Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
MARCO
She was pulling away again. The chill coming off her felt like needles jabbing into my skin. She was good at pretending everything was fine, but I’d felt the shift. I just didn’t know what the fuck happened to bring it on.
I’d gotten through last night. I knew it. The whole concert, I’d held the real Gypsy in my arms, and it was the real Gypsy that came undone for me only hours later.
Then it happened. She retreated back behind that goddamn fortress.
I woke up this morning and reached for her just like I’d done more than once in the night, only the last time, my hand encountered nothing but cool sheets.
I’d sat up and listened as the shower cut off, and a minute later she came out in a cloud of steam, a towel wrapped around her head and a thick terrycloth robe covering almost every inch of her body.
“Morning,” she’d offered with a smile. That was when I saw the hardness was back in her eyes.
“Why didn’t you wake me? We could’ve showered together,” I said, trying to coax her back out. But it had been no use.
“It’s already close to checkout. Didn’t think we’d have time since we need to get on the road.”
On the road? What the hell was she talking about? “I was gonna take you around the city. Show you some of the sights.”
For a second, I thought I saw a glimmer of excitement, but she quickly snuffed it out. “I should really get back to the kids. And I already called Odette to tell her when she should expect us.”
Just like that, she’d quickly and efficiently put an end to our time alone together.
We’d checked out of the hotel and started the drive back to Hope Valley. She talked and didn’t shy away from my need to touch her, but she was only a shadow of the real Gypsy. A vague facsimile of the woman I had last night was holding my hand now.
And fuck if that didn’t piss me off.
“Ooh, there!” she cried, pulling me from my morose thoughts. “Would you mind pulling over there?” I looked to where she was pointing and saw the sign for a chain coffee shop. “I’m in desperate need of caffeine. I won’t make it back to town without a boost.”
I took the exit off the interstate and made my way into the parking lot. She still let me hold her hand on the way into the coffee shop, but she kept at least a foot of space between our bodies, making it impossible for me to hold her flush against me like I wanted.
I knew the anger burning in my gut was irrational, but I couldn’t help it. She’d given me a taste of everything I wanted last night, then ripped it away only hours later.
I wanted it back, goddamn it.
We moved forward with the line in silence until we reached the register.
“Hi,” Gypsy chirped to the girl behind the counter, offering her a smile. “Can I get a caramel macchiato with an extra shot?”
The girl hit some keys on the register before looking to me. “And for you?”
“Large Americano with two sugars. Thanks.”
She rang up our order and announced the total, and Gypsy moved like lightning, pulling her wallet out of her purse.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my tone injected with more indignation than I’d intended, but for Christ’s sake, we’d had this particular argument more than once already. “Put your wallet away.”
“Marco,” she started stubbornly. “I can pay for a couple coffees. It’s not a big deal.”
My eyebrows dipped, a deep frown digging into my forehead. “Never said you couldn’t. But you aren’t paying now.” I retrieved my wallet while she continued to argue.
“You’ve already spent enough on me this weekend. That hotel couldn’t have been cheap. And that’s not even counting all the money you’ve spent on me and my family the past couple months.”
Pulling out a twenty, I passed it to the girl and shot Gypsy a harsh look. “For Christ’s sake, you act like I’m keeping a tally or something.”
I took the change the now-nervous barista handed back, slipping a couple bills into the tip jar before moving off.
“I didn’t say you were keeping a tally,” Gypsy carried on as we moved to the side to wait for our order. “It’s just… too much. It’s all too much. I can’t ask you for anything more.”
“You didn’t ask me for anything, Gypsy.” You never do. Your pride won’t allow you to ask me for a goddamn thing, I left unsaid, the ugly thoughts leaving a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Marco—”
“One Americano, two sugars, and one caramel macchiato with an extra shot?” the barista interrupted, placing two paper cups on the counter. I grabbed both, handing Gypsy hers, and started for the exit, ignoring the fact she’d been trying to say something.
Gypsy
The rest of the drive felt like it took an eternity, and once we reached the town limits, I breathed a sigh of relief. The tense silence that had plagued the entire trip home was too much to bear. I felt like the walls were closing in on me, and the urge to run was palpable.
While my heart ached with the desire to make things better between Marco and me, I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Fear kept them lodged firmly in my throat.
We were ten minutes from home when my cell phone started going off. Seeing Odette’s name flash across the screen, I answered the call and put the phone to my ear.
“Hey, Detty.”
“Darlin’, where are you right now?”
There was something in her voice that made my stomach sink and the hairs on my arm stand on end. “Just a few minutes away. Why? What’s up?”
“Okay, first, let me just start off by sayin’ that everything is gonna be all right.”
Her reassurance only worried me that much more. “Odette, what’s going on?”
“Holly had a little accident. We’re at Mercy right now getting her looked at.”
My back went ramrod straight. My stomach revolted, and a wave of nausea crashed into me so strong it made my head spin and my skin clammy. “You’re at the hospital?” I shouted. I vaguely noticed Marco’s head shoot around to me, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything but Odette at that moment.
“Calm down, child. Like I said, everything’s gonna be just fine. The doctors think she broke her arm, so they’ve taken her back for an X-ray.”
Her words suddenly faded beneath the roar of blood rushing through my ears. The edges of my vision began to darken as black crept in, and for some strange reason, my lungs felt like they were on fire.
“Christ. Gypsy, baby, breathe.”
Okay, so that explained the sudden burning tightness in my chest. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until Marco’s voice broke through. I jerked my head around when he took the phone from me and put it up to his ear.
“Odette? Yeah, you got Marco. Tell me what’s going on.” He paused as she spoke. “Okay. Yeah.” Another pause. “All right, Detty, just hang tight. I’m bringing her there now.”
He disconnected the call and stuffed the phone into one of the cupholders in the console between us before casting his eyes my way. “Just hold on, Gypsy. Everything’s going to be all right. I promise.”
I didn’t say a word, because the truth was, I wasn’t sure I believed him.
I barely gave Marco a chance to come to a complete stop before jumping out of the Cherokee and rushing toward the entrance of the hospital.
Marco caught up to me when I nearly ran into the glass doors, moving faster than they could slide open.
“Girasol, you need to calm down,” he said placatingly, taking my hand in his.
I whipped my head around and wrenched my hand free as I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t tell me to calm down,” I snapped. “This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t left in the first place.”
He blanched at the accusation riddled through my words.
If I were being honest with myself—which I wasn’t—I felt like an asshole for putting this all on him.
But years of ingrained behavior was impossible to change overnight, and going on the attack when I was frightened or backed into a corner was my MO.
I wanted to take it back the moment I said it, but my goddamn pride was my biggest downfall, and at that moment, I couldn’t think of anything but getting to Holly.
I was so panicked I couldn’t form a single rational thought.
Those kids were my life, and if anything ever happened to them… . I couldn’t even finish that thought.
Running into the emergency room, I charged the desk like a madwoman, slapping my hands on the ledge and causing the nurses behind it to jump. “Holly Bradbury.”
“E-excuse me?” the flustered woman in scrubs asked, looking at me like I was insane. It was fitting, considering I was seconds away from losing it.
“Gypsy.” I whipped around at the sound of a familiar voice.
The sight of Temperance was momentarily obstructed when my hair whipped into my face, but I quickly brushed it out of my way.
Seeing her now helped to wash away some of the anxiety that had sunk its claws deep inside me.
Not only was she one of my very best friends, but she was also an incredible nurse.
I knew if she was watching over Holly, my precious girl was going to be okay.
“She’s back here, honey. Come on, I’ll take you to her. ”
I headed down the corridor, allowing Tempie to take my hand in a show of comfort as she guided me along the curtained-off emergency room bays. We stopped at the third on the left, and she pulled the curtain aside.
“Gypsy!”
“Hey, doodlebug!” My breath hitched when I saw her.
She looked too tiny on that bed. I gave her my biggest, brightest smile as I rounded the hospital bed and stopped at her side.
Her arm was being held in a sling, and as I reached up to push her golden blonde hair from her face, I nearly broke down.
There was a cut on her forehead held together with butterfly strips, and her ruddy cheeks were streaked with dried tears.
My poor baby. “How are you feeling, sweetie?”
“I’m okay” she chirped. “They gave me a sucker before I got X-trayed.”
“X-rayed,” I corrected.