Chapter 23
West
Dr. Julian’s nurse let us in the closed clinic and had us all wait in the lobby for the doctor to arrive. I sat next to Presley, feeling bad that she still carried Nova, but my daughter was glued to her, and Presley insisted she was doing okay.
Sienna and Scarlet scampered over to the kids’ corner and played with the giant bead roller coaster even though they were probably too old for it. They were being calm and patient so far, which wasn’t always the case.
“So this guy is always on call?” Presley asked in a hushed voice.
“I guess he is. Has been since I was a kid.” I leaned over to look at my daughter’s head yet again. The bleeding had slowed, and her sobs were down to an occasional hiccup.
There was nothing worse than your kid hurting, whether it was physical or emotional. I pressed a kiss to her head, far from the wound, and checked the time, as if that would get the doctor here faster.
Presley met my gaze and took her hand off Nova for long enough to rub my upper arm briefly.
It didn’t solve a thing, but that little gesture made it seem like, for once, I wasn’t on my own with one of my daughters’ challenges, even as I worried about keeping Presley here for too long when she might’ve had other plans.
“Whenever you need to go, let me know,” I told her. “I can handle these princesses.”
“I’m up for whatever I can do to help. If that means being a human bean bag chair, I’m on it,” she joked, then kissed Nova’s forehead.
Something in my chest dipped at that sight, but I didn’t let myself think too hard about it.
“Daddy, are we gonna be here for a long time?” Scarlet asked across the room.
“It’s gonna take a bit for Doc Julian to look Nova over and mend her up.”
“I’m hungry,” Scarlet said.
“Me too,” Sienna chimed in.
That’s when the time registered. It was going on seven o’clock. String cheese didn’t go that far.
“We’ll get you some dinner soon,” I told them.
“Pizza!” Scarlet jumped up and down.
“Shh. We’ll see what time we get out of here.”
“Why don’t I take the twins to get carryout?” Presley said. “I can take them to your house until you’re done here. If it gets late, they can put their pajamas on.”
I studied her face for any reservations, because what she was offering was a lot.
Scarlet skipped over to us. “Please, Daddy? We can show her our house and our bed you made us.”
I was used to doing everything for my girls by myself, but tonight was tricky. My instinct was to question Presley again, but I saw nothing but sincerity on her face.
“Let me help,” she said, as if she could read my mind and knew my doubts.
Not even their own mother would go out of her way so much.
I knew the longer this took, the more impatient Sienna and Scarlet would become, and who could blame them? There weren’t many worse places to spend your Friday night than in the doctor’s office.
I nodded once, hoping I wouldn’t regret this, but it was for the twins’ good to accept. “If you really don’t mind, that’d help a lot. The squirrels get restless when they’re hungry. Nova, it’s time for Daddy to get his hugs now so Miss Presley can take care of your sisters.”
Nova slowly turned her head toward me, her eyes red and tear filled, cheeks pink. She started to sit up, and I reached over to take her from Presley. It wasn’t until I had my girl in my arms that I could see the red stain of blood on Presley’s shirt.
Presley noticed it the same time I did. “Oh,” she said. “That’s a problem.”
I angled Nova so I could dig in my pocket for my keys.
“There’s a sweatshirt in the back of my truck you can pull over that.
The girls can show you how to get to our place,” I said, pretending she hadn’t been there overnight two weeks ago.
I told her our usual order—no meat on Sienna’s—and went for my wallet.
“Dinner’s on me,” Presley said. “I’ve been wanting to treat these pretty girls to some pizza.”
“I’ll pay you back later,” I said.
“We’ll discuss it later. How will you get home though?”
“I’ll figure that out. If Jagger’s around, he’ll drop us off.”
“Text me if you need anything or think of anything I can do to help,” she said as she stood.
The twins raced over to her as if she were a magnet.
As Nova settled her head onto my shoulder, I met Presley’s gaze and hoped she read the gratitude in my eyes. “Thank you. Girls, Miss Presley’s in charge. Do what she says.”
Presley leaned down close, close enough I caught her sweet scent, and kissed Nova’s cheek. “You’re a brave girl, sweetie. We’ll save you some pizza and see you soon.”
“Bye.” Nova’s voice was weak, as if she was exhausted, which I was sure she was.
I watched two thirds of my trio head for the door, one on either side of Presley, just as the nurse appeared and called us back.
Nine stitches and an hour and a half later, I carried Nova into our house. The good news was she didn’t have a concussion, and Doc Julian had given her pain meds so she was more comfortable.
The kitchen was clean, with no sign of pizza or dirty dishes. I could barely make out female voices coming from the girls’ room, so I headed that way with Nova still in my arms.
The sight I came upon in their bedroom tugged at me, but I tamped that down, refusing to acknowledge it.
The lights were off except for the girls’ two reading lights in the full-size top bunk.
Stretched out in their bed between them was Presley, all of them on their backs, so wrapped up in the book Sienna was reading out loud that they didn’t notice we were home.
“Hey, ladies,” I said quietly.
Scarlet sat right up. “Hi, Daddy. Hey, Nova. How are you feeling?”
She slid down the slide from the top bunk, the serenity of thirty seconds ago gone.
“Okay,” Nova said, not lifting her head from my shoulder.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her. She hadn’t complained about it, understandably.
“Mm-hmm.”
Sienna zipped down the slide and came up to my side. “Hey, little sister. Welcome home.”
“Did you get stitches?” Scarlet asked.
I lowered Nova to the floor, trusting the twins to be gentle with her, as Presley moved to the top of the slide.
“You can use the stairs if you want,” I told her.
“Who would want to use stairs when you can slide?” she said, making the girls giggle.
Presley slid down and stood gracefully.
“Why don’t you girls take Nova to the kitchen and get her some pizza.” As they headed off, I told Presley, “Jagger’s waiting to give you a ride home.”
“Perfect. You won’t have to take the girls out again. What did the doctor say?”
I told her there was no concussion and nothing except one whopper of a cut. “We got lucky.”
“So lucky. I’m so sorry the evening ended that way, West.”
“Me too, but they had a great time until then.”
“I did too. I’ll let you get to the rest of your night. I don’t want to keep Jagger waiting.”
“Presley.” I grabbed her hand as she went past me to the living room.
She stopped and faced me.
“Thank you. I’m used to handling everything by myself. You did more for them tonight than their mother has done for them in months.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m glad I could help.”
Our eyes met and locked. I wanted to kiss her so fucking bad, but the girls’ voices in the kitchen reined me in.
Presley lifted our hands, still entwined, and kissed the back of mine. “Good night, West. I hope you all sleep extra well. And if you can’t make it to the shop tomorrow, it’s okay. Take care of your girls.”
“We should be okay. My mom will give her as much TLC as I would. Probably more.”
She dropped my hand and headed for the front door. I followed her, closed the door after her, then turned to find Sienna standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching me.
“Are you gonna marry Miss Presley, Daddy?” she asked in a quiet voice.
The question had the effect of another emergency, pumping adrenaline through me in an instant.
“No, Si-Si,” I answered, rallying my brain cells to head this off gently. “Miss Presley is a friend and a customer and that’s all. Did Nova get some pizza?”
“Scarlet’s helping her.”
“Let’s go keep her company while she eats,” I said, holding out my arm.
Sienna and I went into the kitchen, where Scarlet was pouring Nova a glass of milk as Nova answered her questions. I wouldn’t be able to recall what they said if you paid me, as my brain was in alert mode.
I was getting too comfortable with Presley. Our secret fling was spreading into real life, into my girls’ lives, and that was a nonnegotiable no, regardless of how much I liked her.
Her construction projects would both be finished in less than two weeks. I wasn’t ready to walk away cold turkey right now, but I’d make sure to be by the time the work was done. Hard stop.