A hospital employee gets on. “Did you mean to come to the basement?”
I shake my head.
“Going up?”
“Yes, please.” I push the button for ground level parking. “Sorry. It’s been a day.”
“Maybe take a few breaths before you get behind the wheel. Okay, ma’am?”
“Yeah. I will, thanks.” I muster a smile.
“I see it all the time,” the man says. “Lots of folks go through some pretty tough things here. Some good. But we see a lot of uncertainty. Loss. Bad news. Just don’t drive if you’re not feeling solid. We don’t want to be making a bed for you tonight.”
“I won’t drive unless I’m able,” I promise him. “And, thank you.”
I walk to my van, clicking the fob and climbing into the front seat.
Was Greyson dismissing our future with that wave of his hand over his broken leg?
I sit in the driver’s seat, staring out at the dark parking lot.
Mia has no idea what she did today—in her own childlike way, she lifted all my doubt about how she would respond to me dating Greyson.
He’s not Danny. I never thought he was. But I still let my fear draw lines for me.
Greyson wasn’t going anywhere. He wouldn’t hurt us.
Washington, DC.Why is he considering that option now? And why wouldn’t he have told me before today?
I won’t relocate Mia again—not this year. Not when she’s just acclimating to her new school, finally making friends, and adjusting to life in Waterford.
But if Greyson and I continue to see one another, and he wants to take the job in DC that badly, we’ll work it out.
Mia adapted to this move. She’d adapt to DC if that was what was best for us going forward. We’d be leaving Mom and Avery. But, for Greyson, I would do it.
That is, if he wants that future with us.
I stare up at the third floor where Greyson is sleeping.
He just endured the fire. Maybe that remote look in his eyes and the hesitation in his voice are just the aftershocks of trauma.
I take a shuddering breath. A tear slips down my cheek.
I know Greyson.
He’s solid—resiliant and steadfast.
The man I saw in the hospital bed is not the man who ran ahead of me into the mill.
Something shifted in the fire.
I had taken his certainty for granted. Now I can’t tell if he’s still sure about us.
I take a few breaths and call my sister.
“Hey,” she answers on the first ring. “Where are you?”
“Hospital parking lot. I’m about to drive home. A worker told me to take a minute before I drive.”
