“What sign?”
“You’ll be fine.”
I chuckle. Then I close my eyes. “I’m just going to rest a little.”
“You should rest,” she says with a tenderness I don’t deserve.
I close my eyes and drift off. When I wake, my room is packed like a sardine can with people.
“Isn’t there a fire code for how many people can be in here?” I ask, my throat raspy from sleep and smoke inhalation.
Hallie smiles from her permanent spot at my side.
“Everyone came to see you, Greyson,” she says.
My baseball players form a line at Will’s command, dropping homemade card after homemade card on my tray table and saying things like, “Get well, Coach G,” and “Can I sign your cast when you get it?”
Eventually, Will takes all of them out, but Mia lingers behind with her nana and Avery.
Mia walks up to my bedside table. “I wanted to make you cookies and bring you an ice cream sandwich like the ones we made together. Remember?”
I nod. “I do.”
“Well, Nana said next time. She said you can’t eat cookies. But maybe ice cream.”
“I think I can eat cookies. But I’ll take a rain check,” I tell her.
Her face contorts with confusion.
“That means where we wait for a better time.”
“Oh. Good.” She stares at me and in the most offhanded way, she says, “I really wish you were my daddy so we could take you home and take care of you.”
My body goes still.
“Okay,” she says. “We better go because Henry Cavill will tear the place up if we leave him too long. He really likesunderwear and socks. Did you know he eats them sometimes?”
I laugh. “No. I didn’t know that.”
“Just be careful not to leave them on the floor at my house if you come over again.”
“I’ll be careful,” I tell her.
“Okay,” Hallie says, laughing softly. “Tell Coach G you’ll see him later.”
Mia looks me in the eyes and says, “Bye, Coach G. I love you!”
Then she skips out of the room, leaving the rest of the adults in stunned silence.
I glance at Hallie. She’s smiling softly.
My chest is tight like someone wrapped a band around it. Mia’s oblivious declaration unlocked the door Hallie and I have been waiting to open. Before today I would have been relieved—excited, even. Now I’m torn. I never saw the risk of my presence in Hallie’s life or in Mia’s. The fire burned through my denial. I’m not their protector. I’m the greatest threat to their stability. Hallie knew it all along. I never saw it.
The crew stops by a little later, everyone’s in their civilian clothes. Dustin brings a box of donuts from the bakery.
“Better than flowers, right, Grey?”
“Much better,” I tell him.
