“I can’t take a week off.”

  “You could,” Kate countered. “Just ask her.”

  * * *

  “Atlanta?”

  “We need someone to rescue this deal. Kasper’s one meeting away from losing the KleenPac contract and I can’t call on Joe or anyone from his team…You’re the best I’ve got at the moment,” Val said.

  That was Val’s compliment of the year. Not that Julia was the best customer success manager she had but that she was the best “at the moment.” Julia exhaled. She had to say yes. “I’ll call Kasper and get the details. I can schedule a flight out Monday morning.”

  “They’re making a decision tomorrow. You need to fly out tonight.”

  “Of course.” Julia forced a smile. She stood up when Val’s attention turned back to her computer screen. Clearly their meeting was over.

  “And, Julia, remember—this isn’t one deal. This is our foot in the door for food packaging. If they’re not happy with our software, you need to make them happy.” Val didn’t look up from her screen.

  Julia walked back to her desk, wishing she’d left an hour ago. Although, knowing Val, she would have called her at home. She sank down in her chair already formulating her email to Kasper. Andrew Kasper didn’t know yet that he was being relieved of his duties, and she’d have to sugarcoat the details to get the information she needed from him. She decided on a call rather than an email, thinking Kasper would appreciate that and reached for her phone. No new texts. Not that this was a surprise.

  Two weeks had passed since she’d asked Reed about spending a week in Davis. She’d left the message on a voice mail and then days slipped by with no response. Finally a text came from Reed saying she wanted to talk about it in person. As reasonable as that request was, Julia found herself fighting back a wave of rejection. That wave only worsened when she tried to set up a time to drive up and Reed ignored her next several texts.

  In a weak moment, she’d finally sent Reed an email saying she was thinking of her but work was keeping her busy and the idea of spending a week in Davis probably wouldn’t work. Reed sent a brief note in response saying she was busy too and it was no problem. Julia had read that email while she was still at work—fortunately after nearly everyone in the office had left—and she hadn’t been able to hold back the tears. Reed couldn’t have made it clearer that she didn’t want more. Thank God she hadn’t delivered the blow in person.

  A few days after that exchange, Julia’s temper started to work. She left a voice mail saying the current arrangement wasn’t working for her. She missed her more than she should and it wasn’t that she was too busy—she was trying to put some space between them. Probably she’d admitted too much, but there was no way to erase the message once she’d left it.

  The next morning she got a text in response. Carly had been sick. Something to do with her kidneys and multiple doctor visits involved. When Julia deciphered that she was in the hospital, she had to hold herself back from driving straight up to see her. Why hadn’t Reed told her sooner?

  Julia sent dozens of texts and left more voice mails—some with questions but the rest with offers to help. Everything went unanswered. The only reason she’d stopped trying to reach her was because she’d finally gotten the message. Reed didn’t want help and didn’t need to tell her what was going on. Obviously Reed didn’t think she would have gotten attached to Carly.

  Now with Atlanta on the horizon, all she wanted to do was drop everything and drive up to see Carly. She knew a better plan would be sending flowers or balloons to the hospital, but she had no clue which hospital they were in and only a faint idea of what was wrong with Carly. Although she knew she shouldn’t fault Reed, she did. How hard would it be to shoot back a text? Or pick up the phone and call?

  Julia tried to refocus on work—the mess in Atlanta was at least a distraction. Kasper’s number came up after a quick search through the company’s phone list, but she hesitated making the call. Before she had time to think about what she was doing, she dialed Reed instead. She listened to the ring, surprised she hadn’t been directed straight to voice mail like the other times.

  “Hello?” Reed’s voice was strained.

  “Hi. It’s Julia.”

  “Yeah, I know. Caller ID.” Reed paused. “Can you give me a second?”

  Julia started to say she could call back later, but the line had gone quiet and she guessed Reed was holding her hand over the speaker. Seconds ticked by and Julia pulled up flights to Atlanta on her computer screen. She could take an early morning flight and be there in time for a lunch meeting. As exhausting as it sounded, she clicked on the four a.m. option.

  “Sorry about that,” Reed said. “A nurse just came in…Hey, I know this is probably weird, but Carly wants to talk to you.”

  Except it wasn’t weird. Julia felt her eyes water when Carly’s small voice said a timid hello.

  “Hi, sweetie. I hear you’re not feeling well. Wish I could give you a hug.” There was a long silence, and Julia finally added, “I’m at work and you won’t believe what’s on my desk.”

  “What?”

  “Trolls. I’ve got twenty-seven of them.”

  “Twenty-seven?”

  Julia would never have admitted this to Reed. In fact, the troll collection had not been intentional and she was a bit embarrassed by it, but the awe in Carly’s voice convinced her to launch into a description of a few of her favorites. The whole thing had started as a joke when she’d bought ballpoint troll pens for everyone in her work group on a last-minute Valentine’s Day splurge. Then the larger five-inch trolls with their crazy hair began to appear mysteriously on her desk.

  “Do you have one with purple hair?”

  Julia scanned the collection, counting quickly. “I have four with purple hair. One has a cowgirl outfit and one is a ballerina. Most of the trolls are naked, but a few are in costumes. I like the one that’s supposed to be a doctor. She’s got big pink glasses, crazy blue hair, and a doctor’s coat. She even has a miniature stethoscope.”

  “I wish I could see…”

  “How about I text your mom a picture of my desk? I’ll have to squish some of them closer together so you can see them all.” Julia didn’t care what Reed would think. If the trolls that were balanced on her computer monitor and crowding the ledge behind would make Carly happy, it was worth it.

  “Most grown-ups don’t have toys,” Carly said.

  “I know. Isn’t that weird?”

  “Mom says I have to say good-bye. The nurse came back…Can you call me later?”

  “Maybe I should let you rest. How about I call you tomorrow?”

  “Okay.”

  Reed’s voice came back on the line. “I don’t know what you said, but you made her face light up. She hasn’t smiled since we’ve been here.”

  “Do you need anything? I could drive up tonight and bring some dinner. Or I could watch Bryn…”

  “Bryn’s staying with my dad. I’ve got everything covered, but thanks for asking.”

  Julia hadn’t expected Reed to accept an offer for help so the quick dismissal wasn’t a surprise. Maybe she did have everything covered, but Julia could hear how exhausted she was. Instead of asking what was going on with Carly, she asked for the name of the hospital and their room number. She knew Reed wouldn’t want to answer a bunch of questions.

  Reed got off the line after that, and Julia tried not to worry about the terseness in her voice. Her kid was in the hospital and she wasn’t going to be thinking about anything else. And as understandable as that all was, part of her worried that Reed didn’t even want to talk to her.

  “I need a favor, Mo.”

  “For you—anything. By the way, Andi just texted me asking me for your number.”

  Julia sighed. She’d gone to the club again this past Sunday only for Mo’s sake. Andi was nice. And cute. But she definitely didn’t want to go out on a date with her. “Can you tell her I’m not interested in dating anyone at the moment?”

  “Except that would be a lie.”

  “Then tell her I don’t have a phone.”

  “She’ll buy that,” Mo grumbled. “What’s the favor?”

  Julia held up the troll doll. “Any chance you can meet Kate at the bakery on Macarthur Street? She’s cake tasting. I promised I’d help her out, but Val wants me in Atlanta for a meeting tomorrow morning and I’m running up to Sacramento tonight to drop something off…”

  “Cake tasting?” Mo hesitated. “Why isn’t Ethan going with her?”

  “He hates cake.”

  After Mo complained about Ethan, she said, “If Kate asked you, she might not want me to show up instead.”

  “She didn’t ask me,” Julia admitted. “I told her I was going because I didn’t want her doing it alone. And you know how I feel about cake.”

  “Are we talking chocolate or vanilla?”

  “No clue.”

  “I love those fancy fruit fillings they do in layered cakes. Do you think she’d go for that? Raspberry is always good with chocolate, but strawberry is better with a vanilla cake. Or maybe she’d want to go with a chocolate ganache over a layer of whipped chocolate cream…”

  “You’re making me regret skipping this cake-tasting thing.” Julia longed for a bite of everything Mo had listed. Skip dinner and she’d go straight for cake. But tonight’s plan was more important. “Knowing Kate, she won’t be able to decide on any of the options. That’s where you come in.”

  “Okay. I’ve got this. By the way, you can ask me for this kind of favor anytime.”

  “Thanks, Mo.”

  Julia got off the line before Mo asked why she was driving up to Sacramento. What Mo would have to say about all of this she didn’t want to know—although she had a good guess. She’d been pressuring her all week to give Andi a chance and forget about Reed.

  Grinding her way toward Davis through heavy traffic, in a downpour, and in a car whose backseat was filled with an oversized helium balloon, she had to admit it would have been easier to call a florist in Sacramento and have balloons delivered. She questioned her judgment for not going with that original plan, but the problem was how to get the troll to Carly as well.

  At the last minute, she’d also swung by her apartment and snagged the photos she’d finally gotten printed from the Hawaii trip. She had a few great shots of Reed and the kids at the beach, although her favorite was the one of all four of them at the waterfall. She kept the waterfall shot for herself, taped to her fridge between the menu for the Indian restaurant with delivery and Kate’s wedding invitation. The other pictures she stuffed into an envelope to drop off at the hospital, hoping Carly would be cheered by the silly fish faces she and Bryn had made as they’d posed in front of their sand castle.

  She wasn’t planning on going up to Carly’s room. If Carly was asleep she didn’t want to chance waking her, but she also wasn’t ready to see Reed.

  The hospital was a huge maze; it took several minutes to locate the front entrance and then another few wrong turns before she found an information desk. She waited in line, doubt nudging at her thoughts. Hopefully Reed wouldn’t analyze why she’d driven all this way to deliver a troll. The fact was, this was about Carly, not Reed.

  “Can I help you?”

  “I was wondering if someone could make a delivery for me. I think visiting hours are probably over, but I wanted to drop this off,” Julia motioned to the balloon with the troll tied on the end of the string and then held up the envelope with the photos. “Room 210.”

  “We have visiting hours until eight. You can go up to the nurses station on the second floor and ask if you can see the patient.”

  “Well, I don’t want to disturb her. Is there any way I can pay someone to drop this off in her room?”

  “No. That’s not a latex balloon, is it? Because we don’t allow that. And no flowers.”

  The woman was the least cheerful greeter ever. “No flowers,” Julia agreed. “And I don’t think it’s latex.” She glanced at the balloon with the dangling troll, thinking again she was crazy for being at the hospital at all.

  “Looks like a Mylar balloon so I think we’re safe.”

  Julia turned at the sound of Reed’s voice, her heart pounding in her chest. So much for the plan to avoid her. She stepped away from the information desk, managing a thank you to the woman who was already helping the next visitor. Apparently Reed’s voice of authority had convinced her the balloon wasn’t worth fighting.

  “Cute troll.” Reed’s smile seemed forced.

  “She’s supposed to be a doctor troll.”

  “Yeah, the stethoscope gives it away. Although she looks a bit like a mad scientist with that hair.”

  Julia glanced at the troll, more to avoid Reed’s gaze than anything else. She tapped the troll and sent it into a spin. “I was hoping to do a drop-off and not bother you guys.”

  Reed had her hands shoved in the pockets of her jacket. She glanced at the door, which swung open as someone hurried in, and then over at the elevators. “She told me you were going to text us a picture of your desk. Twenty-seven trolls, huh?”

  “You probably think I’m ridiculous for coming all the way up here…I was going to have a florist deliver flowers—now I’m glad I didn’t.”

  “Who knew flowers were dangerous, right?” Reed’s tone was flat. It wasn’t clear if she was trying to joke and just tired or if she was annoyed that she was having this conversation at all.

  Reed took something out of her pocket and it took Julia a moment to realize it was a cigarette. She was caught off guard and spoke up before she thought, “You smoke?”

  “I used to…A friend of mine from med school is one of Carly’s doctors. She got one of the nurses to read her a book and then gave me this. Told me I needed to take a walk. I know they’re all doing everything they can for her, but…” Reed paused, eyeing the cigarette.

  “How bad is it?”

  “The infection’s bad. The first antibiotic didn’t do a thing, but we got the culture results back and we’re hoping the new antibiotic works.” She paused. “Her fever came down this afternoon so there’s that. But we don’t know how much damage was already done and since her kidneys didn’t start out perfect…

  “I can’t remember if I told you this or not but my mom died of kidney disease. She was older, obviously, but Carly has the same genetic issue my mom had and the infection’s compromised everything. I don’t know. I can’t even think straight. I’ve been awake for days.”

  “I’m so sorry, Reed. You must be so worried.” Julia couldn’t think of what else to say. When she reached for Reed’s hand, it was quickly pulled away. Julia tried to hide her disappointment.

  “I’m gonna go outside and decide if I want to smoke this. You don’t have to go in to see her. Just drop that off with the nurses on the second floor. They’ll take it to her room for you.”

  Julia stared at Reed’s back until the automatic doors swung closed behind her. Reed had turned and walked away before she could try to stop her—not that anything she’d have to say would make a difference to her at this point.

  The air seemed to have gone out of the lobby and Julia couldn’t decide if she should leave or drop off the balloon, after all. She glanced again at the dangling troll. Why had she thought that a balloon and a dumb troll would help? If Reed had only told her how sick she was…But maybe the antibiotics would fix everything. Maybe there wouldn’t be any long-term damage.

  Not at all sure she was making the right decision, she headed for the elevator. The second floor was quieter than the lobby, and she had no trouble finding the nurses station. A nurse looked up and smiled as she approached.

  “Can I help you?”

  Julia felt her spirits inch up a notch. “I’d like to drop this off for Carly Baxter. Room 210.”

  Another nurse glanced up from her file and noticed the balloon. “Carly was telling me about trolls when I took her last TPR. If you want, you can wait until her mom gets back—she just stepped out for a minute—and then you can take that in yourself. I’m sure Carly would love to see you.”

  Julia hesitated. As much as she wanted to hug Carly, she didn’t want to make things harder for Reed. The fact she’d come to the hospital at all was clearly not what she wanted. She stepped back from the desk as a doctor approached. Instead of addressing the nurses, she turned and held her hand out to Julia.

  “You must be Reed’s girlfriend. I’m Terri.”

  Julia shook the offered hand, wondering if now was a bad time to state she wasn’t the girlfriend. “I’m Julia. I don’t want to get in the way…I was hoping to drop this off for Carly.”

  “I’m sure Carly will want to see you. We all heard about the trolls.” Terri grinned. “We were expecting a picture. Twenty-seven, huh?”

  “I know it’s ridiculous…It’s this joke at work.”

  “Well, you made Carly smile, which is the important part.” She paused. Her own smile slipped off her face when she continued. “Reed and I went to med school together and we’ve been friends ever since. This has been really tough on her. I told her she needs to stop blaming herself for missing signs that weren’t there. She seems to think it’s her fault Carly got this sick. Sometimes these things come on quick and there’s nothing we can do.

  “Reed’s helped me more times than I can count,” she continued. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called her about a case. If you ask her, she’d say she’s just a radiologist, but she’s brilliant and knows way more than she lets on…This is the first time she’s ever asked me for anything in return. And I know how hard it is for her to ask at all. Anyway, it’s good that you’re here—for Carly and for Reed.”

  Julia wasn’t convinced about the last part, but she nodded anyway. Terri was clearly a good friend and would probably do anything for Reed. What could she do for her? “I don’t want to disturb Carly if she’s resting. It’s late…Could you maybe just take this in and tell her I said hi?”