Page 71 of Welcome to Forever
Her mouth fell open. “I…Youcando what you want, Ben—when you’re an adult. But right now you have to listen to your father.”
“Why? He doesn’t listen to me.” Ben folded his arms at his chest.
“Ben—” Micah started.
“No. It’s true. You treat me like a baby. I’m eight. I’m not a little kid anymore.”
“Right now, you’re still a child.” Micah’s voice grew stern, the knotted muscle in his jaw ticking harder, faster.
Kat’s heart ached as she watched Ben’s lower lip quiver.
“I just want you to be happy.” Ben’s voice was as fragile as his bandaged body.
Okay,Kat thought. She should leave. She was Ben’s principal, not family.
“I’m happy with you,” Micah said, taking Ben’s hand. “It’s just you and me, kid. Isn’t that enough?”
Ben looked away, staring off past the tinted hospital windows. “No.”
Heart breaking, Kat took a tiny step backward. This was a private family moment and she didn’t belong, even if she’d relished the idea of being part of this group of people on the way here.
She started to back away and then her heel caught on the foot of the mobile table that held Ben’s food.Damn heels.With a high-pitched squeal, she started to fall backward, landing with a hard thud before she could even try to catch herself. All the attention turned to her, splayed on the floor in a fitted black dress, pain shooting up her body from an indistinguishable place.
“Ma’am, are you all right?” A nurse who’d witnessed the fall hurried to Kat’s side.
“I’m fine.” But that was a lie. She wasn’t fine. Her ankle had twisted in her high-heel shoe as she’d gone down. And her heart was more than a little shattered at the father-son moment she’d just watched play out. Her ego was a little damaged now, too.
She tried to stand. “Ouch, ouch, ouch!”
Taking hold of her hand, Micah helped her as she wobbled on one good leg, maneuvering her to the seat where he’d been sitting. “You two are trying to kill me tonight, aren’t you?”
“I’ll see if I can find a doctor to take a look,” the nurse said, hurrying out of the room.
Kat clutched her ankle. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”
“You were trying to leave,” Ben said. “I scared my mother away and now I’m scaring you, too.”
“No.” Kat shook her head. “That’s not it. I thought you and your dad could use some time alone.” She swallowed thickly, the ache in her chest overriding the pain in her ankle.
The door opened and a doctor wearing a white lab coat and a stethoscope walked in. “Two patients in one room, huh? Are you Ben’s stepmother?”
Kat shook her head quickly. “No.”
“Not yet.” Ben was smiling again. “But I’m working on it.”
The doctor nodded, the skin between his eyes slightly pinched, but he was too busy to ask. He grasped Kat’s ankle, causing her to flinch in pain. “Sprained,” he said efficiently. “We’ll have the nurse wrap it and get you some ice. No high heels for a few months.”
She laughed lightly. “That’s fine with me.” She might never wear high heels again. Her gaze caught on Micah’s as the doctor headed out the door. Worry replaced the hunger she’d seen in his eyes earlier in the night. A deep, impenetrable worry that she knew too well. She didn’t have children, but she worried about them. She took their fears and burdens home with her every night.
If her ankle wasn’t swelling to the size of a small grapefruit right now, she would have walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
“Did you guys at least get to kiss?” Ben asked, looking between them. “I didn’t ruin the good-night kiss, did I?”
Micah looked between Kat and his son. “You must’ve hit your head pretty hard to ask your principal a question like that one.”
Ben’s laughter was light. “I have a hard head, Dad. You should know that by now.”
Micah leaned forward and ruffled the boy’s dark hair. “Yeah. I know that. Just like your old man.”
