I had always thought that I’d be terrified if I ever quit my job. Instead, I felt not only relieved, but downright excited.

I could quit effective immediately, so I did just that. On the day I went to collect my belongings, Will surprised me by saying he was coming with me.

“Why?”

“I want to be nearby in case Greg is there.”

“He’s not my boss anymore. I can hurl any insults I want at him.”

“Babe. You’re my woman,” he said, as if this explained it all. I just smiled to myself, feeling weirdly proud, and already visualizing a standoff. Unfortunately, Greg wasn’t there at all. But Ashley was, and I won’t lie, our goodbye was a little teary. She accompanied us to the garage of the building when we carried my boxes to the car.

“You know, Greg hasn’t been such a dick these last few days,” she said.

“I had a word with him,” Will explained.

I stared at him. “You talked to Greg?”

He gave me a half smile. “I might have had a conversation with him a few days ago. He might have shit his pants.”

I just laughed, feeling oddly elated as we drove away. This was my first day of freedom. It was the first time I wasn’t tied to a job in ten years, and it felt damn good.

Mom had been surprisingly negative about the whole thing.

“You sure this is the right thing to do, Paige? You’d be relying a lot on Will, with the funding, and living with him and everything. What if you don’t find a job right away afterward?”

I’d soothed my mother’s worries as best as I could and dedicated the next two weeks to sending grant proposals while overseeing the renovations on the inn. Since it would be an education center now, I needed to make some major changes as well as sell the old furniture and buy new things.

I was standing on a chair, securing a projector to the ceiling in what would be one of the classrooms, when my phone rang from the adjacent room. I’d already missed a call while I was installing this thing, but I didn’t want a repeat. I climbed down, scurrying to the other room.

Val was calling.

“Hello, Val.”

“Hi, Paige. Don’t panic. Will just called me. They’re taking him to the hospital. He said he tried to call you too, but you didn’t answer.”

“Oh my God. What happened?”

“He and his partner were in a chase. Some glass panel broke and they got injured. I don’t have a lot of details, just that they’re going to do some surgery.” Val’s voice shook. “Can you meet me there? I’ll text you the address.”

“Yes. Yes. I’m... on my way.”

I couldn’t breathe. I felt as though I was running in a fog as I crossed the city in the back of a cab. I was in no condition to drive. We drove straight into a traffic nightmare on La Cienega Boulevard, and it took almost three hours to reach the hospital. My phone’s battery died midway through the ordeal, so I wasn’t getting any updates from Val. What if I lost him? What if he.... No, I wouldn’t let myself even think it. I knew I wasn’t being rational. If he’d been in serious danger, he wouldn’t have called Val. The hospital or the police would have contacted next of kin. My emotions were taking over though, and I couldn’t fight them. I even cried a little.

When we finally, finally pulled in front of the damned hospital, I knocked over three people on my way to the floor where Val was waiting. I wiped my face clean, but knew my eyes were swollen, so there would be no hiding.

Val took one look at my face, then pulled me in a hug. “Oh, Paige. Come here. Calm down, please. You didn’t get my texts?”

“Phone battery died.”

“Surgery didn’t last long. Come on, let’s go see him.”

I felt like my bones might liquefy, that’s how relieved I was. Val led me to Will’s room, and I wasn’t surprised at all to see that Jace and Hailey were with him. I knew that Landon and Lori were in Hawaii with their spouses and little ones, or I was sure they’d be rallying around him as well.

His right arm was bandaged from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers, but other than that, he looked like himself.

“Paige,” Will said brightly.

Jace shook his head. “I worked a good fifteen minutes to cheer him up, and nothing. You’re here, and look at him. I’m losing my touch.”

“Yeah, me too,” Hailey said.

Val clapped her hands once. “Okay, both of you out before you give him a headache.”

Jace and Hailey exchanged a glance, but it was Hailey who spoke next. “She still thinks she can boss us around.”

The three of them left, but not before Val affectionately ruffled his hair as if Will was a kid. He grinned at his sister, then held his good arm out for me. I climbed right in next to him on the bed, and to my embarrassment, started crying again—this time out of pure relief.

Will looked stricken. “Paige, I’m okay. A glass panel crashed onto us, but I only had shards in my right arm. They managed to take them all out.”

“I was so scared,” I admitted, scrambling to pull myself together. “I didn’t know what had happened, if you were okay. I didn’t know for three hours. It was hell.”

I was sitting right next to him, and then I lay down, hiding in the crook of his good arm until my sobs subsided.

Will held me to him, whispering soothingly, and I felt more than a little ashamed that he was the one hospitalized, yet I was crying.

“I’m done now, I promise,” I said, sitting up on an elbow so I could look at him. “Are you comfortable? Do you need another pillow? Something to drink?”

“I’m fine, Paige. I’m going to have to take a leave of absence from work. A few weeks at least.”

“Are you telling me that you’ll be mine to pamper twenty-four hours a day?” I was glad for a chance to lighten things up.

“That’s right.”

“I’ll make you soup and stuff.”

“No, thanks.”

I glared at him. “You’re in a hospital bed. How can you be mean even now? Besides, when you’re sick, soup is good for you.”

He was getting groggy, but he still managed to wink. “Other things are good for me too. Things at which you’re very talented.”

I gave him a kiss, which was meant to be soft and quick, but then Will’s good hand went to the back of my head and he deepened the kiss before pulling me under him. Typical Will. He took over no matter what.

He fell asleep a short while later, courtesy of the pain meds. When I left his room, I was surprised to find that Val, Jace, and Hailey were still there.

“He’s asleep,” I told them.

“We wanted to talk to you,” Val said. “About his care for the next weeks—”

“I’ve got it covered,” I assured them. “I’ve been living with him anyway.”

Jace grinned big, nudging Hailey. “Told you.”

Hailey took a phone out of her bag. “I’m going to call Landon. He was already talking about hiring a nurse. I’ll convince him not to come back from the vacation, though knowing him, he’s probably on a plane already.”

Jace pondered this. “Don’t call Landon, call Lori. Have her make those puppy eyes at Landon and ask that they don’t come back from Hawaii. The puppy eyes work.”

Everyone stared at Jace. He shrugged. “What? They work on me.”

Val gave him a thumbs-up. Hailey whistled cheerfully. “Finally you admit it, brother. And your strategy just might work. I’m going to call Lori.”

Hailey stepped a few feet away, phone at her ear.

“But look, if you do want help at some point, call me at any time, okay? I’m actually getting better at working remotely, so I can stop by,” Val said. 

“Val, you’re worse than Landon sometimes.” Jace patted my shoulder. “Paige here said she can handle it. Stop micromanaging everything.”

Val gave him the stink eye. “Okay, I’ll try. But just so you know, Will can get grouchy when he’s sick. Like, very grouchy.”

Her mother hen tendencies were adorable. She projected an inner warmth and quiet strength that made me feel at ease, even though I suspected she was just good at not letting her turmoil show. She was so different from Hailey, who was boisterous and currently talking to Lori on the phone. I could see why she was good at managing PR crises.

“I’ll let you know, Val,” I assured her. Jace groaned. He seemed blasé, but he kept massaging the back of his neck, as if he’d spent the past hours in a state of constant tension.

“Please don’t. That’ll just fuel her micromanaging tendencies. If my brother does try to impersonate the Grinch, let me know, future sister-in-law.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I grinned. I really liked Jace.