Page 128 of Until Then

The double doors open, and Reid and Layla appear.

I dart toward them, smoothing my hands down my sweatpants.

They both look worried, which only intensifies my panic.

“I’ll take you back,” Layla says softly, offering me her hand.

“Where’s Lili?” I ask, looking around for the energetic little girl.

“She’s with my neighbor. She babysits for me sometimes.”

Reid heads straight for Via and pulls her into a hug so tight I’m not sure he’ll ever let her go. The sweet, simple exchange causes tears to flood my eyes. This is bad. I should have forcedhim to come home with me. I could’ve kept an eye on him. I could’ve…

The crack in my heart fissures. None of it matters now.

“Is he okay?” I ask Layla, fear gluing me to the spot. My stomach rolls, churning so violently that I fear the pizza I ate last night will end up on the floor. Why did I think pizza and wine were a good combination?

“We’re waiting for results.” She tugs on my hand, guiding me to those dreadful double doors, and I take comfort in the warmth she imbues me with.

“I don’t want to lose him,” I whisper the confession.

“I know.” When she pauses halfway down the hall, she releases my hand and faces me head on. “I know I haven’t been very supportive of your relationship with my dad. But it’s obvious you love him, and he loves you. At the end of the day, that’s what matters.”

I sniffle back another round of tears threatening to fall. “Thank you.” I pull her into a bone-crushing hug. “I hated the idea of ruining our friendship, but…”

“You don’t need to explain. Go on in.” She nods at the closed glass door covered by blinds. “Take your time. I’ll be in the waiting room.”

“Okay.”

While she walks away, her steps echoing on the linoleum floor, I stand frozen outside the door, terrified of what I might find on the other side.

My heart races and my knees shake, but eventually, I take a deep breath and slide the door open.

Derrick lays in the bed, awake and alert. The sight of him is an instant relief. He looks far better than I anticipated.

“Hey,” he says, almost shyly.

My bottom lip trembles in response.

Opening one of his arms, he says, “Come here, baby.”

The tears win out as I hurry over to his side. I hug him as best I can, inhaling his familiar scent greedily, desperate to replace the smell of antiseptic.

“Are you okay?” I mumble into his neck. “A heart attack?”

He rubs my back, comforting me when it should be the other way around. “That’s what I thought, but I don’t know. They ran some tests, and it seems like they’d be a lot more concerned about me if that were the case.”

“What happened?” I pull away and drop into the plastic chair near the bed.

He tugs at the neck of his hospital gown in annoyance. “I was at the office, and I had chest pains.”

Clutching his hand, I rub gentle circles with my thumb. “I need more details than that.”

With his other hand, he scratches at his heavily stubbled jaw. “I was thinking about you—about our age difference and how I don’t want that to happen to me. How I don’t want to leave you alone like that. And I spiraled, because my love for you is selfish. I know what the pain of losing a partner feels like, and I don’t want that for you.”

I reel back like he’s slapped me, pulling my hand out of his. “Are you breaking up with me?” I scoff through my tears. “You’ve given me so much more than any other man ever has. You think you’re too old for me? Newsflash, Derrick, you should’ve thought about that before you made me fall in love with you.”

“I’m not breaking up with you,” he murmurs. “Unless that’s what you want. I just want you to understand where my head was at. Brooks’s passing… it’s brought up a lot of emotions I thought I’d moved on from. I know my thought process was illogical. It doesn’t matter how old a person is. Tragedy can strike at any age. I should know that better than anyone. But like I said, I wasn’t thinking logically, and that’s how I ended up here.”

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