Chapter 6

Zoey awoke to the ringing of her cell phone. Bleary eyed she glanced at the clock on the bedside table, noted numbers showing four fifteen in the morning, then fumbled for her phone. Her brother Zane's pictured appeared on the screen and she jolted completely awake.

"What's happened?" she asked as panic slid through her system. No way would Zane have called her at this hour for any reason other than bad news. Unfortunately, she had already had a pretty good idea of who the call was about.

"Mom's taken a turn for the worse," Zane's voice cracked through the tiny speaker. "She was complaining last night that she couldn't breathe and the nurse said we should call an ambulance. This is the first chance I've had to call you."

Tears welled and Zoey closed her eyes as she listened to her brother speak. Despite praying for a miracle, they'd known this day would come the moment the doctor uttered that single dreaded word...Inoperable.

"What did the doctor's say?" she asked.

"It's spread to her liver. It's a matter of weeks at the most." He paused and Zoey swore she could hear him crying. "I need you here, Zoey. I know we agreed you'd stay working to keep a roof over mom's head, but I need you here. Mom needs you here."

Zoey hung her head and let the tears flow. She thought about her upcoming promo and storyline. Management wouldn't take kindly to her leaving, now of all times, but family came first. Family would always come first and they'd need to understand that fact. "I have to let to my boss know what's going on, but I should be home before the end of the day."

"Let me know your flight information and I'll send Carla to pick you up."

"I will. I love Zane. I see you soon." She hung up, plopped back against her pillow and stared into the darkness as her mind raced. Could her life possibly get any more complicated? Knowing she'd need to be strong in the days to come, she took the time now to lay in bed cry.

Her mother had been such a source of strength in her life. From the time she was little, Zoey saw her mother as a strong, confident woman. She never complained about being a single mother. She never whined about the hand life dealt them. Even after she'd been diagnosed with Stage II pancreatic cancer she'd stayed optimistic. Going home frightened Zoey just a little. For the first time in her life she'd see her mother weak and helpless. It wasn't an image she wanted to carry with her, but staying away wasn't fair to anyone. Now it was time for her to take on some of her mother's strength and do what was right.

As daylight slowly peeked around the curtains and spilled into the room Zoey wiped her tears. She'd spent enough time crying over something she couldn't change. As she'd learned when she was a little girl, when the soldiers had shown up on her doorstep to tell them her father had died, life sometime sucked rotten eggs and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to change that fact. All she could do now was go home and be there for her mother and brother during these final days.

After checking the clock, she stirred. Less than an hour later, with a lump in her throat and a heavy heart, she knocked on Hunter's door. She prayed that Hunter would understand and wouldn't be too angry, but if she needed to she'd invoke her right to use the Family Leave Act. No way was she not going home today. The door swung open and Hunter's brow furrowed at the sight of her. "Zoey? What's wrong?"

Dean sat next to Seth at the breakfast table and poked at his food. Despite his attempt to feign indifference, he caught himself glancing toward the entrance. After their kiss yesterday, he hadn't been able to shake the need to see her again. That damn kiss!

He took a deep breath as he thought back to the moment when he'd made the decision to push her. He hadn't actually expected her to go through with it. No, he'd anticipated a slap to the face and to see outrage in those expressive green eyes. Instead he'd found innocence and desire staring back at him and for those few short moments when they were connected he'd swore he was in heaven.

"A watched pot never boils, you know."

Dean shook his head in an attempt to wipe away his thoughts much like one would wipe clean an etch-a-sketch. "What?" He looked at Seth.

His friend wore a huge grin as he stared back at Dean. "I said a watched pot never boils."

"What in the hell are you talking about?" Dean shot back, though they both knew exactly to what Seth referred.

"Why didn't you just stop by her room and knock on her door?" Amber asked. "After the kiss you two shared yesterday I think it would have been appropriate."

Seth's eyes widened in shock as he looked from Dean to Amber and back. "You kissed her? And you didn't tell us? You dog."

Dean rolled his eyes skyward. "The girls asked me to help her with an acting exercise and...well..." How in the hell could he begin to explain his reasons why he'd done what he did?

Never one to let a prime harassment opportunity pass, Seth pressed the issue. "I thought you said you weren't interested in Zoey?"

Knowing he'd never live down what he was about to say, Dean sighed and cocked his head to the size. "You were right."

Seth's brow winged up and his grin widened. "Excuse me?" He cupped a hand to his ear. "I don't believe I heard you correctly."

"All right dickhead, I said you were right. Let's not make a federal case out of this."

Seth leveled a look at Dean that he knew meant their conversation was far from over, but before he could continue movement in the entrance caught Dean's eye. He turned his attention in that direction only to be disappointed at the sight of Roman and Lexi without Zoey. Where in the hell is she? Had their kiss scared her even more?

"Morning," Roman said as they approached.

"Morning," Seth and Amber replied.

"Where's Zoey?" Dean asked as he studied Lexi's face. The look she wore told him something was wrong.

"Zoey is gone." She replied as she slid into an empty seat.

"Wait," Dean held up a hand as brain tried to process her words. "What do you mean gone?"

"I mean gone," Lexi replied on a sigh. "I knocked on her door a little while ago and when I didn't get an answer I got worried. So I went to the front desk to get an extra keycard only the desk clerk said Zoey checked out over an hour ago."

"Checked out?" Amber asked. "Where did she go?"

Lexi looked from Amber to Dean. "I wondered the same thing so I called Hunter. He said she had a family emergency during the night and was heading home. He said he couldn't tell me any more except that it was bad and he didn't know when she'd be back."