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Hannah gathered up the empty cupcake container and the discarded wrapping paper, ushered the children out and waved one last time from the doorway.
As they headed out of the unit toward the elevator, she sent up a silent, fervent prayer that her friend—and everyone else in this center—could fight this stupid, brutal disease.
Chapter 21
The group that trudged out to his pickup truck a short time later looked very different from the excited cluster that had practically bounced through the hospital doors earlier.
The children walked slowly on either side of Hannah, shoulders drooping.
Hannah’s expression was soft but strained, the corners of her mouth turned up in a half smile she couldn’t seem to turn into a real one.
He stepped out to open the doors for them as they approached. “Everything okay?” he asked. “How is Morgan feeling?”
“She was tired when we left,” Hannah said. “But happy too. I think our visit definitely lifted her spirits.”
“Doesn’t look like it lifted anybody else’s,” he said, eyeing the kids as they climbed into the back seat with none of their earlier chatter.
She sighed, watching them buckle in slowly. “I was afraid seeing her might be even harder on the kids than not seeing her. They could hug her and talk to her, but they always knew they would have to leave her again.”
“It’s a tough situation,” he said. “I’m sorry everybody has to go through it.”
As he started the engine, his mind worked. They needed something to look forward to, even if it was small.
“I suggest we check in to the hotel,” he said as he pulled away from the hospital, “and then you guys can swim for a while. After that, we’ll find dinner.”
“I love swimming,” Carter said.
“Me too,” his sister declared.
They both sounded more animated.
When he was a kid, swimming at the hotel had always been his favorite part of any trip. Even the time his family had gone to Disney World, he and Kelsey had almost been more excited about the hotel’s massive pool than they were about getting into the parks.
“Were you able to pick up your fireplace?” Hannah asked, glancing toward the back of the truck.
He gestured to the bed of the pickup, where the box containing the fireplace unit had been loaded earlier with the help of two guys who looked like they bench-pressed small horses for fun.
“Yeah. I made it in plenty of time before they closed,” he said.
The hotel Hannah had booked for them wasn’t far from the hospital. He drove there quickly as the storm whirled more snowflakes against his windshield.
The front desk staff eyed Kodiak warily at first when Wes walked in with the dog at his side, but Hannah stepped up, her voice calm and matter-of-fact as she explained that Kodi was a K9 police officer injured in the line of duty and currently in rehabilitation.
After that, they couldn’t shower enough concern on the dog. One clerk even produced a water bowl from behind the desk, and another came around to scratch Kodi behind the ears. The dog accepted all of it with quiet dignity.
Once they made it to the family suite she had booked, a surprisingly spacious layout with two bedrooms and a shared living area, Riley and Carter immediately darted toward the suitcase.
“Can we go swimming now?” Carter asked.
“As soon as you change,” Hannah said.
She disappeared into the adjoining bedroom with them, and a few minutes later came out in a black one-piece suit with a bright turquoise swim wrap tied around her waist.
Wes shifted, wishing he had escaped to his own room or made some excuse to take the dog out again.
For years, he had done everything he could to avoid picturing her long legs and her soft curves. Now here she was, more gorgeous than ever. A sharp, familiar hunger shivered through him and he had to swallow and look away.
“You’re not swimming?” she asked.
