Page 94 of Edge of Heaven

Basically, my life is a nightmare and I don’t even have clean underwear.

I’d laugh if it weren’t so ludicrous.

And the only person I have to blame is myself.

As usual, I’m the fuck-up, the one who makes bad decisions and screws everything up. My own mother doesn’t even believe me when I tell her that the things they’re saying about me aren’t true.

But what else is new.

She didn’t believe me when I told her the condom broke, that Trevor and I weren’t careless. It was truly an accident.

She didn’t believe that the modeling jobs I was getting were legitimate or a jumping-off point for my career.

She didn’t even believe I was capable of taking care of my child.

And she doesn’t believe me now.

Of course, in Toby’s case, she’s probably right.

I have enough money for one of Toby’s payments, but not both, so I’m going to swallow my pride and borrow the money from Ryleigh. I’ll pay her back with interest, but I need time to heal enough to get a job waiting tables or whatever is going to bring in the most money in the shortest amount of time.

I just don’t know how long it’s going to take my ribs to heal. It could be six to eight weeks, maybe more. My ankle isn’t broken but it’s severely sprained so I’m wearing a boot for a few weeks, and I’m basically a mess. I don’t even want to look in the mirror.

“Hey, you ready to blow this popsicle stand?” Ryleigh comes in with…my little rolling carry-on suitcase.

“Hi. Where did you get that?”

“Angus worked his magic and got us a key to Callum’s room. We packed up all your stuff and brought it back to our room for now. And I brought you some stuff I thought you’d need. Including…” She pauses dramatically as she pulls something out of her bag. “Your purse and your phone!”

“Oh my God, you’re the best!” I say in surprise. “How did you get them?”

“They were in the room. Apparently, Callum went back there and dropped the stuff off before he came to the hospital.”

“Thank fuck. The hospital has been freaking out about payment and all that.”

“We took care of it,” she says gently.

“What?” I gape at her. “No, you can’t?—”

“We can afford it, okay? And you can file with your insurance and give us back the money once you get it. It’s just a loan to make this less stressful.”

Tears sting my eyelids.

Again.

I’ve done a lot of crying the last two days.

“Thank you.”

“Now, how about a shower and then you can put on your own clothes.”

“That sounds amazing.”

She helps me gather my things, and a nurse comes to remove the IV so I can shower. I’m getting released soon anyway, so I don’t need it anymore.

It feels good to be clean and wash away dried blood and as many remnants of that morning as possible. It’s only been two days but it feels like a year. Possibly more. I can’t even begin to process everything that’s happening but all I can focus on right now is making sure Toby finishes the treatment. His six-month scans looked good, and according to my mother, his energy is coming back.

I told her I’d make the payments, not to worry about it, and we left it at that. She didn’t seem interested in finding out how I’m doing or where I’m getting the money, and that’s fine with me. She and I are going to have a heart-to-heart when I get home to L.A., but right now I can’t think about getting on a plane. I can barely walk across the room without help so there’s no way I can navigate an airport.

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