“She’ll be okay. The nurse said it’s probably just a sprain.”
Instead of calming her down, her eyes became more frantic. Then she stood as if her body were still running on adrenaline and began to pace. “She’s been having dizzy spells, could this be from that?”
“Maybe. You should set up an appointment with her general practitioner and have them run some tests to be sure.”
“I’ll do that as soon as I get home. But how am I supposed to take care of her while we’re on the set?”
“We can hire someone,” Jack said from his chair in the corner.
“No way. It’s just been me and Opal since my mom died and she’s always taken care of me. Now it’s my turn to care for her, television show or not.”
“How about the friend she’s staying with?” Jessika asked.The staff had decided to steer clear of the waiting room, so she’d taken a seat beside Jack.
“Rosalie? She’s seventy-seven, uses a walker, is half deaf, and thinks that Channing Tatum is her reincarnated husband. You have no idea how many times I’ve had to watchMagic Mikewith her.”
“Is there any other family who can step in until we wrap?” Decker asked quietly.
Poppy stopped and shook her head. “It was just the three of us until my mom died. And my dad walked a long time ago. When he did, Opal disowned him as her nephew.”
“So, Opal is your dad’s aunt, and she stepped in to help raise you when he left?”
“Yup. She said he was always a spoiled little shit who had an ego the size of Texas. She would have written him off earlier, but then he married my mom, and I came along so she put up with him to keep a relationship with me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that about your dad.”
“That’s okay.” As if her legs couldn’t hold her anymore, she plopped down next to him on the bench. “I’m glad he walked before I was old enough to miss him. I mean, I missed him, but it wasn’t like I was in my teens and lost him.”
“How old were you?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“I was eight.”
Of course he already knew this information because Miles had told him. But hearing it from her mouth seemed to bring them closer.
“Then my mom passed when I was ten.”
Decker’s gut turned sour. He couldn’t imagine growing up without either parent. Losing his dad almost broke him, to the point that he started having panic attacks. He couldn’t fathom also losing his mom so soon after—not having family to lean on. He and Brian might not be in the best space right now, butif push came to shove, they’d be there for each other in a heartbeat.
“What happened?”
“It was silly, really, and happened a long time ago.” Contrary to her words, the tone in her voice said the pain felt like it had happened yesterday.
“But it still must hurt.”
She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “I guess you never get over the feeling that you’re not enough when your dad walks away over a stupid rumor.”
“A rumor?”
“Yeah, he heard a rumor that my mom was having an affair, which she was not. My dad wouldn’t believe her no matter how hard she tried to reassure him. They fought for weeks, him always yelling, my mom always pleading for him to listen to reason. He said she was using me to manipulate him to stay.”
“Jesus,” he whispered, wondering what kind of father would leave his child in that kind of situation.
“Then one night, I was sitting at the top of the stairs eavesdropping and he said that he probably wasn’t even my dad. Which is ridiculous, because we have the same eyes. The next morning, I woke up and he was gone.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“Besides the other week? I was twelve and asked him to have a paternity test done, but he didn’t respond. He’d already moved on to his new family.” The last part came out a hoarse whisper.
“Family doesn’t move on, Angel. Biological or not, that guy was never a real dad. But no kid should ever have to feel as if they weren’t wanted.”
