Once Michael hugged Rayna Jo and moved out of the way, Oz greeted the woman with a kiss on her soft cheek, noting how much Rayna Jo had aged since he’d last seen her.
“Thank you for coming,” Rayna Jo whispered, the words choked with tears. “All of you… I appreciate it so much, but there’s no need for everyone to be here and wait with me. I’ll be fine. The girls will arrive soon.”
“We’re not leaving you,” Mary Elizabeth Shipley said.