Page 22 of Until Nalia
It doesn’t take us long to get to the hospital, and the moment we arrive, the woman at the front desk has us escorted back to a room, and not long after that, the doctor comes in to see us. When he pulls the blood-soaked towel from Zuri’s face, I force myself not to react to seeing the open wound. It’s bad, but not as bad as I thought it was, given the amount of blood she lost, but it’s still bad enough that I see a dark bruise beginning to form around it.
After ruling out the possibility of a concussion, he cleans her up and places three stitches above her brow, then tells me that I can give her Motrin for the pain and ice to help with the swelling. He sends us on our way, making sure to remind me twice to check in with her pediatrician. When we arrive home twenty minutes later, Logan helps me get her inside, then I leave him in the living room and walk her down the hall to her bedroom.
Taking a seat on the edge of her mattress after helping her change her clothes and get tucked into bed, I smooth her hair off her cheek and tuck it behind her ear.
“Rest, okay.”
“Okay,” she agrees, her eyes drowsy. “Love you, Namalama.”
“I love you, too.” I carefully kiss her forehead, then pull the blanket up around her shoulders. I want nothing more than to crawl into bed with her, but my phone has been beeping nonstop. I checked in earlier with my family, but if I don’t start responding to my messages soon, everyone is going to start showing up at my house.
Picking up her dirty clothes, I carry them to the laundry closet across the hall from her room and spray them with stain remover. I leave them to soak, hoping that they can be salvaged, then poke my head back into her room and find her already asleep. Closing her door, I head down the hall.
“She okay?” Logan asks from my couch, startling me when I walk around the corner into my living room. I don’t know why I expected him to be gone, to have left quietly while I was with Zuri. Maybe I shouldn’t have, he’s already proven without trying that he’s the kind of guy to jump in when you need him, without you ever having to ask him to help.
“She’s asleep.” I walk towards the couch, you’d think he’d look out of place in his athletic gear, ball cap, and sneakers sitting amongst my frilly pillows and the bright pops of color everywhere, but instead, he looks like he belongs in the space. “Are Cooper and Billie okay?” I take a seat next to him with my cell phone.
“They’re getting dinner with my mom; she’s going to drop them off at home when they’re done.” He leans back, rubbing his hands down his face. “They were supposed to go home with their mom after the game today and spend the weekend with her, but neither of them are comfortable around her man, so they’ve been avoiding her house and her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good, the situation is still new. Eventually, they’ll settle in; it’s just going to take time.”
“Have her and her boyfriend been together a while?”
“About a year and a half, but he just moved in with her, so that changed the dynamic; now he’s not just a guy who shows up on occasion, he’s the guy living in their space.”
“Big changes like that are hard.”
“Yeah, but I think the biggest issue is they thought their mom and I would get back together, and her moving Aaron in crushed that dream.”
“Oh,” I say lamely. I want to ask if that was a possibility, but it feels like we are entering territory we shouldn’t be in with this conversation.
When my cell phone starts to ring, and Mom appears on the screen he sees it and gets to his feet. “I’m going to take off so you can check in with your family. You have my cell number, if you need anything just call or send me a text.”
“Thanks, and thanks for everything today.” I push up from the couch.
“I’m glad I was there.”
“Me too,” I admit, and his face softens as he looks down at me.
“I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure.” I walk him to the door and open it up for him.
“Later, Nalia.”
“Later, Logan.” I hold my breath when he reaches out and touches my cheek then with my lungs burning, I watch him walk to his jeep and get in before I close the door and lock it. Only then do I answer the call from my mom.
Seven
LOGAN
Staring at my daughter, I try to process what she is telling me, but I’m so pissed that I can’t. This afternoon, with everything that happened, I didn’t think to get into what actually happened with Zuri, or how she ended up needing to go to the hospital for stitches. I knew that she said she got pushed and fell and ended up hitting her head. I didn’t know she was shoved by some boy who did it with the intention of causing her harm. And that is not something she said when we were at the hospital, and the doctor asked her what happened.
“Then the kid, like, totally laughed when he saw that she was bleeding and took off with a group of boys on their bikes, one of the boys was Jacob. He’s in my grade. I think it was his little brother who shoved her; they look almost alike.”
“You’re sure about this?” I ask, and she rolls her eyes.
