Chapter 38
Dalton
POOR MAE WON’T BE playing guitar any time soon, but I’m just thankful she has any future at all.
After seeing the photos from the crash and how scraped up she was from it, I feared the worst. By some miracle, she escaped with a fractured wrist and a significant amount of gashes from shattered glass and twisted metal.
It’s hard knowing that it has become my job to protect her, and I wasn’t there before or during the accident.
The only saving grace is that I can be here now as more and more attention is put on her.
I’ve already had to kindly escort a few looky-loos away from her door.
They’ve since covered up the small window to give her some privacy.
Raleigh sits beside her, holding her uninjured hand—the one that strums. She’s apologized profusely for not being there to take her calls and messages, but Mae never once blames her or asks her where she was.
She merely reassures her and rubs her hand in hers.
They’re comforting each other in the ways that they need most, and it’s something that lifts my spirit. A unified team once again.
Their conversation eventually turns from Mae’s wellbeing to what happened.
Mae explains the call she’d gotten from Trenton telling her that their breakup was a mistake and that he wanted her back in a way he never had before.
“…I was so mad, Raleigh. So mad,” Mae says through gritted teeth.
“I was angry at him for how he called me, angry at myself for letting him have that much control over my emotions, and I just wanted to tell him off. I wanted to finally take control of my life again. I guess in trying to do that all the emotion took over and I suddenly became numb. I suddenly didn’t care anymore; it wasn’t worth the drive. ”
“But, you tried!” Raleigh says, sitting up straighter and putting both hands around Mae’s. “You did the right thing and turned around.”
“And now I look like this,” Mae says through a desperate laugh.
“He called me when I turned around.” She gulps.
“I told him we could talk about it in the morning. He yelled at me, like a child. Like all the times he’s done before, but this time it actually hurt me.
I thought he was still on the line when the crash happened, but I can’t remember.
He wasn’t the one to call 911, a police officer on patrol stumbled upon us, or that’s what they told me.
” Both women fight back tears until there is nothing more to do.
They embrace, and I quietly slip back out the door into the bustling hospital hallway.
There will be a lot for them to figure out together, things I can’t quite help with.
I’ve wanted to throttle Trenton Travers many times during my time in Nashville, but never more than I have wanted to at this moment. To distract myself from the unsavory thought, I post myself next to Mae’s door and don’t move until Raleigh comes out a short time later.
“She’s asleep,” Raleigh whispers as she closes the door shut softly behind her. “Do you mind staying here for a few minutes? I need to find an outlet and make a call.”
“Of course,” I say, stepping to the side to give her the necessary space. “Is there anything I can do?”
Her doe eyes find mine and she shakes her head. “Please don’t take any offense to this, but I think I need to go call Grant.”
“Oh,” I answer without thinking about it. “I mean, you’re, uh, entitled to do that.” She looks ashamed, but when her hand rests on the bare skin of my arm, I realize that she’s calling him for reasons that are not threatening to me or anything we have going.
She glances behind her at the door. “I just, I think I finally understand why he left, and he deserves an apology.”
I don’t question her logic or her need for doing it right in this second when we have a media nightmare on our hands.
Seeing someone you love escape death can do funny things to you.
Wanting to do nothing more than be there for her, I cover her hand with mine and lean forward to kiss her jaw. “Take as much time as you need.”
The smallest of smiles replaces her nervous look, and she slowly peels herself away from me. I find myself watching her, even as she extends her distance down the long hallway and even after the large fireproof door to the waiting room closes.