Page 111 of Saving You

I spend every day grateful to have been the officer that responded to that 911 call and to have met Bailey and Charlie. I know I will spend the rest of my life ensuring they are happy and cared for, and one day I will make sure they have my last name and know I’m never letting them go.

CHAPTER 37

Grayson

Four Months Later

Fucking hell.

I groan as I read my email while sitting at the bar waiting for Caleb to show up. Next weekend, one doctor and one nurse from the ER department are being sent to Vegas for an annual conference, and I’ve just received an email confirming that I’m going. Not only am I going, but I’m going with the one person in the entire department that absolutely hates me.

The thing that gets to me the most is she seems to think I don’t like her either, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I learned long ago that long-term happiness isn’t for me. It was a harsh lesson to learn at only eighteen, but I learned it.

Caleb claps me on the shoulder, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Hey, man,” he says as he lifts his chin at me and takes the bar stool next to mine.

“Hey,” I say, taking a sip from my beer.

I pick at my beer label as he places his order with the pretty brunette behind the bar. My eyes take in the sight of her. Ample hips and a generous chest. Her jean shorts are so small I can see the bottom of her ass cheeks peeking out of them.She notices me checking her out and offers me a flirtatious smile. I smirk at her before she turns around and grabs Caleb’s drink.

“So, what had you so enthralled when I got here?” Caleb asks.

“I just got an email confirming that I’m going to Vegas next weekend for a work conference.”

He looks at me in the way that Caleb does when he wants more information but isn’t going to go digging for it. I hold my ground, taking a sip of my beer.

He concedes. “A weekend in Vegas. That sounds right up your alley. I’m sure there will be plenty of woman for you to have fun with between events.”

I’ve never tried to change my friends’ ideas that I have a different woman in my bed every night. Up until about two years ago, they were right. I enjoyed a good fuck, often with a different woman each time, and I didn’t let a woman get attached. I haven’t corrected their impression over the last two years, though.

“True,” I say, although I can hear the lack of conviction in my voice.

“What’s got you all wound tight about it?” he asks.

I don’t really want to go more in depth about the situation, so I say, “No, you’re right. It will be great.” Needing to move the subject along, I ask, “What’s new with you?”

The grin that over takes his face is one that’s still weird to see. Caleb never grinned like this before Bailey and Charlie came into his life, and I’m happy for him. He seems so much lighter and happier now.

“I’m taking Charlie to her first daddy-daughter dance on Friday.”

“And when are you going to make that official?”

“As soon as Bailey is ready. I have the ring, and then we can talk about me adopting her.”

Caleb and I talk for another hourbefore he says he needs to get home to the girls. I wave the bartender over and ask for the bill. She brings it, smiling flirtatiously at me, and when I look down, I see a phone number written in pen across the top with a note that saysI’m off at 9. I open my wallet and leave cash on the bar before making my way home, trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to make it through next weekend with a woman who hates me. A weekend in Vegas with Hannah Smith. What could go wrong?

Epilogue

BAILEY

Tonight is the daddy-daughter dance at Charlie’s school. A year ago, I never would have thought that would be something Charlie would be able to go to. When she mentioned it at dinner a few weeks ago, Caleb was so excited to take her. He handed me his credit card that night and told me to get Charlie whatever dress she wanted. I tried to hand the card back, but he refused, insisting he wanted to treat her.

Once the dress was purchased and I tried to give him the credit card back, he told me to keep it. I’ve tried to sneak it into his wallet several times, but it always ends up back in mine. I think he’s been sneaking random cash into my wallet, too, because there have been times when I’ve known I didn’t have cash, only to open my wallet and find a twenty-dollar bill.

I help Charlie get ready for the dance, doing up her hair in a few French braids that looked like a crown on top of her head. When she comes downstairs to meet Caleb, who has a corsage for her, I swear I see a tear fall down his cheek.

We’ve settled back into our life since the incident. Charlie gets the occasional nightmare and climbs into bed with us. I’ve updated all the information at the school so that Derek can’t pick her up. Caleb and I are the primary contacts with Lily and Caleb’s mom being the emergency contacts. Derek is still in police custody, but we don’t know what he’ll do when he’s released.

---