The three of them went downstairs to the guest wing that night, promptly at seven. Taryn was wearing pale blue silk pajamas that were very flattering on her. She had designed them herself for her last season, before she closed her business. And Alex was wearing red silk pants, and a white shirt, with high-heeled gold sandals. She looked more than ever like a model or a ballerina, and not a doctor. It was a far cry from the scrubs and clogs and braid she wore at work, and Jimmy enjoyed the contrast when he joined them for dinner.

Jimmy described his tour of the ICU during dinner, as Taryn and Jessie helped serve the excellent spaghetti carbonara Mark had made. Jimmy had brought the salad. And there was tiramisu for dessert. Coop had brought two bottles of vintage Pouilly-Fuissé. And everyone listened with fascination as Jimmy talked about the work Alex did. She was impressed by how much he'd heard and understood, and only made one small correction, about a baby with a serious heart and lung problem. But he had correctly remembered all the rest.

“He seems to know a great deal about what you do,” Coop commented dryly when they went back upstairs. It was after midnight, and Taryn had decided to stay for a while, she was enjoying chatting with Mark and Jimmy. The kids had gone out with friends, and were staying with them. It had been an easy evening. “When did he visit you at the hospital?” Coop asked, sounding cool, and Alex was surprised at his tone. He actually sounded jealous, which was unnecessary, but touched her. It was nice to know how much he cared.

“He had some lab work done this week for work. He came by afterwards for a cup of coffee, and I gave him a tour of the ICU. He must have paid pretty close attention.” Closer than she knew. But Coop was more aware of it than she was. He was wise to the ways of men. And he had noticed that evening that Jimmy not only sat next to her, but monopolized her for most of the evening. Alex was completely unaware of it, and kept glancing down the table at Coop, who was seated between Taryn and Mark. But from the head of the table, where Mark had placed him, he had a good view of all the proceedings. He had been watching Jimmy all night.

“I think he has the hots for you,” Coop said bluntly, and he didn't seem pleased about it. Jimmy was far closer to her age, and their professional interests weren't entirely unrelated. Coop's were part of a different galaxy, and he wasn't about to start competing with men half his age. It was an indignity he wouldn't tolerate, and had never suffered. He was used to being the only star in his heavens, and it was what he expected. He liked it when everything revolved around him.

“Don't be silly, Coop,” Alex chided him. “He's too depressed to have the hots for anyone. He's been a wreck ever since his wife died. He says he still can't sleep, has no appetite. Actually, I was concerned about him when he talked about it the other day. I think he should be on antidepressants. But I didn't say anything, I didn't want to upset him.”

“Why don't you prescribe them for him?” Coop said unpleasantly, and Alex put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“I'm not his doctor. And there's something I want to prescribe for you,” she said as she slipped her hands under his shirt and he unbent a little. It was obvious that he hadn't enjoyed the evening, although she had. She liked being with the others, and chatting with them. It was fun having such compatible people close at hand, on the grounds of The Cottage. “Speaking of romances, by the way, I think Mark and Taryn are very attracted to each other. Don't you?”

He seemed to hesitate, and then nodded. He thought Mark was boring. “I think she can do a lot better. She's a fabulous girl, and I want to introduce her to some of the producers I know. She's had a very dull, staid life, and that husband who left her sounds like a jerk. I think she needs a little glamour and excitement.” Alex thought he was missing the point. Taryn didn't have stars in her eyes, it was one of the things Alex liked about her. She was real and down-to-earth, and she needed a real person. But it was the ultimate compliment to Taryn that her father wanted to introduce her to his associates and friends. He was justifiably proud of her.

“We'll see what happens,” Alex said vaguely.

They went to bed, and Coop made love to her. He felt better afterwards, as though he'd claimed his territory again. It unnerved him having younger men on his turf, particularly as he could see that Alex enjoyed them.

She was gone when he woke up the next morning. She was back at work. And he and Taryn went to Malibu to visit friends. It was nearly ten o'clock that night when Coop called her. She'd had a busy day, and he and Taryn had had fun. There was none of the petulance in his voice that she'd noticed the night before. She told him she'd see him the following night when she got off duty at six o'clock. He had promised to take her to a movie she'd been dying to see, and she was looking forward to it.

She talked to Taryn for a minute too, they almost seemed like one family now. She was going out to dinner with Mark the next day, and Alex was happy for her.

Alex went to bed in her office shortly after that. She always slept in her scrubs when she was on duty. And her clogs were parked right next to her in case she had to hit the deck running. She never fell into a deep sleep when she was at work. She was always half listening for the phone, even in her sleep. It rang at 4 A.M. and she jumped up with a start and grabbed it.

“Madison,” she said, clearing her head. She was fully awake within seconds. And she was stunned to hear Mark. She thought something might have happened to one of his kids, or even Coop. But then she realized that if it was Coop, Taryn would have called her. “Is something wrong?” she asked quickly. The hour of the call gave her the answer before he said it.

“There's been an accident,” he said, sounding frantic.

“At the house?” Maybe both Taryn and Coop were hurt. But Taryn wasn't with Coop. Mark didn't tell her she was asleep in his bedroom. She'd come down for a drink late in the evening, and his kids had slept at their friends' houses, which had given him unexpected freedom.

“A car accident,” he said quickly.

“Coop?” She held her breath, fully aware of how much she loved him. She didn't need an accident to tell her that. She knew it.

“No. Jimmy. I don't know what happened. The other day, we were talking about not having local next of kin to call in case either of us ever got sick. He must have listed me on his papers. They just called me. They took him to UCLA. I think he's in the trauma unit or something. I thought maybe you could go check on him. Taryn and I will be there as soon as we can get there.”

“Did they say what kind of shape he's in?” Alex sounded worried.

“No, they didn't. They just said it was serious. He went off the road in Malibu, and went down about a hundred feet. The car was totaled.”

“Shit.” It occurred to her instantly that it may have been less of an accident than they thought. He had been depressed ever since losing Maggie. “Did you see him today, Mark?”

“No, I didn't.” He had seemed fine the night before, but that didn't always mean anything. Often, suicides seemed happier once they made the decision to do it. Euphoric even. But he had seemed normal to her on Saturday night at dinner.

“I'll go down to trauma as soon as I can get someone to cover for me.”

She called one of the other residents as soon as she hung up. He was a nice guy she knew well who had covered for her before. She explained the circumstances to him and said she didn't need more than half an hour, to get to trauma and check things out. He said it was no problem, and showed up, sleepy eyed, ten minutes later. By then she had called the trauma unit, and all they could tell her on the phone was that he was in critical condition. He'd been there for an hour, and a team was working on him.

When she got there, she talked to the chief resident, and he told her that Jimmy had broken both legs, one arm, his pelvis, he had a head injury, and he was in a coma. It was not a pretty picture. She went in to see him, and stood at a distance so as not to interfere with what they were doing. They had intubated him, and he was hooked up to a dozen machines. His vitals were irregular, and his face was so cut and bruised, she could hardly recognize him. Her heart ached when she saw him.

“How bad is the head injury?” she asked the chief resident when she saw him again, and he shook his head.

“We don't know yet. He may have gotten lucky. His EEG looks pretty good. But he's in a pretty deep coma.

It all depends on how much brain swelling he gets, and I can't predict that. And if he comes out of the coma.” But for the moment, they had decided not to operate to relieve the pressure. They were hoping it was going to come down on its own. Time was of the essence. And luck. Alex walked up next to him, in a quiet moment. They had set his arm and legs by then, and cleaned him up, but he was very, very badly injured.

She walked out to the waiting room, and by the time she got there, Mark and Taryn were there, looking panicked.

“How bad is it?” Taryn asked before Mark could.

“It's bad,” Alex said quietly. “It could be worse. And it may get worse before it gets better.” She didn't say “if it gets better,” but she thought it.

“What do you think happened?” Mark asked her. Jimmy didn't drink a lot and it was unlikely that he'd been driving drunk. But she didn't want to share her suspicions with them. She had with the attending physician, not that it made much difference at this point. But it might later. If he was an attempted suicide, they were going to have to watch him very closely when he came out of the coma.