Page 98 of The Geography of Happiness

And then I hung up.

A minute later, I was still standing there, shaking in my white Converse and trying to breathe. The odds were ten to one that Terry was already running scared and planning how to avoid keeping that promise he’d made about calling.

Zach’s many, many words rang in my ears.

Fucking bossy know-it-all shepherds.

I headed for the taxi stand and made another call.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Tuesday 9:30 p.m.

Terry

Spencer Thompson can’t cometo the phone at the moment. Please leave a message. If this is an emergency, please hang up and call the Oakwood Clinic. If the clinic is closed, you will be transferred to the veterinarian on call.

“Don’t make me promise to call and then not bloody well show up.” I stabbed the red button to end the call and shoved the phone back in my pocket. Then I headed to the counter of the small hospital after-hours café to order three more coffees, three dry-looking chicken salad sandwiches, and a half-dozen chocolate chip biscuits to go.

I’d left Judah and Morgan holding the fort in Hannah’s room while I took my first break in hours. I’d been too scared to leave in case the staff came looking for me, and Hannah’s surgery taking longer than expected hadn’t helped my anxiety one little bit.

The osteotomy hadn’t gone as smoothly as Pauline had hoped. The damage to Hannah’s joint from her JIA had made realignment of the bony structures around it more difficult than predicted, and the added complexity meant Hannah hadn’t returned to the ward until almost eight o’clock.

The good news was that Pauline was delighted with the end result, even though it had taken her twice as long to get there. “It’s as good as we could hope to get,” she announced happily. “The rest is down to how Hannah’s body heals and adjusts to the new norm. Fingers crossed for a smooth post-op recovery. But since it wasn’t straightforward, I want to keep a close eye on her. Five days in hospital, not the three we talked about, okay? And once she’s discharged, I’d prefer you hang around in Auckland for another couple of days before you go north where you’re an hour or more from the nearest hospital. Can you manage that?”

I’d nodded. “I’ll make it happen.”

“Good.” Pauline stroked Hannah’s forehead. “She deserves a little bit of luck.”

When Pauline left, I settled in to watch Hannah slowly come around. But again, it wasn’t straightforward. Hannah was complaining of a lot of pain, which wasn’t responding well to the charted medication. It wasn’t only the surgical pain, but her whole body ached from the position she’d been locked in for hours while they worked.

If Judah and Morgan hadn’t been there to calm me down, I might’ve lost my cool completely... and unfairly. Everyone was doing their best, and I knew that. But I hated seeing my daughter in pain.

The nurse in charge eventually called the anaesthetist back to take another look. He charted a stronger analgesic regime and finally Hannah could sleep. By then I was wrung out and desperate to hear Spencer’s voice. For all that I had my two best friends at my side, it was Spencer I wanted, and I was donepretending that I could cut him out of my life as easily as I thought.

I’m falling in love with you too . . .

Every time I remembered Spencer’s words, the rush of warmth to my heart made me smile. He was such an arsehole, telling me that and then hanging up knowing I couldn’t or wouldn’t call him back. I should’ve been panicking at his confession, not to mention his audacity to assume I felt the same... even though I did. But instead, I’d felt oddly calm. Like it was inevitable. Like I’d been fooling myself trying not to give him any more of my heart than he already possessed.

Because Spencer was right. We were falling in love. The idea both terrified me and made my heart sing. It would also make the inevitable truckload of hurt headed our way a fuckton harder to deal with.

My phone vibrated and I quickly fished it out of my pocket. But when I saw my mother’s name and not Spencer’s, my heart sank.

Spencer bloody Thompson, where the fuck are you?

When I refusedto leave Hannah overnight, the staff wheeled in a La-Z-Boy chair for me. Hannah might’ve been fine on her own, but I wouldn’t. I needed to be there just in case.

Judah and Morgan hung around until midnight and I was so damn grateful for their support. When Judah saw me struggling to thank them before they left, he hauled me into his arms until I was done making a sobbing fool of myself, kissed my cheek, told me he loved my stubborn arse, and that they’d bring breakfast in the morning. None of that hospital crap.

The new analgesics worked their magic, and the few times Hannah woke—mostly when they were checking her vitals or giving medications—she reassured me she was doing better. Colour slowly returned to her pallid face, but she looked so tiny and fragile under the mound of hospital covers that I wanted to wrap her in cotton wool and ferry her away until that beautiful smile returned to her face.

“Relax, Dad. I’m okay,” her last words before I finally caved and curled up in the chair to grab some sleep.

I hadn’t expected to do more than doze on and off for a bit, so when the relentless beep of an empty intravenous pump had my eyelids fluttering open hours later, I was pleasantly surprised.

Four fifty in the morning. With Hannah sleeping through the alarm, I checked my phone. Texts from Leroy, Kane, and Judah’s mother sat unanswered, but not a peep from the one person I was waiting for.

I’m falling in love with you too. Well, the man had a funny way of showing it.

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