Alfred, my driver, had taken us home from the hospital a little over an hour ago. A commute that wasn’t long in distance but felt like it had taken hours. Every bump, stop, and turn was excruciating. The sight of my high-rise was a small relief, the kitchen overflowing with bouquets the moment we had come in.

“Nothing,” I answered. “Unless you can make this pain go away.”

She gently rubbed the top of my arm. “I wish more than anything that I could do that.” She reached into the pocket of her scrubs, where she took out a pile of cards. “Before I forget, these were attached to the arrangements. I thought you’d like to see who’d sent them and the kind words they had to say. Maybe it’ll get your mind off things for a little bit.”

My legs were on fire, electricity shooting up to my hips and all the way down to my knees, my lower back screaming with stiffness. The medicine barely took the edge off. I was trying to find a way to breathe through it without shouting, Fuck, after every exhale.

That was the only thing I could concentrate on at this moment.

I pointed to a spot next to the vase. “Leave them there.”

She did as I’d asked and said, “Your assistant texted me and said she’ll be by in about an hour. How about something to eat beforehand? I can heat up some soup and—”

“I’m not hungry.” I pushed myself up a few inches, and one of the surrounding pillows fell off the bed.

Whitney grabbed it and began wedging it against my torso, mirroring the placement with a different pillow on my other side, all while keeping my movement to a minimum.

This was the first time I’d seen her hair down, and as she hovered over me, one of her long curls brushed my face. Her scent was subtle, but as she got closer, the coconut strengthened, and my eyes closed as I took in the sweet aroma.

“That perfume smells incredible on you.”

She was kneeling right next to me as she adjusted my neck, crawling off the end of the bed once she was pleased with my position. “I’m sorry. I must have accidentally put on my weekend lotion.”

“Your weekend lotion?”

She laughed as she came around to my side, sitting in the leather high-back I’d had my housekeeper place in here for Whitney. “We weren’t allowed to wear anything scented at the hospital, so Emily—my best friend-slash-roommate—always joked that unscented was for weekdays and scented was for the weekends. Although it didn’t really make much sense since I often worked the weekends.”