27. Summer
CHAPTER 27
Summer
J ared and I sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs in a private recovery room, watching Emma sleep in yet another hospital bed. Emma’s surgery went well, and her doctor told us to let her rest as much as possible for the next few days.
While we stand sentry over our girl, a nurse bustles into the room. Her brightly colored, floral-patterned scrubs contrast with her sienna skin. She sees the lights are low and quiets her steps. “If you two want to run down and grab a bite for dinner, you should do that. I doubt Emma will even wake up for the next few hours. If she does, I can tell her you two will be right back. I’m happy to stay with her for a half hour or so before I head out. My shift is over soon anyway,” she whispers. She takes Emma’s vitals without disturbing her—a trick that only a pediatric nurse could pull off.
“Are you sure?” Jared asks quietly.
“Of course. I don’t mind at all. I can catch up on some charting while I’m in here, and I’ll just give one of you a call if she wakes up.” The nurse heads toward the computer at the front of the room.
Jared’s stomach grumbles loudly in the near-silent room. “ Come on, we’ll grab something from that cafe across the road. We’ll eat and be back before she knows it,” I say. I stand and let out a quiet groan, stretching out muscles that have been hunched over all day.
“You two go on, I got her,” the nurse says, waking up the computer with a jiggle of the mouse.
Jared and I sit across from each other in a little cafe called The Drip. Apparently, it was opened by former doctors-turned-business owners who wanted to capitalize on the nearby hospital. The logo adorning every cup of coffee is an IV bag, the name of the place made to look like a medication tag.
I have a side salad and turkey club in front of me while Jared wolfs down a huge pastrami on rye. I don’t know how he can even eat right now. Maybe because he wasn’t the one who had to catch vomit all day and see our daughter so sick. The way she was curled in on herself in pain is an image that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I stir my iced chai with the straw before taking a small sip. It’s delicious, but I barely register it. The adrenaline from the day is finally wearing off, leaving me feeling completely drained.
“Are you going to eat or what? We don’t have a ton of time, and anyway, you’re not usually one to turn away from a meal,” he seems to catch himself with his sandwich halfway to his mouth. He points at me with it, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I just mean you never used to skip meals.” At my eye roll, he continues, “Not that you should! It’s just not like you.”
I decide to put him out of his misery, because watching him flounder is only fun for so long, “It’s fine. I’m going to eat. I just still feel a little sick to my stomach. Rough day. Worse for Emma obviously, but it was really hard to see her like that and to know there was nothing I could do.” I stab my fork into a plump cherry tomato before popping it in my mouth .
“I can’t imagine. I’m sorry you had to do it alone,” he says sympathetically.
“Luckily I wasn’t completely alone, but yeah it was hard.” I think of how terrible it would have been if Ryan hadn’t been there to keep me calm when we were on the way to the hospital, or to distract me when they took her back for surgery.
Jared wipes his mouth with his napkin and sits back, focusing his dark eyes on me. “Yeah, about that. I don’t like that you went behind my back and had him meet Emma.”
“Are you kidding me right now? Of all the shit to happen today, your takeaway is that I shouldn’t have asked my boyfriend to drive our sick daughter to the hospital when I was out of other options?”
“So now he’s your boyfriend?” He scoffs before sucking down his cold brew like it personally offended his mother. “Doesn’t matter I guess. I told you I wasn’t comfortable with him meeting Emma. This feels like a convenient way for you to get around that.”
“You really think I was plotting against your wishes while Emma was doubled over puking in the nurse's office?” I take a bite of my sandwich for something to do and to give myself a second to calm down so I don’t start yelling in this very cute coffee shop. “I told you my car wouldn’t start this morning, so when the school called and told me Emma wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t want to risk getting any of my coworkers sick. At the time, I thought Emma just had a stomach bug. Ryan doesn’t have kids, and he didn’t mind taking the risk. So yeah, I asked him to drive us. And you know what? He did it—no questions asked. You heard what the doctor said, her appendix was close to bursting. Who knows what kind of difference even thirty minutes could have made?”
“Oh, Ryan, my hero,” he sneers in a high falsetto, clasping his hands over his chest like a swooning damsel.
“Yeah. He really is.”
“It isn’t my fault that I wasn’t here!” he exclaims .
“I never said it was. But do you see how we both did the best we could given the circumstances? All that matters is that Emma got to the hospital in time and now she’s safe and recovering. This is a petty-ass fight, and you know it. Grow up. I’m over it.” I push my chair back and stand. I can’t eat any more anyway. I leave the half-eaten sandwich and salad and grab the chai, marching out of the cafe into the waning daylight.
I’m walking back toward the hospital entrance when Jared roughly grabs my shoulder from behind. He spins me around and says, “Hold on! We weren’t done talking.” His brow is creased in anger and his hand digs into my shoulder in a way I really don’t like.
“Get your hands off of me,” I say quietly, trying to leash my anger. I don’t want to make a scene when I’ve already had a rough day, and I really don’t feel like having to Lady Macbeth my hands in the bathroom later.
“O ut, out damned spot.” Who knew I’d find myself sympathizing with the villain?
“No. You’re going to listen to me.” He keeps his hand clamped on my shoulder, despite my nails digging in trying to pry it off. “I don’t give a shit that on the weeks you’re not with Emma, you’re out spreading your legs for the first man who gave you attention.” I try even harder to pull away. He continues, “But you know what? I’m sick of the way you make me feel like nothing I ever do is good enough. No man is going to do what you want. If he’s doing it now, it won’t be long before he realizes you aren’t worth the effort.” He releases me so quickly, I stumble back.
Before I can fall on my ass, a strong arm bands around my middle. When I look up at who caught me, Ryan wears an expression of wrath I’ve never seen on him before. He hands me the overnight bag I asked him to bring me via text a couple of hours ago and gently pushes me behind him. “You better watch how you speak to Summer. She’s the mother of your child. Show some goddamn respect.” His voice sounds low and dangerous, rumbling deep in his chest.
“Come on, man. Admit it. She was easy and she’s a good lay, I’ll give her that, but you don’t want to actually jump when she says how high, do you?” Jared spreads his arms and laughs like this is all just a joke to him. I’m shocked and disgusted that he could say those things about me, to me.
“I would jump through any hoop she threw my way if it made her happy. Why don’t you just admit that you realized you lost out, and now you’re pitching a fit because you can’t have her back? You just aren’t man enough to own up to your shit, so you have to take it out on her. I’ve stayed out of your guys’ business up until now. But I’m done letting you use her as your emotional punching bag. I’ll say it again: Have some damn respect for the mother of your child.”
“I’ll show you respect,” Jared snarls. Before I can even fully process what’s happening, Jared is flying towards Ryan, fist slinging at his face wildly. Ryan bats it away before it makes contact. In a blur of motion, his fist connects with Jared’s nose. Jared’s head snaps back with a crunch that could only mean something is broken.
I instinctively grab Ryan’s shoulders, not wanting it to go any further, but he’s not moving towards Jared. He’s just standing there looking at Jared who has backed up and is holding his nose, blood seeping through his fingers. Ryan shakes his hand out once before pumping it in a fist a few times.
“Fuck! You broke my nose, you asshole!” Jared screams in a nasally voice.
“Yes. I did,” Ryan says calmly. He turns to me. “Summer, are you alright?”
“Me? I’m fantastic,” I step around him and say to Jared, “It didn’t have to go this way. We were doing so good until you couldn’t stand that I moved on. I can’t keep going like this Jared. It’s escalated too far. I can’t have you flying off the handle just because your pride is wounded. You were so worried about him being violent,” I toss my thumb behind me towards Ryan, “but take a look at yourself. You’re the one who keeps saying nasty things. You’re the one that threw the first punch. I’m done. Done.”
He looks at me, under eyes already turning a deep red, and blurts, “Say what you want, but he does not go near my daughter.”
“I don’t think you’re in a place to make those decisions. I think we call this a wash and try to move on. I was respecting your wishes as a courtesy because you’re her dad. But you haven’t shown me any kind of courtesy in years. Go get your nose looked at and then go home. I’ll start my week with Emma early. We’ll talk next steps tomorrow when you can hopefully be more civil.”
I leave Jared there, dripping blood on the concrete walkway. Only when I turn, Ryan in tow, do I notice we have quite the audience. I also feel my hands shaking and somehow in the past few minutes I lost my chai. Ryan nods toward a burly hospital security guard who is watching us from the entrance. As we pass him, the guard says, “Nice punch. Sounds like he deserved it.” He winks at me and then goes back to looking serious and intimidating.
We make it to Emma’s room in silence when I tug on Ryan’s arm just before the door. He stops in front of me. “Are you okay?” he asks, looking me over as if my emotional injury can be seen on the outside.
I can’t help the watery smile that takes over my face. “You keep asking me that.”
“Well today has been one for the books, so I feel the need to keep checking.” He brushes the tear from my lashes before it even has a chance to fall.
“I don’t know what I am. Not okay, that’s for sure. I need a second to process everything. It feels like it’s been a year since we woke up in bed this morning.” I rub my temples where my head has begun to ache. “How's your hand, by the way?" I grab his right hand and inspect the slightly swollen knuckles.
“I’m fine. Nothing a little ibuprofen and ice can’t fix.” He looks down at his knuckles and shakes his head as if he can’t believe he actually punched Jared. He looks up at me and asks, “Do you want me to go in there with you?” He points to Emma’s door.
“Nah. I know I talked a big talk with Jared, but I don’t think the first formal introduction should be with her laid out in a hospital bed. I got this. It’s what moms do. We rally when it feels like we have nothing left to give, and then we give some more.” I check my phone and inhale a sharp breath. “Shoot. It’s been way over a half hour since we left Emma. Her nurse was only supposed to watch her for thirty. Okay. I have to go in there. Thank you. Again.” I give him a quick hug that he turns into a sweet kiss.
When we pull away he says, “Okay. This is always at your pace. You’re the one who has to think for two people, and I’ve just got me. I’m ready when you are. I hope she wakes up feeling a little better. And I’m sorry the day ended the way it did.”
“I’m not. If you hadn’t punched him, I probably would have. I’ll call you tomorrow when we get home.” He nods and presses a quick kiss to my forehead before pushing the door open for me.
“Oh, by the way, I got your car to the mechanic and they’re going to take a look when they get the time. I gave them your number to call when they figure out what’s up,” Ryan whispers before I can get inside.
I mouth, “Thank you,” and squeeze his arm in goodbye.
I enter the room, overnight bag in tow, seeing that Emma is still asleep, and the nurse has a book in her lap. “Thank you so much for watching her. I’m so sorry it took longer than you gave us.”
She waves my concern away, “I was just getting to the good part.” She wiggles the book in front of me.
“Ah. The Disastrous Duke . Loved that one. Charles is hot. ”
She laughs quietly and her eyes scan over my face. “She didn’t even stir. The poor thing might just sleep through to the morning. That’s alright because her body needs the rest. You doing okay, sweetheart?”
“Everyone keeps asking me that.” I sink tiredly into the hard plastic chair next to the bed.
“Well, you just have that look. I know today was hard. It’s never easy to see your baby get hurt. When my son broke his wrist playing football, I damn near went ballistic on the poor kid who landed on it wrong.”
I huff out a humorless laugh and say, “Yeah it's been a tough day. Between this and all the other drama, I just want to sleep for a good week.”
“That man of yours cause issues?” At my look of confusion, she clarifies, “The blonde one. What was his name, Jacob?”
“Jared. How did you know?”
“Nurses talk,” she says with a wink.
“Yeah, well. He’s something else. He chose today of all days to be an even bigger ass than usual.”
“When men are made to feel small, they tend to lash out. Just like a damn dog.” She huffs and stands, giving me a reassuring pat on the back. “It will all work out. It always does. It just may not look how you predicted it would in the end. That doesn’t mean you’re going down the wrong path.” She spends a moment looking down at the still sleeping Emma, her face softening, “Get as much rest as you can on that crappy bed tonight, mama. Let the night nurse take care of your girl. You’ll be on full nurse and mom duty tomorrow.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” I say, patting her hand.
“Of course. We mothers have to look out for one another.” She exits the room as quietly as she entered.