Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
EVERLY
I had arrived at Marina De Ferrier Memorial Hospital just as Dr. Logan Evans had come on shift. He spotted me and Noah and checked the queue. It was the Emergency room for a small-town hospital, it rarely got busy outside of a Friday and Saturday night.
He waved me to a bed and told me to wait while he attended to the other people ahead of me in the queue.
I didn’t mind at all. I had checked and my daughter was safe.
Aidan, as well as her best friends Grace and Owen, were with her in the waiting area.
She was content to wait as long as I got my hand seen to.
Bex was still in surgery and would be for quite a while.
A doctor had been out to tell the family that surgery was going well but it was still a ways to go.
Fortunately, neither bullet had hit anything major.
He spouted a lot of detail that meant nothing to me, but obviously meant something to the people who had been shot in the abdomen before.
Both Mason and Noah seemed to have specific questions.
The doctor looked a little shell shocked to be confronted with such a large party of loved ones and as he walked off he mumbled something about Dr. Evans.
I assumed Logan had handled the overwhelming family on a previous occasion.
The blue curtain slipped open, and Logan stepped into space. “Ev, Noah, what brought you to the ER?
“Here for some chit chat, Doc.” Noah’s sarcasm was not necessary, but it got the point across.
I showed him my wrist. “The guys want me to get this taken care of before it gets infected. Is that actually a thing?”
“Not as common as TV shows would have you believe. But it does happen” He tugged on a pair of surgical gloves before lifting my wrist. “How did this happen?”
I looked at Noah and he gestured for me to continue talking. “Uhm, Trey handcuffed me to the car door and then tried to break the handle when he couldn’t find the key.”
“Trey? As in the new guy at Salinger Security. Is he the one stalking you?”
“Yes.” I frowned as it dawned on me that Logan had no idea what had happened in the last few hours. “Has no one called you?”
“I went back to sleep after I finished with the SEALs. I woke up to a few missed calls from Mason. But I was running late and didn’t get a chance to call him back.” Concern laced those dark features of his as he took my wrist and started dabbing some red liquid on it. “Why? What happened?”
Again, I looked at Noah. I didn’t want to be the one to deliver bad news. Especially not to Logan. He was my friend, we hung out together.
Noah stepped forward. “Why don’t you finish with Everly and then I’ll tell you the story.”
Logan glared but didn’t say anything. The tension in the room was at an all-time high but Logan was a professional and with the utmost care and patience had my wrist bandaged in no time.
As he secured the fabric, he looked up at me. “Now, tell me what happened today?”
I told him the story, starting with the mail at our front door. And then Bex taking me and Sky for a drive, spotting Trey at the delivery guy’s house. Noah filled in information as they had received it as well, giving Logan a better overall picture than either of us had at the time.
“When he saw Bex with me outside that Neville guy’s house, he knew he had been caught.” I paused trying to hold off as long as possible from delivering the news. “Bex was the only thing stopping him from taking me. So, he shot her. Twice.”
Color drained from Logan’s caramel skin “He shot her?”
I nodded. “Twice.” There was no logical reason why I needed to reiterate that part, but I had no idea what else to say.”
“Where is he?”
Noah put a hand on his shoulder. “Dead. Scott Waite shot him in the temple when he refused to let Ev go.”
“Good.” He looked at my hand. “Where is she?”
“Operating Room Two. The family is in the waiting area on the second floor.”
Logan pulled off his gloves and pulled his script pad from his lab coat. He scribbled something down. “I’m prescribing antibiotics as a precaution. I’m also suggesting a sleeping pill in case you have some issues over the next few weeks, and I am recommending you speak to a therapist.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I will do as you suggest. Logan are you—“
Before I could finish my question, he spoke again. “Now, if no one minds I need to check on — oh, who the fuck am I kidding. I need to check on the most important person in my life.”
With that he left. Noah helped me gather my things once more before we made our way to the hospital drugstore. He had me sit and wait while he went and got my meds.
Shiloh, who was the only one of the kids who could drive, met me on the way to the waiting area where the kids were hanging out. “Everly. Noah. I just wanted to make sure that we’re still on for the sleepover at your place tonight. We’re making pancakes in the morning.”
“Oh, my God.” I turned to Noah. “It’s my daughter's birthday tomorrow and I completely forgot. What kind of mother am I?”
Noah frowned at me. “The kind who had a bit of a challenging day. You didn’t forget. Unless the presents we spoke about before I left are still at the store.”
“No. Everything’s ready. I got her the phone speaker you suggested and another duffle bag.” I turned to Shiloh. “I even got a pancake mix in case that is what you girls need. At least, I know you will if Sky is doing the cooking.”
“No, Mags and I make the mix from scratch.” Shiloh looked really pleased at that idea. “If it’s too much trouble after the day you had, we can postpone or move it to our house.”
I shook my head. “No, and no. It's her birthday tomorrow and we’ll do it at our house. She’s been looking forward to it for weeks. After the day we’ve had, we need a little happiness in our lives.”
As I turned the corner, the sight before me filled my heart.
My kid was not going to private school. While I had no doubt she could and would make friends while she was there.
Those would not be her people. The ones surrounding her were.
The family that we chose. Grace and Owen obviously begged someone to bring them to the hospital to be with Sky.
Aidan hadn’t left her side from what everyone had told me.
Even Jason, her dance partner, was there.
His mother was sitting a bit away, but I understood her need to bring him.
Sky was his only friend, and his mother wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.
“Mom.” Her smile was wide. “I am still doing my sleepover tonight. I know you had a bad day, but Grace said we can do it at her house if you’re not okay with us hosting.”
“Sweetheart, it's your first birthday at your dad’s house. Of course, we’re doing it there.” I looked up at Noah hoping that he agreed with me.
He frowned at me. “Yes. It's her home. That’s exactly where she should be having sleepovers. It's your home, too.”
“We’ll talk about that in a second.” I looked back down at my daughter. “Shi will take you and Grace back to their place, and then you will come back to our house when your dad and I get home. We just want to get another update about Bex, okay.”
“Cool. Give the family a hug from me.”
Jason leaned forward in his seat and frowned at Sky. “Is the sleepover just for girls?”
Her eyes softened. “Yes. It's a tradition that Shiloh started with her sisters and included me.”
The kid's face fell, and I could see the disappointment seep into every bone of his body. I wanted to tell them to forget the girls only rule. All Jason wanted was to be included.
I didn’t have to, though. Aidan looked up from the corner where he was doing something on his iPad. “You can hang with me and Owen, if you want.”
Jason’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” Aidan sounded as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I mean, I don’t know what girls do at sleepovers, but Owen will bake. His brother is a jock and hardly home, but he’s cool enough I suppose. If you need to rehearse for champs or something we can move furniture and make space for you.”
With a quick nod from his mother Jason had a smile on his face that rivaled Skylar’s. And a quick look over at her and the look she gave Aidan, it was safe to say her crush wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
With another hug from both me and Noah, I left the kids to hangout knowing they were safe with Jason’s mother watching them.
I looked up at Noah, smiling. “That was nice of Aidan to make sure Jason was included.”
“Got to hand it to the kid.” He placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer. “He's playing a long game.”
“You’re so dramatic.” I bumped my hip against his. “Can’t he just be doing something nice without having an ulterior motive?”
He twisted his lip as he gave my question some thought.
“It's not an ulterior motive. Not really. Jason being left out made Sky uncomfortable and he didn’t like that. He didn’t do it to make her like him.
At least, I don’t think he did. He did it because it made her feel better.
Big difference. That kid is making it very difficult for me to not like him. ”
We arrived at the second floor waiting area, just as the doctors had come out of the OR. Mason was standing next to Logan. I got the distinct impression that he was keeping his best friend standing.
I hurried along as the doctor started speaking.
He had taken off his scrub cap, and wore only his scrubs.
“She’s in ICU and she’s stable. She’s not awake yet but the surgery went well.
I’m not going to lie. Even for someone as fit as her, the recovery will be long.
I’ll allow one person to see her at a time.
She’ll wake when she’s ready, so please don’t be disappointed if you go in there and she’s still asleep. ”
I let out a sigh of relief. My friend was going to be okay. She would bitch and moan through her recovery and want to rush things, but none of us would let that happen.