Page 100 of Sexted By Santa
He turned, eyes barely focusing on me. “I don’t know yet.”
“I’m sorry.” I said again. “I don’t know what happened…”
“I shouldn’t have left her today,” he rasped, his voice filled with guilt. Guilt he didn’t deserve. Guilt I had put there by failing him.
My insides ached. “I convinced you to do it.”
“Then I should have known better.”
It hurt to hear. The words he wasn’t saying out loud were, He shouldn’t havetrustedme. He shouldn’t havebelievedI could take care of the person most precious to him. And the worst thing of all was that he was right.
The door closing off Tori’s room opened, and a doctor stepped out. Jaxson turned, giving his full attention to the medical staff. That was where his focus needed to be. On Tori, on her doctors, not on the man who’d let him down.
“How is she?” Jaxson asked, his voice anxious.
“Better,” the doctor said.
I backed up a few steps as he shook the doctor’s hand. Though I couldn’t hear all their hushed words, Jaxson looked relieved.
Tori had the help she needed now. Her father was by her side. There was no place for me here. Jaxson was better off on his own than with a partner who let him down like this.
As Jaxson followed the doctor into the treatment bay, I called up a car service on my app and went outside to wait for a ride.
It wasn’t until I was in the car that I remembered the half-mashed potatoes sitting out on the counter and the pork chops on the oven rack, waiting to cook. Thankfully, I hadn’t turned on the oven, or I might have burned down Jaxson’s house along with our relationship.
That’s when my vision blurred. Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked hard and dashed at them with the back of my hand.
“Allergies,” I mumbled when I caught the driver’s sympathetic gaze fixed on me in the rear-view mirror.
The tears dried while I cleaned up the food and collected Sir Elton John and his toys. When I returned to my house, I felt exactly like it did: cold and empty.
24
JAXSON
My little girl was on a gurney. I caught a glimpse of Christian’s pale face as I rushed through the emergency room, but I could hardly process it. Gut-churning fear blocked out everything but Tori looking so small and fragile while medical professionals crowded around her.
I followed them down the hall in a fog, trying to ask questions and processing only fragments of the answers. Her blood sugar was stable now, but she was still in DKAandshe was feverish.
I’d beaten the ambulance to the hospital by minutes and had gotten the triage nurse to admit me to the emergency area. My scrubs had probably gotten me a pass—but that was as far as the professional courtesy extended.
They blocked me from the room. “You’ll have to wait here. She’s in good hands.”
A door closed in my face, and I suddenly stumbled and caught myself against the wall.
Adrenaline had carried me through calling 911, informing Doris I’d have to leave for an emergency, and driving to the hospital. Even as terror swamped me, I’d been oddly composed. This was my worst fear, but I couldn’t afford to panic. Tori needed me to keep my shit together, and that was what I’d do.
I drew in a deep breath, reminding myself to keep calm, but without the urgency of the moment, a dozen doubts and fears swam through my mind, making me feel disoriented.
“Is she okay?” Christian appeared beside me looking stricken.
I turned, staring blankly. “I don’t know yet.”
We exchanged a few words, but only a small part of my mind was engaged in the conversation. My mind kept flashing up images of Tori on that gurney, a horror show that I couldn’t seem to turn off.
The glass door slid open, and everything snapped back into focus. I stepped forward eagerly, trying to see past the medical staff exiting the room. “How is she?”
“Better,” a doctor said, holding out a hand. “I’m Dr. Gonzales. You’re Tori’s father, correct?”
