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“Thanks for everything today. It means a lot that when I needed you, you were here, no questions.”
“Anytime, day or night.” I brush my hand down her smooth arm before taking her hand in mine for a second, squeezing it in goodbye. She squeezes back before turning towards the surgery center. I watch her walk away, lush hips swaying, hair brushing the curve of her waist, and I can’t help the feeling of dread that hollows out my stomach.
CHAPTER 27
Summer
Jared and I sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs in a private recovery room, watching Emma sleep in yet another hospital bed. Emma’s surgery went well, and her doctor told us to let her rest as much as possible for the next few days.
While we stand sentry over our girl, a nurse bustles into the room. Her brightly colored, floral-patterned scrubs contrast with her sienna skin. She sees the lights are low and quiets her steps. “If you two want to run down and grab a bite for dinner, you should do that. I doubt Emma will even wake up for the next few hours. If she does, I can tell her you two will be right back. I’m happy to stay with her for a half hour or so before I head out. My shift is over soon anyway,” she whispers. She takes Emma’s vitals without disturbing her—a trick that only a pediatric nurse could pull off.
“Are you sure?” Jared asks quietly.
“Of course. I don’t mind at all. I can catch up on some charting while I’m in here, and I’ll just give one of you a call if she wakes up.” The nurse heads toward the computer at the front of the room.
Jared’s stomach grumbles loudly in the near-silent room. “Come on, we’ll grab something from that cafe across the road. We’ll eat and be back before she knows it,” I say. I stand and let out a quiet groan, stretching out muscles that have been hunched over all day.
“You two go on, I got her,” the nurse says, waking up the computer with a jiggle of the mouse.
Jared and I sit across from each other in a little cafe called The Drip. Apparently, it was opened by former doctors-turned-business owners who wanted to capitalize on the nearby hospital. The logo adorning every cup of coffee is an IV bag, the name of the place made to look like a medication tag.
I have a side salad and turkey club in front of me while Jared wolfs down a huge pastrami on rye. I don’t know how he can even eat right now. Maybe because he wasn’t the one who had to catch vomit all day and see our daughter so sick. The way she was curled in on herself in pain is an image that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I stir my iced chai with the straw before taking a small sip. It’s delicious, but I barely register it. The adrenaline from the day is finally wearing off, leaving me feeling completely drained.
“Are you going to eat or what? We don’t have a ton of time, and anyway, you’re not usually one to turn away from a meal,” he seems to catch himself with his sandwich halfway to his mouth. He points at me with it, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I just mean you never used to skip meals.” At my eye roll, he continues, “Not that you should! It’s just not like you.”
I decide to put him out of his misery, because watching him flounder is only fun for so long, “It’s fine. I’m going to eat. I just still feel a little sick to my stomach. Rough day. Worse for Emma obviously, but it was really hard to see her like that and to know there was nothing I could do.” I stab my fork into a plump cherry tomato before popping it in my mouth.
“I can’t imagine. I’m sorry you had to do it alone,” he says sympathetically.
“Luckily I wasn’t completely alone, but yeah it was hard.” I think of how terrible it would have been if Ryan hadn’t been there to keep me calm when we were on the way to the hospital, or to distract me when they took her back for surgery.
Jared wipes his mouth with his napkin and sits back, focusing his dark eyes on me. “Yeah, about that. I don’t like that you went behind my back and had him meet Emma.”
“Are you kidding me right now? Of all the shit to happen today, your takeaway is that I shouldn’t have asked my boyfriend to drive our sick daughter to the hospital when I was out of other options?”
“So now he’s your boyfriend?” He scoffs before sucking down his cold brew like it personally offended his mother. “Doesn’t matter I guess. I told you I wasn’t comfortable with him meeting Emma. This feels like a convenient way for you to get around that.”
“You really think I was plotting against your wishes while Emma was doubled over puking in the nurse's office?” I take a bite of my sandwich for something to do and to give myself a second to calm down so I don’t start yelling in this very cute coffee shop. “I told you my car wouldn’t start this morning, so when the school called and told me Emma wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t want to risk getting any of my coworkers sick. At the time, I thought Emma just had a stomach bug. Ryan doesn’t have kids, and he didn’t mind taking the risk. So yeah, I asked him to drive us. And you know what? He did it—no questions asked. You heard what the doctor said, her appendix was close to bursting. Who knows what kind of difference even thirty minutes could have made?”
“Oh, Ryan, my hero,” he sneers in a high falsetto, clasping his hands over his chest like a swooning damsel.
“Yeah. He really is.”
“It isn’t my fault that I wasn’t here!” he exclaims.
“I never said it was. But do you see how we both did the best we could given the circumstances? All that matters is that Emma got to the hospital in time and now she’s safe and recovering. This is a petty-ass fight, and you know it. Grow up. I’m over it.” I push my chair back and stand. I can’t eat any more anyway. I leave the half-eaten sandwich and salad and grab the chai, marching out of the cafe into the waning daylight.
I’m walking back toward the hospital entrance when Jared roughly grabs my shoulder from behind. He spins me around and says, “Hold on! We weren’t done talking.” His brow is creased in anger and his hand digs into my shoulder in a way I really don’t like.
“Get your hands off of me,” I say quietly, trying to leash my anger. I don’t want to make a scene when I’ve already had a rough day, and I really don’t feel like having to Lady Macbeth my hands in the bathroom later.
“Out, out damned spot.” Who knew I’d find myself sympathizing with the villain?
“No. You’re going to listen to me.” He keeps his hand clamped on my shoulder, despite my nails digging in trying to pry it off. “I don’t give a shit that on the weeks you’re not with Emma, you’re out spreading your legs for the first man who gave you attention.” I try even harder to pull away. He continues, “But you know what? I’m sick of the way you make me feel like nothing I ever do is good enough. No man is going to do what you want. If he’s doing it now, it won’t be long before he realizes you aren’t worth the effort.” He releases me so quickly, I stumble back.
Before I can fall on my ass, a strong arm bands around my middle. When I look up at who caught me, Ryan wears an expression of wrath I’ve never seen on him before. He hands me the overnight bag I asked him to bring me via text a couple of hours ago and gently pushes me behind him. “You better watch how you speak to Summer. She’s the mother of your child. Show somegoddamn respect.” His voice sounds low and dangerous, rumbling deep in his chest.
“Come on, man. Admit it. She was easy and she’s a good lay, I’ll give her that, but you don’t want to actually jump when she says how high, do you?” Jared spreads his arms and laughs like this is all just a joke to him. I’m shocked and disgusted that he could say those things about me,tome.
