Chapter 10 June
CHAPTER TEN
June
The sexy doctor put the last stitch in my niece’s hand. For the last thirty minutes, Dr. Jacobs had been nothing but sweet and comforting. I was fully convinced the man had to be married, but there wasn’t a ring on his finger—which led me and Avery to give Evie wiggly eyebrow smirks.
He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome.
Short black curls, rich brown skin, a jawline that could cut diamonds, and glasses.
He was hot enough to make me think maybe we could convince Evie to ask him out.
She already had his number, so why not go after the sexy doctor instead of pining for a bonehead like Austin?
“There we go, Laura,” Dr. Jacobs said. “You did great. You’ve been really brave. You can look at your hand now if you want, or we can get it all wrapped up.”
I was grateful for him. He’d moved to Whynot about six months ago and took over a lot of duties from Dr. Ackerman—which we were all thankful for. That crusty man had been too fucking old to still be running a hospital.
The only reason Dr. Jacobs was the one giving Laura her stitches was because Evie had texted him. Avery and I had made a side secret agreement to interrogate her about that little development.
Laura peeled her face from my side and looked at her hand. She wrinkled her nose. “Am I going to have a scar?”
“If you do, it’ll be a cool one.” He slid his chair back and opened a cabinet, pulling out a jar of candy. Laura immediately perked up. “Is it okay if she has one?” he asked me.
“Of course,” I said.
He offered a soft smile and rolled back over. Laura dug in with her other hand and pulled out a few pieces of candy. None of us stopped her. At this point, I was content to give her whatever the fuck she wanted after this nightmare.
Dr. Jacobs looked over at Evie. She leaned against the wall next to Avery, her blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun. All three of us had a little bit of blood on our clothes, but somehow she still looked chic.
Dr. Hotness couldn’t take his eyes off Evie as he stood up and started righting everything in the room. “We’ll get everything squared up and out of here. Laura should rest this evening, and so should all of you after today’s events.”
Hot. Smart. Caring. I gave Evie a pointed look, then smoothed down Laura’s hair as she leaned back into me.
“We’ll be doing a movie night. How does that sound?” I asked her.
Laura nodded as I opened a small pack of M&M’s for her. “Has my dad texted?” she asked.
I’d texted him about fifty times and had yet to hear back. I checked my phone briefly, and swallowed hard. Still no answer.
“I’m sure his phone is just on do not disturb for work.” It was a lame fucking excuse. I really fucking needed Laura’s insurance card. “I’ll be right back, okay? Avery and Evie will stay with you and help you open candy.”
“Okay.”
Avery and I switched spots. I stepped out of the small room and felt all of the emotions I’d been keeping in check rush through me.
Dr. Jacobs lingered in the hall with me. “You’re doing good, June. She’ll be okay. Kids always bounce back. They’re almost invincible at this age.”
“Yeah.” I slumped against the wall, trying to keep my tears in check. “I need to get a hold of her dad.”
“Ethan, right?” he asked.
Perks and downfalls of being in a small town. I nodded. “Yeah. I haven’t heard back from him yet. I don’t know what to do.”
He grimaced. “I think he’ll need to be the one to get her signed out since he’s the parent. Unless you’re also a legal guardian?”
“I’m not.” I should have been at this point.
He nodded slowly, rocking on his heels. “I’m sorry. I have a younger brother that stresses me out like this too sometimes. It can be a lot.”
“How’d you know he’s younger?” I chuckled.
“I know a stressed eldest child when I see one.”
Ouch. Well, so much for keeping the mask on. My head bumped against the wall and I swallowed hard. “It’s tough. Thank you for being so good with Laura. You didn’t need to be the one to come do this, I’m sure you’re busy.”
“Thankfully a town this small doesn’t have too much going on most of the time,” he said. “And I’d do anything to get Evie’s attention.”
I grinned. So, I’d been right about the chemistry there. He definitely had a thing for Evie. “Well, I’ll see what I can do in that department as one of her best friends.”
Dr. Jacobs beamed. “Wouldn’t say no to the help. Let me know if you need anything else. Hopefully I won’t see you here again.”
“Hopefully not. If you ever need flowers, stop by my shop.”
“Does Evie like flowers?”
“She likes back massages.”
His brows show up as a head poked around the corner of the doorway. He slid his hands behind his back as if he’d been caught.
Avery winced. “Laura is still asking about Ethan.”
Fuck. “Okay. Let me call him again.”
“I’ll leave you to it,” Dr. Jacobs said. “A nurse will be over in a couple minutes.”
I watched him go. Avery joined me against the wall, her hip bumping mine. “You okay?” she whispered.
“No,” I said. “Not at all. I want to kill my brothers right now. I’m mad at myself. All of us need to change clothes and I just don’t even know what to do right now.”
“I can send Mateo over to find Ethan if you want. Levi can go with him.”
I considered it for a moment. “No. I need him to come here himself.”
She nodded and didn’t leave my side as I pulled out my phone and called my brother again.
Voicemail. But now, it was full, because I’d called him numerous times already.
Dread curled through me as I called again. And again. And again until I felt tears threatening to fall. Avery slipped her hand in mine, giving me a gentle squeeze as we waited.
Finally, on the tenth call, Ethan picked up. “Hello?”
He sounded groggy. Why did he sound groggy? “Ethan,” I hissed. “Where the fuck are you? Why haven’t you checked your text messages? I’ve been texting and calling.”
“What . . . why?”
My eyes squeezed shut. I was so close to snapping. So fucking close. “I had to take Laura to the emergency room. She’s okay, but she had to get stitches.”
“What? What the fuck?” I heard a spark in his voice, but it wasn’t anger. It was fear. “Fuck, June. Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?”
He drew in a deep breath, not immediately answering. Not asking about Laura. Not asking what happened—
“I’ve been late on the insurance payments so we aren’t covered right now.”
“Fuck,” Avery muttered next to me. She’d heard every word.
I closed my eyes slowly. The gut wrenching worry only got worse.
“You know how to sew—”
“I would never sew my niece’s hand, Ethan,” I said, every word carrying a deadly vehemence. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? Why didn’t you tell me about this? Why didn’t you ask for help? Where the fuck have you been?”
“I’ve been asleep.”
Hadn’t he told me he’d picked up a shift today? Why was he sleeping?
“I’m sorry. I . . .” The pain in his voice hurt me, but all of my sympathy had been squeezed dry.
“While you’ve been asleep, I’ve been parenting your child. Who has asked for you several times because you are her father.”
“You’re better at parenting—”
“I’m not her mom.” I kept my voice low. The anger coursing through made me tremble. “I don’t know what you want to happen here.”
“You could always legally adopt—”
“Ethan. I will stick my foot so far up your ass you will need brain surgery if you finish that sentence. I need you to come up to the hospital and sign paperwork,” I said calmly. “I will take care of the money part.”
Avery’s eyes went wide. “June.”
I shook my head at her and waited for Ethan to respond. Finally, he blew out a breath.
“I’ll be there in fifteen.”
“And not a minute after, or there will be hell.”
I hung up and pressed my hands to my eyes. Avery let out a soft curse and pulled me into a hug, squeezing me tight.
“It’s too much,” she whispered. “You’re doing way too much.”
“What other choice do I have? She doesn’t deserve this.”
Avery nodded in agreement. I squared my shoulders and met my friend’s gaze.
“Thank you for being here,” I said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you and Evie. You’re my family.”
“I love you,” she said. “We’ll get through this. I’ll try not to break your brother’s nose.”
Fifteen minutes turned into an hour. By the time my brother finally graced us with his presence, Avery, Evie, and I were all holding each other back for various reasons.
I met him in the waiting room. His expression had already fallen, his eyes refusing to meet mine. I knew I looked pissed off right now, and I was.
“We’re going to get this sorted,” I told him. “And then we need to figure out what the fuck we’re doing.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his head. “What even happened?”
“We were at my shop and she was using some scissors, and they slipped.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What was she working on?”
“Ribbons.” A chip in my armor. This was my fault. I felt it, he certainly seemed to think it now, and the guilt was going to consume me. “She wanted to do something.”
Ethan grimaced. “Well. Don’t let her do anything like that again. I can’t afford this.”
“You aren’t the one affording it,” I snapped. “And Laura is old enough to start helping out when she wants to. It was fun for her.”
“Coming to the hospital is fun for her? Really?”
My jaw stiffened. I felt a few eyes on us. People were curious about what the Moore siblings were arguing about.
Part of me was tempted to give them a full show, but I didn’t want to end up in a jail cell after the whirlwind of today.
So instead, I forced myself to breathe. “We can argue later,” I said. “Right now, we need to take care of Laura. Okay?”
Ethan nodded, giving into the momentary truce. “All right.”
“But for the love of god, please go give her a hug after this. She needs you.”
“I will. But can you still have her over tonight?”
“Yeah.” My voice was barely a whisper. “Of course.”