Page 27 of Yours, Always
Prudence sat in her car in front of the clinic, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white.He’s fine. The doctor said he’d be fine. But her thoughts were echoing the words she’d spoken to Gabe earlier that afternoon in the waiting room. When she’d seen Greyson unconscious on the ground her world had stopped spinning. She’d gotten this strange tunnel vision, as if she were trying to watch the scene through the eye of a needle, her eyes squinting, not understanding what was happening. This had only lasted for a split second before she’d screamed and ran to Greyson’s prone body.
When she’d gotten to him, and thrown herself on the ground, she’d reached over to check his pulse. She’d known that he’d just hit his head, but she still held her breath until she could feel the faint steady beat. By then people from all over the set were around him, gently guiding her away, telling her the paramedics were on their way. Chuck had put his arm around her, and she’d heard him say the name, Gabe. Prudence realized she hadn’t let Gabe know what happened, so she pulled out her phone and called him —the ambulance arriving shortly after. They hadn’t let her ride in the back like she’d insisted, so she followed them the short distance to the clinic.
Gabe had met her there, anxiously bouncing on the balls of his feet as they brought Greyson out on a stretcher. He was awake, one paramedic telling them he’d woken up shortly after they’d started moving. Greyson had smiled, or tried to, wincing in pain at the bright sunlight, before cracking a joke about cracking his head. They’d sat in the waiting room, then, until the nurse called them back.
Prudence shook her head and held back tears as she buckled her seatbelt. “Annabelle!” she exclaimed, needing to talk to her friend, realizing she hadn’t told her yet what happened. She set her phone to the car speaker and called Annabelle as she drove home.
“Hey, Pru, how’d the commercial go?” Prudence tried to speak, but her words choked off as she finally let herself cry. “Pru? What’s going on? Are you being kidnapped? Yell ‘rutabaga’ if you are.”
Prudence couldn’t help but laugh at that, her short burst of tears already done. “Greyson had an accident on the commercial set, AB. He’s fine, just a concussion.” Her words coming out still tinged with emotions.He’s fine.
“Oh shit, what happened?”
“I don’t really know. He told the director he’d do his own stunts, but when he went to slide off the hood of the car—”
“Because of course he would,” Annabelle interrupted, Prudence could hear the eye roll in her voice.
“—it was like there was oil or something all over it. He couldn’t stop and hit his head twice after he rolled off.”
“Dang. Did he go to Dr. Simmons, or did they take him to Amherst?”
“Dr. Simmons. There was no evidence of anything other than a concussion, so he decided he didn’t need to go to Amherst”—she collected herself before continuing—“I was so scared, though. He hit pretty hard, then he was unconscious for at least a few minutes until the ambulance could get there.”
“That would be scary for anyone to see, Pru.”
Prudence sighed and turned onto her street. “I’m going to stay with him tonight while Gabe is at work but Greyson needs to be woken up regularly to check and make sure he’s okay. I’m just heading home to get some things for the night.”
“You’re an angel to help, Pru. Are we still on for lunch tomorrow? It’s okay if not, you’ll be tired.”
“Yeah, let’s still do lunch. I just pulled in. I’m going to get my stuff and head back over there.”
“Okay, call me if you need anything tonight—and I mean anything.”
Prudence quickly gathered some clothes and work items before driving the short distance to Gabe’s. She pulled up to the curb outside his house just as he was helping Greyson from the car. She got out and opened the back door, giving Gabe a quick and hefted her work bag over her shoulder. She took out a large box with various material samples from the back seat—it was going to be a long night but at least she’d get some work done on the Stephenson proposal that was due next week.
As Prudence walked through the living room to the kitchen, she could hear muffled conversation float down from upstairs. “This is all so unnecessary, you know,” Greyson grumbled.
“It’s completely necessary, Grey. You know Nadia would kill me if I let anything happen to her star.”
Their voices faded as she walked around the kitchen island to lay her sample box on the beautiful oak table. Prudence ran her fingers over the gleaming surface, loving the fact that Gabe hadn’t sanded out every imperfection. She really needed to think of a way to get Gabe to pursue carpentry as more than a hobby.
Jumping and placing a hand on her chest, Prudence startled when Alexa started repeating back a series of alarms being set both upstairs and down at the correct intervals to wake Greyson up.Clever Gabe. She noted that the first wake-up time was already in a half an hour from now. After filling a glass with cold water, she realized how parched her throat was and how long it had been since breakfast. She chuckled as she set her empty glass on the counter.
“What’s so funny?” Gabe asked as he entered the kitchen.
“All of this,” she responded. “Greyson comes home to relax and leave Hollywood behind only to get injured while acting in a commercial for a friend as a favor. It’s like something out of a movie.”
“Yeah, I suppose it is, but that’s what makes Greyson such a good actor, his flair for the dramatic. Do you remember, lord it was my sophomore year, so you guys would’ve been juniors, and Greyson copied off of you during creative writing? You both were going to get failing grades, but he argued that since it was creative writing anything he wrote, even if it was copied, was creative? The teacher was so amused, she said him trying to get off on a technicality was the most creative thing she’d heard all year.”
“I’d forgotten about that! I was so mad. I didn’t even know he’d copied me.” Prudence laughed, remembering.
“You know,” Gabe continued, “I thought for sure that would be when you guys ended up together.”
“How exactly would the scenario of Greyson cheating off me for a good grade result in us being a couple?”
“You were ready to go down with him. You weren’t going to turn him in and were willing to share the blame.”
“Gabe, you are such a hopeless romantic. How are you still single?”