“I’m not sure why I came back,” she said slowly, finally looking at him. “There was an assortment of reasons, none of which I can explain right now. I didn’t set out to trick you. I honestly thought you’d recognize me when you saw me.”
“But I didn’t and you didn’t say anything.”
“I know.” She dropped her gaze to her hands. They twisted together on her lap as she laced and unlaced her fingers.
“Why did you do it? What did you have to gain by being Rose?”
“It wasn’t about gain. It was about…” She sighed. “You liked Rose a whole lot more than you liked me. It was dumb, I know, but I thought that maybe if I was someone else, we could sort of get to know each other again. As different people.”
He stiffened, disbelief fueling his anger again. Yeah, right. On what planet would Josie Fitzgerald want a second chance with anyone? She was lying to him again, damn her. Playing some kind of twisted game.
“Why would you think I’d want to get to know you again?” he asked, being deliberately cruel. “One relationship with you was enough. I might be a slow learner, but I figured out that lesson. Once with you was plenty.”
She made a sound low in her throat. He wasn’t impressed by the trick, so he ignored it. Josie reached for her cane, then rose to her feet. Her movements were shaky and awkward. For a second he wondered if she was all right, then he pushed the concern away. He didn’t give a rat about her. He’d already fallen for the “poor me” game once. He wasn’t going to do it again. For all he knew, there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, dropping her head so that her hair swung down, shielding her face from view.
But not before he saw a glint that on anyone else he would have sworn was a tear. Except Josie never cried. Not once in all the time he’d known her.
“I c-can’t do this anymore,” she said, walking haltingly toward the door. “I’m sorry. About everything. I just can’t.”
She sounded broken and in pain. He almost weakened. Then he reminded himself what she’d been doing for the past three weeks, how he’d been attracted to her and had imagined her to be someone he would like to know better. The rage returned, and with it his resolve to stand firm.
“You’re not leaving,” he said as he stood. “Not until we get this settled. For once, we’re going to finish a conversation. You’re not going to run out or throw something. You’re going to stand right here until this is resolved.”
She raised her head and stared at him. Tears swam in her eyes. Josie crying?
“Please, Del,” she begged. “Don’t make this any more horrible. You’ve already told me exactly what you think of me. Do you really have to torture me any more?”
He remembered then all the things he’d told “Rose” about his ex-wife. The brutal assessments of her personality and how she’d disappointed him both in and out of bed. He winced, knowing that would have been tough for anyone to hear. Then he reminded himself he’d only spoken the truth. If Josie wasn’t strong enough to hear it, that wasn’t his fault. He would-
“Del?”
The soft sound cut through his thoughts. She swayed slightly. Instantly he knew something was wrong. Really wrong. But before he could reach her, she collapsed on the floor.
Four hours later Del stood at the foot of Josie’s hospital bed watching a nurse take her vital signs. He hadn’t thought the situation between them could get anymore strange, but he’d been wrong.
According to the emergency room doctor who had admitted Josie, she was dehydrated, fighting an infection and generally run-down. Del felt as if he were somehow responsible-as if their argument had been what had pushed her over the edge. She’d regained consciousness almost immediately after one of his crew had called 911, but Del would never forget those few minutes of panic when he hadn’t been sure if she were dead or alive.
Nothing made sense, he thought as the nurse finished her work, gave him a reassuring smile and left the room. How could this woman who looked and acted so differently be his ex-wife? And he knew she was Josie. She’d been through a horrible experience and had survived.
He felt a flash of guilt. While they’d been arguing at her house, he’d wondered if she’d made up the accident. But once in the hospital she’d changed from her regular clothes to a hospital gown. As she’d been sliding into bed he’d seen the scars crisscrossing her legs. Some were thin and faded but others appeared to be recent. He recalled that, as Rose, she’d told him there was more surgery in her future.
He wanted to ask the question again, but this time without the anger. He really wanted to know who she had become. Was Rose real? Not the name, of course, but the woman behind the name. Is that why he’d been so angry? Was it so much about Josie’s lies or had he been regretting the loss of someone he’d been starting to care about?
Who was real? The old Josie or the new Josie? Had her “Rose” personality been a reflection of the changes in her life or was it all an act?
“What are you thinking?”
He looked up and saw Josie watching him with a wary expression. Despite the confusion and the questions, he couldn’t help smiling ruefully. “At least I understand why the more I was around Rose, the more I thought of you. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. After three years you were firmly back in my brain, and I didn’t know why.”
He also understood the attraction he felt for Rose. Whatever their other problems, there had always been chemistry between Josie and him. Although, he wasn’t going to share that with her.
“At least I did what you said,” she told him, pushing on the hospital bed controls so she sat in a more upright position. “I didn’t walk out on the fight.” She gave a little shrug. “I think that’s a first.”
“Your exit was quieter, but no less dramatic. If I have to pick, I would prefer you to walk out. Or even throw something. When you passed out I was terrified I’d killed you.”
The corners of her mouth twitched up slightly. “I’m made of sturdier stuff than that. Obviously, or I wouldn’t have survived the accident.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. Josie’s strength had never been something he would question. He was surprised that she’d endured as much as she had and still kept her sense of humor.
She looked at him then. Her blue eyes carefully blank, all trace of emotions-and tears-cleared away. “You don’t have to stay. I appreciate that you came with me in the ambulance, but I’ll be fine. I know the drill.”
Part of him wanted to go, but he couldn’t seem to make his feet move toward the door. Instead he pulled one of the chairs for visitors to the side of her bed and sat down.
“How many times have you been through this before?” he asked.
“This is my first collapse, if that’s what you’re asking. As for hospital stays…I’ve lost count.”
She spoke calmly, as if sharing her thoughts on the weather. He couldn’t imagine the Josie he knew enduring endless days of inactivity while her body healed. Had she not raged against the constraints, the pain, the slow progress? But as he looked at her he realized she wasn’t the Josie he knew.
Everything about her was different. The long, wavy hair, the different facial features. She wore makeup and dresses. He wasn’t sure there was anything of the old Josie left. Worse, he wasn’t sure he wanted there to be. As much as he hated to admit it, he’d liked the new Josie very much. Maybe too much.
“This is pretty confusing,” he said into the silence. “I don’t know what to think.”
“I’ll bet. There are times when I look in the mirror and give myself a fright. And I’ve had months to get used to what I look like. You’ve only had a few hours.” She pleated the sheets between her fingers. “I really didn’t plan on keeping it a secret, Del. That just happened. I’m not saying it was right, but I didn’t do it out of malice.”
“I know.”
Despite his earlier accusations, he knew that she wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to trick him. Josie was many things, but she wasn’t subtle. When she wanted something, she went after it with all the energy at her disposal. When she had a problem with a person, she confronted that person directly.
“I thought you would recognize me,” she continued, then glanced at him from under her lashes. “Annie May did.”
He groaned. “Great. And she didn’t say a word.”
“I asked her not to. Besides, she just saw me this morning. She might have decided to come clean.”
“Maybe.”
