Page 25 of Single Mom's Secret Diary
After a few blinks, he says, “They took her back. Told me to wait here since I’m not kin. I don’t know what happened. I made those myself. There’s nothing in them she’s allergic to. Nothing that should cause this reaction. Fuck. What if I’ve killed her?”
“Stop it. Don’t spin out of control before we know anything. She’ll be fine.”She has to be.“What were her symptoms?”
“Pale. Stomach ache, I’m guessing. She grabbed her stomach. Fainting.Seizing.” The last word is a whisper.
“But she was still breathing,” I remind him and myself.
“Yes. She was still breathing.” A small bit of clarity shines in his pale eyes, and he nods and squeezes his hands into fists.
“You’re not going to fall apart while I go check with the doctor, right?”
“Of course not.” He frowns, glowering at me like normal, so I smile at him.
“Good.” I march to the nurse’s desk and inquire about Avery, explaining that I’m her boss, something happened at my establishment, and I am responsible for her until her fatherarrives. This seems to sway her after a few seconds of prolonged eye contact.
“They’re running tests right now, Mr. Nguyen. She appears stable at the moment, but the doctor will be out to speak with you when he knows more.” Her sharp, no-nonsense brows lift as if to say, is that alright with you?
“Thank you.”
The nurse nods, and I walk back to Wyatt. “Time to play the waiting game.”
Or maybe not. Slicked back salt and pepper hair, a rough, tanned face, and the scowl that could only rival Avery’s appears in the ER’s doorway. He huffs inside, eyes scanning the place efficiently. It makes me step forward and regret that this is the first time I’ll meet her father.
He stomps forward, meeting Wyatt and me in the hallway away from the seating area. “Are you Ezra Nguyen?”
“Yes, sir. You must be Avery’s father.”
“What the hell has happened to my little girl? Who leaves that kind of message on a voicemail? Do you not know what that can do to my heart? Where is Avery?” Mr. Caruso’s face is red, and his hands are flailing from his wide gestures.
“Please. Mr. Caruso.”
“Dominick.” His voice is gruff, almost a growl as he properly looks at me, eyes narrowing like he might recognize me. Who knows what his daughter has said to him about me?
“She’s stable. They’re running tests. It seems to be something she’s eaten, although we’ve taken the greatest precautions to keep it from happening. Your daughter is an asset?—”
His lip curls.
“And she’s important to us. All of us. She’s become a part of our family, and we don't want anything to happen to her.” Especially since I’ve just gotten her back.
Dominick breathes heavily, like he might spray fire from his nostrils and burn us on the spot, but his gaze slides to Wyatt, who’s pale but steely. The hard swallow from my friend has its effect.
“It’s my fault,” he whispers, looking down the hall where she must have disappeared. “I checked and double-checked, but it wasn’t enough.”
That sobers Dominick. “Were you with her when it happened?”
Wyatt nods, meeting this man’s gaze with a near vacant sadness. “I made some chocolates especially for her. Things I thought she’d like based on her palate. She didn’t even get to try the mango chili one. That would have been her favorite.”
A renewed prickle of jealousy makes its way unbidden between my ribs, slithering like a poison to my heart. Wyatt has it bad.
I know that feeling with more exacting clarity than he might imagine.
“That would have been her favorite,” Dominick agrees.
A smile flashes over Wyatt’s face, and even though it’s gone as quickly as it comes, it’s a relief to see.
“I’ll take you to the nurses’ station to see if you can get more information than I did.” I gesture toward the desk and the nurse I’d just talked to minutes ago. She’s peering at us with squirrely eyes.
A bulky, black phone receiver is pinched between her shoulder and ear.
