Shocking Sapphires - Ann Omasta Page 0,26

we’d gotten into a huge fight. She had hinted that California sunshine and clean air would help me heal. I had shouted at her that tea leaves and yoga retreats weren’t going to make me walk again.

The woman was beyond exasperating, and I didn’t want to go to Los Angeles with her. I wanted to be here with Molly, but apparently the wonderful woman of my dreams had tired of me… and my son.

I knew we were a lot to handle, but I’d been starting to dare to believe that Molly might stick with us for the long haul. Apparently, even my adorable, lovable son wasn’t enough of a draw to put up with me and my handicap.

That realization was absolutely devastating. Molly was the one person that I believed truly saw the real me and still, by some marvelous miracle, cared.

“Your movie production is on indefinite hold, so there’s nothing keeping you here. Let’s go home,” Eva suggested with a half-smile and patronizing pat on my shoulder.

I tried to hide my shock and dismay over the news that my film project had been halted. The last I’d heard about it was that Alex was working on rewrites, so I could still star in it.

Why wasn’t I told they were tabling the entire project for now? How did Eva find out before me? Did everyone else see that I was all wrong for it with my handicap, but no one was brave enough to tell me to my face? Would they scrap the whole movie, just so they didn’t have to showcase a cripple as the lead?

The questions flooded my brain and made me feel nauseous. My eyes blinked rapidly as I focused on swallowing down the bile that was threatening to upheave.

When Eva told Jemma that I needed to rest for tomorrow’s travels and that she should take Scout back to her bed and breakfast to pack, I didn’t even have the energy or mental clarity to object.

20

Molly

Getting to Grant, now that the cavalry had arrived, was damn near impossible, but I was determined to make it happen.

By borrowing some medical scrubs from Dani, I was able to slip past the group of paparazzi and news reporters camped outside the rehabilitation facility. Once inside, I found that getting by the henchmen bodyguards stationed at both corridor entrances that led to Grant’s private suite was not nearly as easy as I had hoped.

One of the beefy men grabbed my arm and said, “You’re not one of the usual nurses here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering how he could possibly know that, since they hadn’t been here long. Hoping to convince him, I answered, “I only work part-time as a substitute when one of the regulars is out.”

He looked like he was considering it, so I used some of my knowledge of the facility to add legitimacy to my story. I hadn’t seen Maria at the desk, and I knew she often had Tuesdays off, so I added, “I’m filling in for Maria.”

“Where’s your employee badge?” The second man’s voice was even more gruff than the first’s as he glared down at me.

I looked down at my chest where the lanyard would hang, if I had one, scrambling to think of something. Glancing back up at them, I said with as much fake confidence as I could muster, “I must have forgotten it at home.”

Neither man looked like he was buying my story. Goon one turned away and lifted a walkie-talkie radio to his lips. I couldn’t quite make out the conversation, but I remained hopeful that I might be given access to Grant, until his door opened and Eva emerged.

My entire body deflated and my shoulders slumped forward as I watched the stunning movie star glide toward us as if she was floating on air. She was the last person I wanted to see, and her presence here meant that my chances of getting to see Grant were practically nonexistent.

“Mallory, darling, so good to see you again.”

She air-kissed my cheeks in the fakest display of kindness I’d ever experienced. I quickly decided that air-kisses must be the Hollywood equivalent of a Southern Belle’s ‘bless your heart.’

I didn’t even bother to correct her usage of the wrong name for me, since it was starting to become apparent that she was messing it up on purpose.

“Are you all squared away with your new job?”

The way she gazed at me awaiting my answer made it seem like she cared, but I knew