"Just calling my phone," Jennie responded over her shoulder. "I never did get a chance to check my messages this morning..."
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Jennie's words were cut off as the machine hooked up to Lisa's arm started beeping wildly, the read-out on the screen turning from green to an alarming red. Jennie dropped the phone and looked back at Lisa. Her face had lost all its colour again. "Lisa! Lisa! Are you ok?"
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
The door burst open, and both Dr. Parent and the nurse came hurrying back into the room.
"What is it?" Jennie asked. "What's happening?"
The nurse went over to the machine and looked at the numbers on the screen. Then she hit a button and the beeping stopped abruptly.
"She's fine," the doctor said. He picked up the chart from the foot of Lisa's bed and started making some notations.
"But the machine went off!" Jennie exclaimed. "Shouldn't you do something?"
"We're monitoring her for low blood pressure," the doctor explained. "That alarm was for high blood pressure." The nurse moved to the side of Lisa's bed and started to readjust the cuff around her arm. "Try to relax," she told Lisa.
"Sorry," she muttered.
"Happens all the time," she said, patting her arm. She turned to address Jennie before leaving the room. "She's fine. Just try not to do anything to stress or excite her, ok?"
Lisa's mind was racing. The voicemails. She had forgotten all about it until Jennie had said she was checking her messages, but the events of last night and this morning all came rushing back. Lisa had to figure out a way to stop Jennie from calling her phone.
"You don't look so good," Jennie was saying to Lisa now. "Do you feel ok?"
Distraction, Lisa thought. She had to come up with a distraction. Quick. She met Jennie's eyes and shook her head.
"What's the matter?" Jennie asked anxiously. "Should I call the nurse again?"
"I'm... I'm really... cold," Lisa said, wrapping her arms around herself and faking a shiver. "It's freezing in here!"
The look on Jennie's face softened from fear to sympathy. "Let me go ask for another blanket."
She starting moving towards the door, but Lisa shot out a hand and grabbed Jennie's elbow to stop her.
"Don't leave me," Lisa said. "Just come here." She pulled Jennie towards the bed and lifted one corner of the sheet that was covering her. "Come under here for a sec."
Jennie looked at Lisa hesitantly.
"Please?" Lisa said, making her face and voice as pathetic as possible. "I'm cold."
"Poor baby." Jennie clucked sympathetically.
Lisa shifted slightly to make more room for Jennie, giving her arm another tug, and she slipped herself under the sheet next to Lisa. "Here..." Jennie said, running her hands up and down one of Lisa's arms to warm her up. "Is this better?"
Lisa put her arm around Jennie's waist to hold her in place beside her. "A little better." Lisa nodded.
Jennie kissed Lisa tenderly on the temple. Things could be worse, Lisa thought. Things could be so much worse. Jennie was sliding one hand across Lisa's chest now to rub her other arm, pressing her body against Lisa's side as she reached...
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
"Dammit!" Lisa exclaimed, tearing the blood pressure cuff off her arm and dropping it onto the floor.
Jennie got up out of the bed again and scowled at her. "You're cold, huh?"
Goddamn blood pressure monitor. Why did Lisa feel like Ben Stiller in that movie - which one was that again? The one where De Niro straps him to the lie detector? Not quite the kind of distraction Lisa had in mind.
"Piece of shit must be defective," Lisa said, glaring at the machine.
"I'll be sure to tell the doctor."
Lisa looked up at Jennie and grinned, watching as the scowl faded from Jennie's face, replaced by a reluctant smile. "I'm glad you're feeling better," she said softly.
Lisa reached out to pull Jennie back towards the bed, but they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Jennie moved across the room to open it.
"False alarm!" she called as she turned the doorknob, but the woman standing on the threshold wasn't the nurse.
"Ah, there she is now," Lisa said from the bed. "Took you long enough."
Jennie looked at Lisa and then back at the woman in the doorway. If she hadn't known better, Jennie might have thought this was Lisa's distant cousin. The woman looked to be in her early 30s, with thick blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and a pair of wire-framed reading glasses balanced on the tip of her nose. "Are you a relative?" Jennie asked.
The woman chuckled and held out her hand to shake. "Roseanne Park," she said briskly. "Park & Associates Communications."
"This is my publicist, Jennie," Lisa's voice said behind her.
Jennie took the hand extended to her and gave it a shake. "The infamous Jennie," Rosé said, studying her for a moment. "We meet at last."
"Do you need to do this now?" Jennie asked. "Lisa's not supposed to have any stress."
Rosé moved past her into the room. "Well, my dear..." she said over her shoulder, "... you might have thought of that a little earlier."
"Excuse me?"
"You haven't turned on a TV yet today, have you?"
Jennie shook her head, suddenly remembering the reporters snapping pictures this morning when the paramedics arrived. "Did someone put it on TV?" she asked. "What channel?"
"What channel?" Rosé gave another low chuckle. "Every channel...." she responded. "Every newsstand. Every website. Congratulations, Jennie. You put on quite a show."
