Page 73 of Make Your Shot
Relief floods me. Tella is okay. This is nothing like Amelia’s accident. Tella isn’t hurt and I get to take her home with me.
The woman pushes back the curtain to the small bay and tears spring to my eyes as I find Tella sitting on the center of the bed, watching a small TV screen on the wall across from her. Her head whips to the side, her eyes widening when she sees me.
“Daddy!”
Tella climbs off the bed and I rush into the room, catching her as she runs into me and lifting her up into my arms.
“Hey, baby.” I choke out the words as I wrap my arms tightly around Tella and hold her flush against my chest. I pull her away so I can quickly scan her, making sure with my own eyes that she’s unharmed. “Are you okay?”
She nods, reaching for me to pull her back against me. “It was just really scary, daddy. And you weren’t there.”
Burying my face in her hair, I breathe in her familiar comforting scent, reveling in the fact that she is okay. She’s in one piece. “I’m so sorry, T,” I murmur, holding her even tighter. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to keep you safe, but I’m here now. I promise I will never ever let anything happen to you, okay?”
“What about Mia?”
Emotion wells in my throat as I pull away from my daughter again, tears blurring my vision as I scan her face. There isn’t a single mark. “We can go see her before we leave.”
“Her head was bleeding and she fell asleep on the ground after she got me out of the car.” Tella frowns, tears welling in her eyes. “Can you keep her safe too?”
“Yes, of course, baby,” I murmur without a single beat of hesitation. It’s not the truth though. I can’t keep Mia safe anymore than I could have kept Amelia safe. The thought alone sends a spark of panic through my body. My chest hurts at the thought and my heart fights against the conflicting feeling.
Falling for Mia happened without me even realizing it but I don’t think I can do this again. I barely made it through losing Amelia and I know that there’s no way I could survive it again. If something happened to Mia, it would destroy me.
I have to let her go. She deserves to find someone who can love her without fear.
Because I know now that I can’t.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
MIA
An emptiness settles over me, a coldness seeping into my bones as I stare down at my phone, reading over the message Caleb sent me the day after the accident.
Caleb
Hey. I know none of this was your fault and I’m glad that you’re going to be okay. You should take the time to recover. Andi and Nova offered to watch Tella, so it’s probably best if you just focus on yourself getting better right now.
Rolling my lips between my teeth, I clamp down on them, my jaw hurting as my eyes grow wet. I’m such a stupid, stupid girl. I knew better than to let him in. I knew better than to trust that he wouldn’t hurt me. I knew that Caleb’s heart was fragile and that he still had a lot of healing to do on his own. Yet I handed him my own heart, thinking he would be able to keep it safe.
I never wanted him to hand it back and that’s exactly what he did. He shut me out, without giving me a chance to even rebut it. He brushed it off, as if everything was transactional. As if I were just his nanny and nothing more.
I should have expected it, especially after the way he acted when he brought Tella to check on me in the emergency room . . .
My chest expands as I suck in a deep breath, ignoring the throbbing in my knee as I adjust on the thin mattress. I’m ready to get out of the emergency room and go home where I can rest without the sounds of beeping monitors echoing down the hall.
A soft knock on the ajar door has me sitting up straighter, forcing my eyes to open as I see Tella’s small frame lingering in the doorway. “Can I come in?”
“Of course,” I breathe, relief washing over me to see her in one piece. She was fine when I last saw her before I passed out, but this confirmation that she’s okay sends a wave of comfort through me.
“Hi Mia,” Tella says, her hand clutching onto Caleb’s as they stand just inside the doorway.
“Hi Tella,” I smile as the corners of my eyes burn from the tears I’m holding back. “Caleb.”
His eyes don’t meet mine and he dips his chin. “We wanted to come make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine,” I say, my eyes searching Caleb’s ashen colored face in an attempt to will his gaze to meet mine. He stares at the end of the bed, his eyebrows knitted close together. “Just a little headache and some soreness in my knees.”
“My daddy is taking me home. Can you come with us?”
