Page 42 of Doc Rock
Mai thought about it for a moment and took a deep, shuddering breath.
“Yes,” she said firmly.
It wastime for her to reclaim the part of her life that she’d left behind so long ago. She was Dr Maisie Jones, but she was also Sie Harrington, and once upon a time, she stood on stage in front of stadiums of people and played guitar as if her life depended on it.
“Do you prefer Mai or Sie?”Gloria asked as she linked arms with her.
“I’ve been Mai for longer than I was Sie. So I’ll stick with Mai.”
Gloria tugged gently on her arm and led the way so they bypassed the party. She took Mai up to her bedroom and let her use the ensuite, then helped her touch up her makeup so it didn’t look like she’d been hysterically crying.
Mai sipped gratefully on the rosé champagne that Gloria thrust into her hand, then braced herself and followed Taylor’s mum back to the baby shower.
The moment she stepped outside, Clara, Hel and Sadie all rushed over.
“Are you alright?”Clara asked.
“Are you really Hannah Montana?”Sadie exclaimed.
“Hey.”Hel elbowed her in the ribs.“That was my idea. Way to steal the best lines.”
“Shh,”Clara said, glaring at her friends.“Let the woman answer.”
Mai opened her mouth to say something, but Sadie blurted out,“Are you Sie Harrington, the long-lost member of Midnight Thunder?”
“Oh, my god. We were going to build up to that. Do you recall we agreed to make sure she was alright first before we dropped that into the conversation?”Clara rolled her eyes.
Mai couldn’t help it, despite it being one of the most stressful days she'd lived through in sixteen years, the sight of the three women in front of her, all pushing each other and whisper-fighting about who thought of calling her Hannah Montana and what they agreed to say, actually made her smile.
She held her hand up to stop the bickering.“Ladies. I’ve just told Gloria the full story, so don’t want to go through the whole thing again, or I’ll cry and ruin Clara’s baby shower.”
All three women deflated.
“She won’t mind,”Sadie said quickly, which earned her a swift elbow from Hel.
“Yes, she will. Don’t be an idiot.”The red-headed, no-nonsense Emergency Consultant rolled her eyes at Sadie.
“Ten-second summary,”Mai said, and her friends nodded eagerly.“I was in Midnight Thunder from the ages of sixteen to twenty-two, and everyone called me Sie Harrington. I fell in love with Ford. We got married in secret, and until today, only the two of usknewthat. My parents died in a car accident, leaving our concert. I couldn’t do it anymore, so I ran. I changed my name back to my legal name of Maisie Jones when I left. I went to Medical School, and the rest is history.”
The three women stared at her, blinking until Clara whispered,“You’re married to Ford. He’s hot.”
“Clara Anderson! Your movie star husband is just overthere,”Sadie admonished, pointing to Taylor, who was chatting with some of the other doctors.
“Iobviouslylove him the most. I’m sorry it slipped out.”Clara waved her hand in her husband’s direction.
“That’s what she said,” murmured Hel.
All of the women turned to stare at Hel, who flushed the same colour as her hair and muttered,“Okay, Frost has a very dirty sense of humour, and it’s clearly rubbing off on me.”
Sadie opened her mouth, and Clara jumped in before shecouldcomment on the potential double entendre.
“Don’t you dare?”Clara wagged her finger at her friend.
“Sorry,”Sadie said, but she didn’t look sorry. Instead, she grinned broadly.
“Can we focus, ladies?”Clara demanded.
“Yes, we should focus. Not just on Frost rubbing off on Hel.”Sadie dissolved into fits of laughter as soon as she said it, and Mai couldn’t help herself; she began to giggle as well.
