Act Two // Book One

Prologue

I had been in the studio all day, busy putting the finishing touches on my second solo album. With any luck, I'd have a release date once my producer, Jeff Bhaskar sent it off to the record company.

Everything in my life was going exactly how I wanted. My career was hotter than ever. I'd just finished filming a movie that would be out next summer and my newest CD was so hotly anticipated I had to disguise myself going into the studio so no one would know who I was working with.

My personal life was also a dream come true. And I only needed one word to say why. Gwen. How could I have ever known that a chance meeting at an industry party with her would end up being the most significant thing to happen to me since the X-Factor auditions? Gwen was...well...everything. She made my world seem less chaotic. She stabilized things.

Asking her to marry me had been a no brainer. My entire world revolved around her and our life together and I aimed to make that permanent as soon as possible. Our wedding was scheduled for July 18. In two weeks I would be able to call her my wife. I had never been more excited for anything in my life.

"Earth to Harry..." Jeff's voice broke through my haze of happiness. He laughed at the dopey grin currently plastered on my face, "Alright, finish the last take and then you can go home to your girl. It's raining like we're in a hurricane outside and I wanna get home."

I silently laughed, nodding my head as I reached forward to toy with the lyrics messily written down on the page in front of me,

"Alright. Sorry, Mate."

The music started in my headphones just as I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket. I pulled the metal contraption out of my jeans and set it down on the table in front of me while I sang my line. The number wasn't familiar. Probably some journalist who wanted a quote about my upcoming nuptials.

I ignored it, finishing my line like the professional I was. Jeff waved me out of the booth. I grabbed my phone, the buzzing starting almost immediately when I grabbed it. My eyebrows pulled together, same number.

That was odd.

Usually journalists called once and left a message. A message I wouldn't listen to.

I tapped the answer button and set the phone against my ear,

"Hello?"

-------------------

I think they make the lights in hospitals brighter than they do anywhere else so when you walk in, there's no delusions about where you are. And from the moment the Emergency Room doors slid open, I was slapped in the face with a reality I never saw coming.

The nurse on the phone said something about a car accident. I didn't hear much after she said Gwen's name. I didn't hear anything at all after she said the words "severe injuries".

Jeff drove me to the hospital.

I felt like I was in a daze as I walked to the front desk. I lifted my hands to the cold granite and cleared my throat,

"Gwen Anderson." I said so softly that even I barely heard it.

The girl looked up from her computer,

"I'm sorry?"

"Gwe-" I stopped, my breath hitching in my throat, "Gwen Anderson."

Her brunette hair swung over her shoulder as she tapped the keys on her keyboard,

"Room 6B."

Her face quickly changed and I knew she'd read something. She turned to the security guard. She didn't utter a word, simply held her hand out. He didn't ask any questions of her, a silent communication between them I gathered. He handed her a sticker. She quickly wrote 6B on it in big black permanent marker and handed it to me.