“Mm-hmm.” My voice is embarrassingly thin.
“Good,” he says, kissing me once more, slowly this time, like he’s branding the moment into my bones. “Because I’m taking you to dinner. I need food after that.”
He grabs his jacket, fingers lacing with mine as we leave his office, the building dim and quiet except for our footsteps echoing down the hall. We’re halfway to the elevator when his phone buzzes. He glances at the screen and everything in him changes. His whole body goes still, shoulders tensing, jaw tightening in a way I’ve never seen. He answers immediately.
“Yeah?” His voice drops, turning his back to me. “What happened?”
I can’t hear who he’s talking to on the other end, but I can feel it. Jesse’s body language is all wrong. His posture is rigid, the easy way about him just minutes ago now replaced with atension that is almost vibrating off him.
“I’m on my way,” he says, pacing the floor in short strides. “If he comes to, let him know I’m on my way.”
He hangs up and my stomach sinks. I go to him, placing my hand on his chest as instinct takes over. When he looks down at me, his eyes are unfocused and shiny. It’s the kind of look that means something is terribly wrong.
“What happened?” I ask softly. “Who was that?”
He stuffs his phone in his pocket, chest rising and falling quickly. His jaw ticks as if he’s angry, but his eyes give him away. For the first time since I met him, I see fear flicker there.
“Jesse,” I plead. “Listen to me. Whatever it is, I’m here for you, just like you’re there for me.”
He places his hand over mine against his chest and I watch as he pulls himself back together. The fear in his eyes fades, and his breathing begins to even out.
“Madeline…” he begins, then stops. Starts again. “Mads, it’s…my dad. He’s in the hospital. He was in an accident…they said he was hit by a car. I have to go.”
“Okay,” I say, holding his hand a little tighter. “I’ll drive you.”
“You don’t need to?—”
“I know.” I step closer, close enough that I can feel the tension radiating off him. “But I’m going to. I want to. Let me do this for you like I know you would do for me.”
For a second, he looks like he might argue. Then the tension in his shoulders gives, just a fraction. “Okay,” he says quietly.
I nod once, decisive, already moving us toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Outside, the night air feels cold and sharp. We walk quickly to his car, neither of us speaking, the weight of what’s coming pressing downon every step.
As he unlocks the door, I can’t stop myself. “Do you know if he’s…okay?”
“It doesn’t look good,” he says. “They said he’s in critical condition.”
Oh God. This can’t be happening.
THIRTY-SIX
Madeline
Jesse paces the narrow hospital waiting area, hands dragging through his hair, then folding across his chest like he’s trying to hold himself together. I sit, stand, then sit again, but nothing feels right.
Time blurs. We still haven’t heard anything concrete—only that his dad is in surgery with a ruptured spleen as well as a long list of broken bones. The doctors said they were hopeful. They didn’t say how hopeful.
Jesse stops abruptly and pulls his phone from his pocket. He stares at the dark screen without unlocking it. I don’t say anything, but I move closer. Close enough that my arm brushes his. Close enough that he knows I’m here. He stuffs the phone back into his jeans, the motion sharp and automatic, like he doesn’t even know why he reached for it in the first place.
Jesse hasn’t told me who called him, and I haven’t asked. I don’t want to push, but it’s hard not knowing what’s happening inside his head. I can’t imagine sitting here after years of silence, knowing the man you walked away from might not make it through the night.
It’s close to an hour later when the emergency room doors open again. A man steps inside and right behind him is Ford. He looks wrecked. His posture is tense, exhaustion written into every line of his face. It’s jarring on him. Ford Winters always looks composed and in control.
Not tonight.
He speaks briefly to the woman at the desk, then scans the room. The second his eyes land on Jesse, he heads straight for us.
