Page 33 of Play For Keeps

I sigh, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “She has a lot going on with her daughter.” I look up to find Sierra studying me as if she’s trying to figure me out. “She’s just been through a lot, and I’m trying to be patient. That’s it.”

“Okay. I just want you to be happy. I worry about you.”

“I’m okay, Si. I promise,” I say, hugging her goodbye.

Twenty minutes later I’m jogging into the emergency waiting room area looking for Everly and Birdie.

“I’m looking for Birdie Billings,” I tell the lady at reception. She asks if I’m a family member, and I don’t even hesitate before telling her I’m Birdie’s dad. I’m pretty sure her actual father won’t be showing up tonight to challenge it. The woman checks her computer screen, points to the large double doors to the left of her and tells me I’ll find her in there.

I push through the doors and find a nurse, who directs me to a curtained area towards the end of the hallway. I thank her, then follow her directions, sliding the curtain open a smidge to peek inside. Everly turns around and I see relief flash in her eyes when she sees that it’s me.

“She’s sleeping. It has been a day,” Everly says in a low voice, looking exhausted. Her eyes are puffy, with dark circles underneath from where her mascara has smudged. Between the late-night shifts and early mornings, she’s already been running on empty. She sags back into the plastic chair, lifting her hands to her face to cover a yawn. I can see she’s barely hanging on.

“What did the doctor say?” I ask quietly, stepping into the room, looking at Birdie who looks so tiny lying there in the hospital bed, a gray blanket pulled up past her waist. Her little arm is wrapped in a thick tensor bandage and is bent at the elbow in a sling.

“Said she fractured the radius bone in her forearm. He took an x-ray, now we’re waiting for someone to cast her. Thank goodness he doesn’t think she’ll need surgery.”

“That’s good,” I say. “Poor thing. How long has she been sleeping?”

“About an hour,” Everly says through another yawn, dropping her head into her hands.

“Here, I brought you dinner. I thought you might be hungry.” I hold out a brown paper bag, and she smiles in response.

“What’s this?” Everly asks, peering inside.

“I stopped at The Dockside on the way here. I got what I could. They were closing so there weren’t a lot of options.”

She looks up at me. “You didn’t have to do all that.”

“Judging by how long you two have been here, I figured you might need it.”

She pulls the turkey clubhouse and a bottle of water from the bag, leaving the mac and cheese for Birdie. “Thank you. Really, Jake. I owe you.”

“I can think of a few ways you can repay me,” I grin, wanting her to smile again. I lower myself into the chair beside hers.

“You don’t have to stay. We could be here for hours,” she says as she unwraps the sandwich.

“I’m here, Ev, and I’m not leaving. I’ll bring you two home. Before you say it, I know you can handle this without me. I know you’re fine. But I want to stay.”

I wait for her to protest, but instead she just nods and smiles at me.

She might be just fine without me.

I am anything but.

EVERLY

It’s close to 10 o’clock when Jake pulls my car up in front of my apartment building. When Birdie was finally discharged, I tried to convince Jake he didn’t need to drive us home because I didn't want him to have to leave his truck at the hospital. I knew it was pointless, but it made me feel a little better to at least try. It was a long day for all of us, but Birdie was such a trooper. Now she’s fast asleep in the back seat of the car, sporting a new hot-pink fiberglass cast from her hand to her elbow.

Jake shifts my car into park, and like mirror images we both glance over our shoulders at a sleeping Birdie. She lasted two minutes before she was softly snoring, and Jake and I spent the rest of the 15-minute drive in a comfortable silence. My breath catches in my throat now, looking at this big, broody man who is so clearly worried about my daughter. I am realizing that Jake has such a soft side to him, one I never would have expected. Overprotective, confident, alpha with the body of a Greek God and a compassionate side? Yep, a guy like that is my weakness. Tingles skate over my skin at the way he looks at Birdie so adoringly, sending a zip of warmth through me.

Taking a breath to center myself, I brush the feeling aside trying to stop the feelings I have for Jake from bubbling to the surface.

He meets me beside the car, getting to Birdie’s door first and opening it. “I’ve got her, Ev. You’re tired,” he whispers, carefully unbuckling Birdie out of her booster seat, gently scooping her into his arms like she weighs nothing. His six-foot something, carved like granite frame holding my baby in his arms as if she’s his own makes my insides melt. My ovaries do a happy dance too. Birdie’s eyes flutter open and her rose bud lips tip up in a smile. “Jake,” she whispers, groggy from the medicine they gave her at the hospital and tired because it is way past her bedtime. “Will you tuck me in?”

Jake’s big hand cups the back of her head while her legs wrap around him like a koala. “Of course I will, Birdie-girl.” Birdie-girl. If that isn’t the cutest. “Go back to sleep. I’ve got you.” She lays her head down on his shoulder, his hand on the back of her head as he holds her closer.

My heart is in my throat and my eyes fill with tears that I swipe away. No mother ever wants to see her child hurt— today was a tough one— but seeing Birdie cared for the way she deserves to be, I am overwhelmed with emotions. I turn away, shutting the car door, trying to stop myself from swooning over the sight of Birdie in Jake’s strong arms.

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