Richard tries to sit up and his head starts to spin. His surroundings come into view, when he lays back; ‘I’m in the hospital. What happened?’ he questions inwardly, glancing to the person sleeping in the chair next to him. “Emmett?” he says softly.“Let him sleep” a man says in the opposite corner. “He hasn’t left your side since you were bought here.”“Vince?” Richard queries, squinting to focus on him. “What happened? Everything is very blurry.”“You saved me” Vince explains, trying not to sound disappointed it was him who did. “I would have been killed if you didn’t push me out of the way of the falling beam.”The memory of the fire comes back into Richard’s mind. “Is everyone else, ok?” he panics as a sharp pain in his shoulder erupts. “My shoulder?”“The beam hit your shoulder and broke your collarbone” Vince tells him, moving his chair to beside the bed. “You hit your head on the tiled floor and I got you out of the changerooms. Emmett’s been sitting in that chair for over a we
Standing from his seat, Emmett stretches; “We’re going to give you some privacy” he says to Sandy and Richard. Taking Simone by the hand, the pair walk out of the hospital room.“Are you going to tell him?” Simone questions, looking into her husband’s eyes as they sit on the bench in front of the hospital.“About appointing Barry as 2IC?” Emmett queries, giving her a smirk. “He was already second in command. I just made it official.”“About Maxwell” Simone glares; knowing Emmett was avoiding the question. “It’s better you tell him before he finds out from a nurse or doctor. Worse yet, on the news.”“The man is a coward” Emmett mutters, leaving Simone on the bench and heading back to Richard’s room. He knocks on the door to wait in case Sandy and him were in a compromising position before entering as Simone reaches the doorway. “Rick” Emmett calls out as he hears him yell out ‘enter.’ “We need to talk to you about something” he says, taking a seat, while Simone sits next to him. “About
Emmett sat in his office; debating how he should proceed. Now Richard was awake; although still in the hospital, he could relax a bit. He didn’t know what to do in regards to Jonathon and Zachary being around Paul. “What are you thinking about?” Lester asks him from the sofa. Emmett glances up at him; “You are conflicted about something” he adds, pursing his lips at his friend.“Paul” Emmett answers with a sigh.“Say no more” Lester chuckles, holding his hands up in front of him. “I don’t need to know what the sperm donor did this time.”“Jonathon said Paul almost laid into him” Emmett explains as Lester raises his eyebrow. “He didn’t because Cheryl walked into the room. If she hadn’t; who knows what would have happened.”“And you want to do something about it?” Lester questions, letting out the breath he was holding.“Cheryl is a good mother” Emmett states, letting out his own breath. “I’m worried for Jon and Zach because she will turn a blind eye regarding Paul and his discipline. I
Emmett walked back into his office. He felt his world was colliding and he didn’t like feeling helpless to stop it. He picks up his phone and messages Paul to come into the office to see him. “At least I will be able to confront him for not coming to see Rick” he murmurs to himself. “And warn him if he thinks about hitting either Jon or Zach; I will come down on him like a ton of bricks.”Since he spent the last week and a half in the hospital; he thought he would have a lot of work to catch up on. He was doing most of it remotely in the chair next to Richard’s bed and was surprised there wasn’t much more he needed to do because Lester took care of it.Pulling up the picture of Miranda; he reads her biopic for the auction. “Miranda Keller?” he questions surprised. “She married Nicholas” he adds as he reads, she has been working as an auctioneer for Salisbury Auction House for the past 5 years with a background in antiques and archaeology from Cambridge.He decided to look through some
Emmett and Simone left the office and headed to the hospital to see Richard before going home. “Are we going to talk about it?” Simone asks, glancing over at Emmett. “You’ve been very quiet since you came to see me in my office.”“There’s nothing to talk about” Emmett responds, releasing the breath he was holding. He knew he needed to discuss what happened between him and Miranda. He wasn’t looking forward to it. “You made up your mind what you wanted to do. I am going to support your decision. It looks like Miranda married her on again, off again boyfriend. That’s why we were in a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship. I didn’t want to commit because I loved you and she didn’t want to commit because she loved Nick.”“Why were they on again, off again?” Simone asks, trying to piece together the true feelings she had for Emmett. She knew Emmett loved her and wasn’t worried about him. A woman he knew coming to Rocky Valley all of a sudden; she wasn’t so sure.“He was in the RAF. When he
Emmett and Simone headed towards Paul’s place after visiting Richard. They were taking Jonathon back to pick up some clothes for the next few nights as Cheryl agreed for him to stay with them since it was the weekend. “Did she give you a reason why she agreed?” Simone questions, trying to keep the shock out of her voice. She was still surprised she allowed Jonathon to stay until Sunday.“All mum said was she understood” Jonathon replies as Emmett pulls into the driveway.“There’s no need for us to come in” Emmett states as Jonathon nods and steps out of the car. “We’ll wait here” he adds watching him walk up to the front door before disappearing inside the house.“Did you want to get something for dinner? I can stop off at the café to pick up some burgers” Emmett says to Simone as she nods when a tap comes on his window; startling them both. Winding down his window; “Can I help you?” he asks, looking out at Cheryl.“I want to thank you for offering to take Jonny for a few days” Cheryl
Simone and Emmett drove Jonathon into town the following morning to the photoshoot of the largest growing online teenage clothing line ‘Teen Trends.’ She had called the owner Tia Lincoln the night before to see if they still needed male models as one had become available. She did and asked for his portfolio.Simone promptly informed her; she was away from the office; however, was able to send a photo with his height and measurements via text message. From there; she coached Jonathon on different looks and stances so he wouldn’t feel out of place.“I’ve messaged Todd; he is willing to do a few photos for your portfolio Monday after school and I will get your mum to sign the written permissions for me to manage you” Simone says, turning in her chair to speak with Jonathon. “That way we don’t need the written consent every time you are booked.”“Can I register under a fake name like you did?” Jonathon asks, looking at Simone.“A lot of models do. Keeps themselves separate from their mode
Monday morning; Simone was almost skipping as she came into the office. Their weekend getting to know Jonathon was an eye opener. She didn’t realise how much Jonathon was like Emmett and was proud of the photos they were putting of him and Matilda on the Teen Trends website. They had emailed them through to her on Sunday morning.Simone had done up the contract for Cheryl to sign and gave it to her when they dropped him off. She signed it on the spot and handed it back. She told Cheryl he got a 12-month contract for Teen Trends and the delighted look she gave him, bought a tear to her eye.“Why are you so cheery?” Tiffany asks, walking into Simone’s office. “You look as though you caught a canary.”“I did” Simone replies, grinning from ear to ear. “Jonny and Matilda got the 12-month contract to be the face of Teen Trends. Tia will be sending the contract through today.”“Jonny?” Tiffany queries, looking stunned standing in front of Simone. “As in Jonathon Peterson; brother to Emmett a