Page 47 of Rescuing Nathaniel

“Never thought she was.” There was no way the sweet, brave, strong woman he’d first met in that life raft was anything like the people who had raised her. But they had raised her in the lap of luxury and being with him would be anything but.

“But you left her alone because of them, so on some level you must associate their behavior with her,” Bubba pushed.

“Wasn't like that, it’s …” he trailed off not wanting to say the words out loud no matter how true they may be.

“It’s what?” Phantom asked in a tone that suggested he might already know the answer.

“I’m not good enough for her,” he said, the words tasting bitter on his tongue. “Got nothing to offer her. She’s better off without me. Better off with a man who can give her everything she deserves.”

“Pretty presumptuous of you to decide what Ava wants, needs, or deserves,” Rocco said with an arched brow, daring him to disagree.

Not that he could.

His fellow SEAL was right. He was making major presumptions about what Ava wanted out of life, but it wasn't to paint her as a snobby socialite who cared about clothes, jewelry, houses, and nothing else, it was his own insecurities talking.

“There’s something you should know about Ava,” Phantom told him.

Panic lit up like a forest fire in his chest. “What? Is she okay? Did something happen?”

“She’s okay,” Phantom quickly assured him. “But she kicked her parents out, told them to leave and not come back.”

She’d done what?

Thrown out her own parents?

Told them not to return?

Was it because of him? Because of how they’d treated him?

Or was that just wishful thinking on his part?

Had he been too rash writing off any sort of relationship with her just because she’d been born into a wealthy family?

Was he being as superficial as he was all but accusing her of being?

Should he go back and see her again? Talk to her? Try to figure out if there could be something between them? Or was it better to leave things the way they were and not risk getting hurt?

CHAPTER12

March 5th

3:17 P.M.

“Areyou sure you're ready for this?”

Ava met the nurse’s gaze directly, infusing every bit of strength—and desperation—she felt into her words. “More ready than I've been for anything else in my entire life.”

Truth was, this was an important step forward. Not only did she need to convince the doctors that she was strong enough and healthy enough to go home and try to salvage the shredded pieces of her life and put them back together into something with a semblance of normalcy, but she also needed to prove to herself that she could do this.

Right now moving forward felt almost impossible. There was no tangible task to focus her mind and her energy on which left her floating alone at sea just like she’d been in the life raft.

Only this time, she couldn’t count on someone coming to her rescue.

If she wanted to rebuild her life and move forward, she had to be her own knight in shining armor riding in on a white horse.

“All right then. Well, we’re only a call away. If you feel faint, nauseous, or weak, like you're going to fall over, press the buzzer immediately, don’t wait. This is the first time you're going to be taking a shower alone and probably the longest you’ll be standing up by yourself since you got here. Don’t be a hero, if you need help you ask for it, that doesn’t make you weak it makes you sensible.”

With the nurse’s words echoing in her head, Ava went into the small bathroom by herself and stripped out of her clothes. Thankfully, by the time she reached the hospital Chelsea and Teresa were already there with a bag of her own clothes packed and ready for her. It had been such a relief to pull on a pair of her unicorn fuzzy pajama pants, and a soft tank top from her collection.

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