“Deal.”
She turned for the door, lighter now, some of the strain easing.
I caught up to her in two strides, took her hand, and laced our fingers together without asking.
“Jamie,” I murmured at her ear. “It’s good to see that smile again.”
I squeezed her hand and didn’t let go.
DAY MINUS 5
Chapter Ten
Jamie
The day felt endless. Time crawled so slowly it sometimes seemed to slip backward altogether.
But I was fine. Everything was okay. The hours only dragged because I was stuck between four hospital walls, watching my father sleep, and Hunter was too busy to reply to my texts.
At least, those were the lies playing on a loop in my head.
Truth was, things were far from fine, and I was nowhere near good. Time felt like a vacuum because worry plagued me, stretching every moment thin.
My father hadn’t spoken a word. He hadn’t acknowledged me at all. But I’d learned his open eyes didn’t mean he was actually with me. Less and less of his time was spent lucid, and I clung to the hope that it was the medication, not the disease.
That uncertainty sent me spiraling back to the same question I’d been asking myself since I arrived. Why was I here without my son? What kind of mother leaves her child behind?
But even those heavy thoughts weren’t the ones undoing me most.
No. It was thoughts of Eric pulling me under.
The fact that he occupied so much space in my mind felt absurd. I barely knew him, and yet I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Couldn’t stop replaying the kiss we’d shared.
The sensation was imprinted on my lips, my whole body still high from the brief contact.
Worse still was the conversation I’d managed to avoid. Somehow, I’d escaped explaining the mess that was Dylan. My history with him remained buried, and part of me desperately wanted it to stay that way. The idea of laying all of it bare for Eric made my stomach knot.
But without that talk, what chance did I have of ever feeling his mouth on mine again?
That kiss had crowded out everything else. My father. My son. My carefully constructed resolve.
Everything.
The guilt was blinding. But the pleasure…oh, the pleasure.
It lingered, vivid and undeniable. Unlike anything I’d felt before. I hated how easily my mind wandered from that single kiss to all the places it could have led, and all the places it still might.
No matter how hard I tried to stop it, the desire refused to loosen its grip.
My thoughts were still drifting somewhere scandalous when Nurse Judy swept into the room, her smile so bright it felt accusatory.
“Jamie dear, it’s almost dinnertime, and there’s a remarkably handsome young man in the hallway who says he’s here to take you out to eat.”
“What?”
“I wouldn’t keep him waiting if I were you.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “He’s a fine-looking man. If you don’t hurry, another woman might try and steal him. A woman like me maybe.” She laughed, thoroughly pleased with herself.
Not waiting to see if Judy’s enthusiasm would wake my father, I slipped into the hall.
