Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
But I’d done that to myself.
By disappearing when my wife and children had died, I’d essentially forced Travis to make that decision. I’d made him do something he’d never wanted to do, and for that, I’d have to deal.
A loud smack of skin against skin had my head turning in the direction of my daughter and Travis.
Mary reared back and then struck the palm of her hand against her uncle’s hand once again.
“She’s beautiful, D.”
I studied my daughter and agreed wholeheartedly.
“She saved me.”
Travis’ eyes met mine. “I know. And she’ll never know this, but I thank the lucky stars every single night for her bringing you back to us.”
Before I could reply, though, my phone rang.
I reached for it, never too far from it since the accident, even if I never answered all of the calls.
Placing the phone against my ear, I answered with a short, “Hello?”
“Mr. Hail?”
I frowned.
“Yes?”
“This is Risa Carver, a nurse at the Medical Plaza in Longview?”
I frowned. “Yeah?”
Travis caught Mary’s hand in his and studied me as I listened.
“I’m calling to let you know about Cobie?”
My entire world froze.
“Is she… is she okay?”
God, if she died, I’d feel fuckin’ terrible.
I’d thought about nothing but her over the last four days, which had prompted my trip into the office. I needed something to take my mind off of the woman, and appease the guilt that I was feeling.
Guilt that never went away.
Lily, my wife, was dead.
And I’d only made promises to her for when she was alive. But my heart didn’t agree with that.
That time that I’d slept with Marianne… it’d been a fuckin’ crazy night.
I’d been drinking. Marianne had been drinking. It’d gotten quickly out of hand.
The next morning when I’d woken up in her bed with the mother of all hangovers, the guilt had set in.
I’d slept with another woman who wasn’t my wife for the first time in almost ten years.
And now, my mind was so occupied with everything that had to do with Cobie that I could barely function.
“Oh,” the nurse apologized. “Cobie is perfectly fine. It’s just routine that we call about halfway through surgery to let loved ones know that the surgery is going okay.”
“Surgery?”
I sounded like a goddamned parrot.
“Yes, Cobie’s surgery that started at seven this morning?” the nurse said. “The double mastectomy?”
Double Mastectomy. What. The. Fuck?
She was having surgery?
“Oh, yes,” I lied. “Do they expect her out of surgery soon?”
“She has another four hours or so, they presume. You have plenty of time.”
Plenty of time for what?
“I just wanted you to know how she was doing. If anything happens between now and when they’re done, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Okay, thank you for calling.”
And then she was gone, leaving me standing there, the phone still to my ear, looking at my wall of pictures as my mind raced.
“Who was that?” Travis asked worriedly. “Surgery? What surgery? Is someone having surgery?”
I held my hand up to calm Travis’ worries. “No one you know.”
“No one I know?” he parroted. “But I know everyone you know.”
My brows rose, and I started to chuckle. “Not this girl.”
“Girl?”
My eyes met his, and once again I saw the look of shock on his face.
“Girl,” I confirmed. “Woman. She’s got cancer. I met her… I met her a few days ago.”
It would be too hard to explain to him why I knew this girl. And honestly, I didn’t feel like explaining anything more to him than I already did.
“You met a girl who has cancer a few days ago, she’s having surgery today, and they called you?” He looked confused. “If you just met her, why would they be calling you?”
That was a good question. Yet, I somehow knew why they were calling me.
Most likely, she’d put me down as an emergency contact thinking they wouldn’t call me at all. Wasn’t that usually what happened? But I knew for a fact she wouldn’t have put me down if she thought they were going to call me just for an update.
“Guess that’s a good question,” I muttered, taking one more glance around the room. Taking a deep breath, I turned my back on the wall of pictures and the emotion that was bubbling up inside of me and walked toward my brother. “We’re gonna go.”
Travis held onto Mary when I went to remove her from his arms. “I’ll keep her. I know you’re going to go. And a hospital is no place for a toddler to be.”
I didn’t know what to say.
On one hand, he was right. A hospital was a terrible place for a toddler. Hell, my office was a terrible place for Mary to be. Yet, I couldn’t quite make myself let go. She’d been my saving grace. My hail Mary. The idea of leaving her with Travis had a cold sweat blooming all over my body.