Mistaken Identity (6 page)

“It was pretty in a very honest and
slightly dorky way.”
 

“I had to pick a writer!” He mumbled as
he stepped back.
 
The playful expression
on his face made her giggle. She could see
Dex
peeking
out, but after almost ten seasons of playing him there had to be a bit of
meeting in the middle.
 
He walked over to
the bed, picked up his duffle bag, and slipped it over his head. Clearing his
throat he came to a halt a few feet away.

“So I know this is ass backward, but can
I get your number?”

Her laughter rang out like a chime. The
somberness was lifted.

“Yeah, tell me your number, and I’ll call
you.” She slid her small purse down her shoulder, opened it, and pulled out her
purse. They exchanged numbers.

“I’m going to go.”
 
She nodded toward the door behind her.

“Can I walk you out?”

“I’d rather not be mobbed by fan girls.”

“Yeah, there is that.” He sighed. “I
guess this is goodbye.”

“I prefer ‘see you
laters
’
myself.”

“Then I’ll see you later.”

Say something
clever, and witty. You write!

“I guess so.” She grabbed the handle
behind her and pulled down the lever. “I’m going to go before this becomes
drawn out.”

“Yeah.”
He nodded.

Pushing the door open she stepped out and
closed the door behind her. The wistful expression he wore lingered in her
mind.

Chapter
Three

When he reached the hospital Jett’s eyes
were red and itchy. His body and his heart felt heavy. They’d called an end to
things to prevent this. Bile rose in the back of his throat as he tried to
mentally prepare himself for what she’d look like. Hovering in front of the
elevator doors on her floor his feet were glued to the floor as fear paralyzed
him. An image of an emaciated zombie-like waif creature flashed in his head.
Can I pretend to be unaffected by that?
Should I?
 
No. Thi
s
ain’t
the time to play nice or sugar-coat. I need
to go in there kick her boney ass, and get to the bottom of what made her shut
down. Why do this now?

Ready for war he started toward her room,
steps sure, and his face set in stern expression.
 
I didn’t let her go just to
watch her wither away.
He rounded the corner, purpose in every step he
took. When he reached room 489 he knocked.

“Come in.”
 
The familiar voice of the man would’ve been
his-father-in-law called out. The hushed tone radiated worry. He turned the
knob, pushed the door open a sliver, and poked his head in.

“Jett.”
The stark
expression of relief that passed over the white-haired man’s face broke his
heart.

“Hey, Greg.”
He looked at
the tiny lump in the bed and sighed. Even with the blanket over her body he
could see the damage she’d done.
 
Her
limbs were stick thin underneath the light blue blanket covering her body. “How
is she?”

Greg shook his head. “Not good.”

“What happened?”

“She was doing fine the first four months
or so, but then she started to struggle, and things went downhill.” He sighed.
“Pam will be up soon. I sent her to get some lunch and take a breather.”

Jett nodded. “What triggered it?”

“I have no clue. Pam doesn’t either. We
tried to get her to open up and talk. When that didn’t work we tried to get her
to go to a therapist here.”

“She wouldn’t do it? What about Dr.
Talons?”

“Shut her out, too.”

“Jesus.”
 
Jett covered his mouth his hand. “How did she end up here?”

“We didn’t realize how dire the situation
was. You know how good
Lis
is at hiding it. We went
out for dinner, came home, and found her passed out on the floor in the
kitchen.” His face paled. “Her pulse was too fast, and she was sluggish. Her
speech was so slurred we feared she might have had a stroke, scared the hell
out of me.”

Jett reached out, put his hand on Greg’s shoulder
and squeezed. “If you think I can help I’ll try.”

“Thank you, Jett.”

“Anything for family.
The fact
that we didn’t make it down the aisle doesn’t change that.”

“That goes both ways, son.” Greg cleared
his throat.

“Did you tell her I was coming?”

“No, we didn’t want to upset her.” Greg
shook his head.

“Okay. How about you join Pam. Relax, and
let me speak to her one-on-one.”

“That’s a good idea. I know she wouldn’t
want an audience.”

And you
wouldn’t want to hear what I have to say to Daddy’s little girl.

“We’ll take our time.”

“Good.”
 

When the door shut behind Greg, Jett
strode over to sit in the dark blue chair beside her bed, placing his head in
his hands.

“
Lis
, what are
you doing?” He breathed in and released the air he’d trapped in his lungs. A
part of him would always love her, but what once existed between them, that was
gone. Maybe it hadn’t been there for a while to be honest. They’d been trying
to rebuild themselves, move past the lies she’d kept from him, the constant
state of fear he’d lived in while on the road, and during long hours on the
set. Somewhere along the line he’d become her caregiver and champion. The hero
who rushed in, righted wrongs, and nursed her back to health. Things were never
meant to be that one-sided. It wasn’t healthy. Not that he could see it when he
was smack dab in the middle of the storm.

He peeled back the blanket and cringed.
Knobby ridges and bulges stuck out over skin stretched too tight. One wrong
move and the delicate bone would probably snap. Cautious he leaned over,
touched her skin with his finger. She was cool to the touch, which meant her
body had to struggle to keep warm because of the lack of body fat.

“Jett.”
He tensed.
Does she know I’m here
?
 
She mumbled a few more unintelligible words,
and he tugged the blanket back up, not wanting to embarrass her.

“
Lis
.”
Too afraid
to shake her for fear of breaking brittle bones, he placed a gentle hand on her
back.
“
Lis
.”

“
Mhmm
?”

“It’s time to wake up.”

She rolled onto her side. Stunned he sat
back in his chair. With eyes too big for her face, and cheekbones so stark they
could cut, her face was skeletal and alien. Her eyelids fluttered open.

“Jett?”
 
Unbridled joy broke across her face. Then she
crashed. Her eyes filled with shame, and she ducked her head. Scraggly, straw
thin hair tumbled about her face.

“Don’t do that, don’t hide from me.”

“I can’t believe they called you.”

“I wish they would’ve sooner. What’s
going on?” Silence stretched between them. “You know how stubborn I am. You
really want to play the waiting game, Melissa?”

The sound of her full name made her
flinch. “What’s there to say?”

“Oh I don’t know … why you stopped
eating.” His voice rose. “I don’t get it. I mean isn’t this what you left to
avoid, or was that a safe way of getting out the door?”

“How can you think
that!
”

“Finally a response!”

“Why are you here if you’re just going to
yell at
me!
” Tears ran down her face.

“Because someone needs
to!
I’m not going to tip toe around on eggshells. You owe me an explanation right
now.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“The truth!”

“Even after I left it
kept happening. Only this time it was pity from all the speculation. That poor
girl, I knew it wasn’t going to last, I mean look at her and look at him! I’m
shocked he strung her along for this long, or maybe he hid it.” She mimicked
high-pitched voices.

“Why do you care,
Lis
? You know what happened.”

“Because
I did it all for nothing!”

His jaw dropped.

“What am I doing? Who am
I? I throw away a ten year relationship over what?
Other
people’s bullshit.
The closer it got to our wedding date the more
worthless I felt. This was the one thing left in my life I could control.”

“That’s codependency. We
talked about this. You can do it yourself. I’m backup, a support. The strength
is inside you, always has been.”

“It doesn’t feel that
way. When I’m not with you sometimes it’s like … I can’t even breathe.”

“
Lis
.”
He took her hand between his and willed his
warmth to transfer. “Honey, you have a long way to go.”

“Oh
God!
It’s too late, isn’t it?” She hiccupped. Her heart monitor spiked. “You found
someone else.
Someone prettier?
Thinner?” Her breath
came in panicked pants.

“Calm down,
Lis
.”

“Tell me the truth!” Her
shrill voice hurt his eardrums.

“Why? So you can obsess
over it? No.” He removed his hands. “You’re going to see a counselor and start
eating, even if I have to cram it down your throat myself. I’ll stand by you
every step of the way. But you don’t get to dig into my personal life. We can’t
go back down that path. For ten years we tried,
Lis
,
and it doesn’t work.”

“Jett—”

“No. We need to work on
forming a new relationship, one that’s healthy and doesn’t damage either of
us.”

She hiccupped.

“And
for the record,
Lis
.
She’s much bigger than
you ever were, even at your heaviest. I told you that stuff doesn’t matter to
me. It’s all about what’s on the inside. ”

“Oh.”
 
The words seemed to calm her, though the hurt
in her eyes remained. “Well that’s something.”

“It’s recent. Don’t
think I wasn’t cut to the core when you left. I wanted to come after you, beg,
plead,
promise
you everything under the sun.”

“So why didn’t you?” Her
voice quivered.

“Because it’s not what
you needed. It wasn’t what was best, and when you really love someone, isn’t
that what you want?” He stroked her hair back from her face. “What did you
think? That I didn’t really care?”

“A part of me wondered.”

“That night when you
told me you were leaving your eyes were dead. I’d never seen you look like that
before.” The memories tasted like bitter ash in his mouth. “That look haunted
me for months. Every time I wanted to pick up the phone, catch a flight out, or
text you I thought about it. It wasn’t easy by any means to stay away. But I
wanted to give you your space. I guess I gave too much.”

She picked at the
blanket. “So, you don’t hate me?”

“
Lis
,
no.” he bent down, tucked a finger under her chin and made her look up. “Is
that what you thought?”

Their gazes clashed. “I
hate me. Why don’t you?”
 
The self-loathing
in her eyes skewered his soul.

“Because I see you for
who
you really are. You’re looking at yourself through a
distorted set of peepers. We’re going to get you help. Do you trust me?”

“Always.”

“Then stick with the
program they’re offering you. Go to the counselor and the
nutritionalist
.
I won’t lie and say it’ll be easy. It’s going to be hell. You’ll be building
from the ground up, but I’ll help you, and you need it.” He stilled her hand.

“And you won’t leave
me?”

“No, I won’t.”

“O-okay.”

“Yes?” he held his
breath.

“Yes.”

“First step is always
the hardest.”

“Yeah.”

He stayed at the hotel for a bit longer
before calling it a day. Being at the home he’d once shared with
Lis
would be too creepy, so he opted to stay with his
younger brother. As he drove home from the hospital he was eager to talk to
Kansas. He could use some light humor after all the heavy. Plus, he needed to
get to know his mystery woman more in order to sweep her off her feet properly.
Unlike the brisk character out of tune with his emotions on the show he was a
bit of romantic. His Dad taught him there was nothing more manly then showing
your woman how much you loved her.