"Congratulations, Faith Logan. You're the lucky winner of a weekend in New York with Irvin Freeman!" Faith jerked her cell phone away from her face, frowning at the unfamiliar number on the screen. This had to be a joke. Her eyes darted to the two other nurses sitting around the nurses' station. Neither appeared to be concealing a smile. There were no covert glances her way to see if they'd duped her with some elaborate prank. She looked up and down the hall, but as usual for a Wednesday in Laurel County, South Carolina, the labor-and-delivery ward of the hospital wasn't very busy. Only one mother who'd had a baby earlier that day was walking down the hall.
Dorothy, the older nurse, even stood and left the station to check on the mother, instead of sticking around to hear if Faith fell for the joke. She put the phone back to her ear. "Excuse me?" "You heard correctly," said the overly bright voice on the other end. "You won the grand prize in the contest held by Starting Over, Irvin Freeman's foundation to raise alcohol awareness. Out of the thousands of entries accompanying donations to the foundation, your name was drawn. You are the lucky woman chosen to spend a fabulous, all-expenses-paid weekend in New York City with Irvin Freeman. Your prize includes a makeover, and you will be Irvin's date for the premiere of his new movie, Running from Murder!" The woman's voice rose with each word until she sounded like a speaker on the stage at a "gee, life is great" high school prom. "Is this a joke? I'm at work, and I really don't have time for jokes.
" There was a pause before the voice continued in its prom-queen tone. "This is no joke, Ms. Logan. Don't you remember entering online?" Faith frowned and tried to remember entering a contest. All her money went to her parents' medical bills and household expenses. She didn't have extra money to donate to the foundation or extra time to enter a contest. Except for that one time. She spun around to glare at the nurse closest to her.
Marie, her best friend since she'd moved home two years ago and the person who'd helped her land the job at Laurel County Hospital, flipped through a magazine. Faith nudged Marie with her foot. When Marie looked up, she nailed her with a "this is your fault" look. She'd known it was a bad idea when Marie urged her to enter. At the time it had seemed like a good idea to contribute a few dollars to a worthy cause. Never in a gazillion years had she expected her name to be chosen. Marie held out her hands. "What's wrong?" Instead of answering Marie, Faith responded to the woman on the phone.
"Yeah, I remember entering that contest. I just didn't expect to win. What weekend is that? I don't even know if I can go to New York." Marie's dark eyes widened, and she jumped from the chair to bounce on the balls of her feet next to Faith. Even without her Tweety Bird scrubs, Marie would look like a woman far younger than her thirty-three years. Her pixie cut and always-smiling features in a dark brown heart-shaped face made her instantly likable. "Can't go?" The voice lost some of its peppiness. "Ms.
Logan, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. You will be the envy of all women. A five-star hotel near Times Square." Faith tuned out as the caller went through all of the reasons--some of them valid--why she should go. Excitement tickled her insides, and she felt the urge to bounce around like Marie. But the cold, hard reality of her life tamped it down. Reality had smacked her in the face when she'd given up her fantastic job, lost what she'd thought was the guy she'd one day marry and moved from Houston back home to take care of her parents. She wasn't bitter--that particular emotion was a drain on energy she couldn't afford to waste.
She'd give it all up again if she had to. But going out of town right now was out of the question. Her mind raced with all the reasons this wouldn't work: Who would watch her parents while she was gone? What if it was a weekend she was scheduled to work? All of her leave was used up from taking her mama to doctors' appointments. What would she wear? Her "new" clothes were two years old and were the complete opposite of stylish or trendy. Unless scrub chic suddenly became the fashion rage. Then there was the biggest reason not to go. Irvin Freeman: dark eyes, mahogany skin and a swagger that would put Shaft to shame, topped off with a British accent. The man oozed sex with every breath he took, and he probably expected the winner of this thing to fall into a gooey puddle of estrogen at his feet.
"I appreciate the offer." Faith cut in on the prom queen's stream of reasons why she should be falling over herself to get to New York. "But I'm not sure--" Marie snatched the phone out of Faith's hand. "Hello, this is Marie, Faith's, um, personal assistant. We'll do some maneuvering with her schedule and make sure she's there." Faith tried to grab the phone back, but Marie skipped away to the other side of the nurses' station. "What weekend is it, again?" Marie nodded at whatever the caller said and flipped to the calendar with the work schedule. "Perfect! She's available for that weekend.
You have her email address from the entry form, correct? Just send the details and copy me, and I'll get her to the airport on time." Marie rattled off her email address and said a few more words. When she hung up the phone, she squealed as if she'd won the prize herself. The screech got the attention of the other nurse and the mother walking down the hall. "You are the luckiest woman alive!" Marie rushed over and gave Faith a hug, surrounding her with exuberance and the smell of her strawberry body spray. "That depends on your definition of lucky. Marie, I can't go." Marie leaned back and gave her a hand wave that said "Whatever.
" "Oh, yes, you can. And you will. Even if I have to knock you out and drive you to New York myself. Girl, you just won a date with Irvin Freeman. How are you not excited about this?" Dorothy and the mother walking in the hall quickly caught on and chanted their agreement. Faith visualized a weekend listening to Irvin brag about how great it was to be him. Sure, he always appeared down-to-earth and approachable in television interviews, but a man who had half the women in the world drooling over him couldn't be that centered. All his apparent humbleness probably hid a mountain of arrogance.
"My parents," Faith said, not wanting to get into what would surely be a debate with Marie if she dissed her friend's favorite actor. "Who's going to help them?" "They'll be okay for one weekend. I'll look in on them personally every day you're gone." "Do I work that weekend?" Faith crossed the station and picked up the schedule book. "No, you're off." Faith dropped the book and crossed her arms. "If I'm off, you're working. You won't be able to check on them.
" Dorothy came over to stand before Faith, looking just like the surrogate grandmother she was to every baby born on the floor. "Your mom is doing so much better than she was when you first came home. If you prepare meals before you leave, she can heat them up for herself and your dad. Don't forget, you're not in a large city anymore. Your friends and neighbors are happy to help out." Dorothy was right, but Faith had done everything for her parents on her own. It was her way of making up for not being there when the bottom fell out of their lives. She wasn't used to accepting help from neighbors.
Besides, doing so would only increase her regret. The thought tightened the knot of guilt that had made its home in her gut since she got the call that her mama was unconscious in the hospital after suffering a stroke. "I don't want to be a burden," she said. "Burden, shmurden," Marie said. "You won't be. You going on this trip will be the highlight of the year for half of Laurel County. The newspaper will probably do a write-up about you before and after. Do you know how many people will be happy to say they helped out while you went away for an all-expenses-paid weekend with a Hollywood movie star?" Faith did chuckle at that, because it was true.
Nothing this exciting had happened since Tamara Blake from Laurel High School won Ms. Laurel County and was first runner-up in the Ms. Patriot pageant back in 2001. People still bragged about their part in her win, from selling her a pair of earrings to bringing over fried chicken the night the family had a watch party. "I get that," Faith said, "but I just don't feel right asking other people to look after my parents. And this thing is just a few weekends away. I don't have anything to wear to something like that." "You get a thousand dollars of spending money.
Buy what you need while you're there." "A thousand dollars in New York is probably like five dollars here. It won't go far," Faith said. "If it'll buy you a sexy dress that'll make it impossible for Irvin Freeman to keep his eyes off you, that'.