Read The Seeds Of A Daisy: The Lily Lockwood Series: Book One (Women's Fiction) for Free Online

and a small cup of Jell-O.
    “Here, try to eat something. You really have to keep your strength up and take care of yourself now. If you need anything, I’ll be outside your mother’s room.” She starts to walk out, stops, turns around, and smiles. “Your mother’s novels are my favorite. And her children’s books are my niece’s favorite. One day, my sister had to hide
Woman in the Moon
because she had already read it to her daughter ten times that day. She figured if my niece couldn’t see it, she’d ask for something else.” She smiles. “It didn’t work.”
    “Thanks, Gilda. My Mom will appreciate that. I’ll make sure to tell her when she wakes up.”
    A strange look comes over her face before she turns and leaves the room. I open the crackers and take a few tentative bites. The food does make me feel a bit better. I sip the water and open the Jell-O.
    On set, we all joke about Jell-O. They always have a shitload of it on hand as props for the patients on the show. It reminds me of the first time I met Jamie. It was the first day he worked on
St. Joe’s
.
    He had one scene, and I found out later it was his only real acting job—the first one that paid, anyway. I was running lines for my scene, which was up next. The scene was set in a hospital room and centered around a patient who was a professional baseball player with some sort of heart problem. I played his attending nurse. I hadn’t yet met the episode guest star who had been cast to play the athlete.
    I was standing in the corner of the empty sound stage, off to the side, in the shadows. The cast and crew were outside shooting and would return shortly for my scene.
    The hospital room was already set for the shoot. Once a set is ready, no one is allowed to enter it or touch anything. There was a rope across the entrance to the room with sign hanging from it: HOT SET—KEEP OUT!
    I saw this really cute guy walk on set, look around, and duck under the rope to get into the room. He was wearing a hospital gown and jeans. I watched him from my corner; he obviously didn’t see me.
    He jumped on the hospital bed. He had a Jell-O and a spoon in his hand. He opened the lid and started eating.
    “You know, there’s a craft service table in the back, and they have plenty of food,” I said from my corner.
    I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone jump out of a bed that fast. I laughed so hard, I couldn’t catch my breath. His face was beet red and he walked quickly from the room and toward the corner where I was standing. “I was just getting into my part and feeling the hospital room,” he explained.
    I stopped laughing, caught my breath, and extended my hand.
    “I’m Lily Lockwood; I play Stacy, your nurse, in the next scene. Do you need to feel me too, in order to get into your part?”
    He recovered quickly and flashed me what I would come to recognize as his “Jamie being oh-so-very-charming” smile.
    “Nope, I don’t think that’ll be necessary—but I’ll let you know after we start.” He smiled.
    “I’m Jamie Fleming,” he continued.
    He actually did surprisingly well that day, and the director and producers took notice of him. They wrote him in as a recurring love interest for me. He was one side of my love triangle—someone my character used in order to get her then-very-married lover very jealous. Jamie was on the show for six episodes and we spent a lot of time together on and eventually off the set. The rest is history. That was three years ago. Every year on our anniversary, we exchange cups of Jell-O for dessert.
    For the hundredth time that morning, I look at the large clock on the far wall. The doctor should have been here already. I hate being kept waiting. I think of my mother again, so wounded and lying helpless and unconscious inthe tiny room up the hall. The passing of time means nothing to her. This is a nightmare.
    My cell phone vibrates, and I look at the number. It’s Mom’s best friend, Donna. I was told earlier