Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
Abby
My stomach growls as I rest my head against the nurse’s station counter in the emergency room.
I haven’t eaten anything since before my shift started this morning. This is the first moment I’ve had to breathe all day.
Still, I love working in the ER. Each day is different, and I never know what to expect. Each case is a challenge that keeps me on my toes.
Some would probably view that as a nightmare, but to me, it just works.
“Abby,” Becks, my charge nurse, calls from behind me. Her actual name is Rebecca, but I’m pretty sure she would end anyone who dared to call her that.
I love Becks, but she’s a tad stuck in her ways. Rightfully so—she has been doing this job for over twenty years.
I make a noise of acknowledgment, my head still resting on the counter.
“Go take care of the patient in room four, and then I swear you can go have your lunch. I can hear your damn stomach trying to eat itself from all the way over here.”
I stand, turning to face her. Becks is in her early fifties, her slowly graying hair cut in a pixie she once told me she chose because she couldn’t be bothered to do anything with it.
She is a character, and I fucking love her.
I glance at the clock on the wall behind her. “I’m pretty sure we’re getting closer to dinner now.”
She just rolls her eyes. “Room four,” she says, spinning in her chair to face her computer.
I smile, shaking my head as I head to the room. I scan the chart outside before pushing the door open.
“Louise,” I say, locking eyes with the older woman seated on the bed. “What happened?”
Louise and her best friend Martha might be the town gossips, but they are sweet old ladies who wouldn’t harm a soul. Louise also has zero filter, and I find her to be hilarious. I hope I’m like her in a few decades.
“I’m perfectly fine,” Louise says, rolling her eyes. She jabs a thumb in Martha’s direction. “She dragged me all the way here, even though I would have been fine at home.”
She’s also stubborn as hell. Even from across the room, I can tell the wrist she is cradling against her chest is very much not fine.
Martha scoffs. “You tripped on the sidewalk on your way to the mailbox. You’re lucky your wrist is the only thing you hurt, you crazy old bat.”
They glare at one another, but there’s a fondness to it.
“Well, let me take a look at it, and we will see if you really are fine,” I say.
“Fine,” Louise huffs, leaning back against the propped-up bed a little more. I go about checking her vitals while the two of them resume the conversation they were having when I walked in the room.
“I’m worried about Benny’s Tavern, though,” Louise says. “Benny deserves to retire, but I can’t believe he sold it to those scoundrels.”
I have to bite my cheek to keep from laughing. Who even uses that word anymore? A pair of gray-haired old ladies, I guess.
Martha lets out a loud exhale. “Did you hear that they’re starting a biker club in town?” She whispers biker like it’s a cuss word.
More biting my cheek ensues because my goodness.
Louise shrugs as I gently pick up her hand to inspect her wrist. “Eh… I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I sure wouldn’t mind staring at more gorgeous tattooed men.”
They both cackle like it’s the funniest thing in the world. I can’t help but laugh quietly alongside them.
“Abby,” Louise says too loudly for the small room, while she whacks my arm with her good hand. “Maybe you can find a man with this new development.”
Now, I’m full-out laughing. “I doubt it, Louise, but who knows. Maybe you’re right.” Muscular, tatted-up guys have always been my type.
An image of Kane flashes through my mind. It has been nearly three years since the one night we spent together, but he still pops into my thoughts from time to time.
Mindlessly, I run my fingers over the ring on my thumb. Sometimes, I have to take it off at work, but not today.
I’ve debated putting the ring in my jewelry box instead of wearing it every day more times than I can count, but I can never actually do it.
I don’t know what’s really drawing me to keep it on. Maybe it’s the memory of that amazing night we spent together. Maybe it’s the sentiment that made him put it on my finger in the first place, the promise of something special to come.
Regardless of the reason, I still wear it.
The door behind us bursts open, and a mess of wavy red hair rushes in. Sienna locks eyes with her grandma on the bed.
“What happened? Why didn’t you call me?” she says, moving to the opposite side of the bed.
“I didn’t call because it isn’t a big deal.”
I’m not a doctor, but I would bet good money she’ll be lucky to walk out of here with a severely sprained wrist, if not a broken one.
“Hey, Abby,” Sienna says.
“Hi.”
“She’s full of shit. Right?” she asks, getting right to the point.
“We need to get some X-rays, but you’re going to at least need a brace on there, if not a cast.”
“Told you so,” Martha mumbles behind me.
Sienna glares at Louise. “Gram… what the hell?”
I step toward the door. “An X-ray tech will be in soon to get those images, and then the doctor will be in. Come grab me if you guys need anything in the meantime.”
Sienna’s eyes soften as she turns her gaze toward me. “Thank you for taking care of her. I know she’s a pain in the ass… but still, thank you.”
I’m laughing when I get back to the nurses’ station. “Go eat,” Becks hollers at me. “I’ll finish up your charting for Louise.”
I turn tail, booking it to the break room before anyone else can snag me to help with something.
My eyes stay trained on the doors as the kids start to file out of the school. In most places, I wouldn’t be able to do this with a nurse’s schedule working twelve-hour shifts, but the hospital has been amazingly flexible with my schedule, so I can be with Mav more on the weeks when he is with me.
Finally, I see him step outside.
He’s walking beside another boy that’s a little taller than him. This isn’t a surprise because Mav is only seven, but he’s in third grade now. He skipped first grade a few years ago.
I honestly don’t think it has done much to challenge him, but he seems happy, and that’s all that really matters at the end of the day. We’ve found other ways for him to use that beautiful brain of his.
When the boys get a little closer, I realize I don’t recognize his friend. In a small town like Aspen Springs, I know pretty much all the kids he goes to school with. He must be new to town.
Mav seems to be doing all of the talking, while his friend listens with a smile on his face. They bump their fists together before heading in opposite directions.
“Hey, buddy,” I say as Mav jumps in the backseat. “How was your day?”
“Good,” he says, clicking his seatbelt over his booster seat. He hates still being in it, but he’s not big enough yet.
There are some mountains I’m not willing to die on as a parent, but this is one that Cole and I are in complete agreement on.
“I got to do some long division when I finished my regular math,” he tells me, “so that was fun.”
I smile at him in the rearview mirror as I pull out of the parking lot. I love how wonderfully unique he is. Only he would say that doing long division was the best part of his day.
“Who was your friend you were talking to? I didn’t recognize him.”
“Oh, that’s Oliver. He’s new this year.”
“I’m glad you’re friends with him then.”
“He’s my best friend,” he says. I peek at him in the mirror again. His face is more serious now. “He’s pretty quiet, but he’s a really good listener. I just like being around him.”
I love this kid. I know I’m biased, but he’s freaking awesome. Even if he wasn’t my own flesh and blood, I would still think he was a cool kid.
“Well, I’m glad you two have each other. It’s important to have good people in your life.”
“Like Dad?”
I laugh, turning down our street. “Yeah, buddy. Just like your dad.”
“And Riley…” he adds, talking about the special woman in his dad’s life.
“Riley is pretty awesome,” I tell him, putting the car in park in front of our house.
When Riley came into Cole’s life, I knew she was different. She found love not only with Cole, but with his two younger brothers, Finn and Theo.
It might be out of the norm, but they’ve created their own version of happily ever after together. I couldn’t ask for a more loving place for my son to be when he isn’t with me.
I don’t just respect her for the role she has in both Cole and Maverick’s lives. She has become one of my best friends.
Cole acts like he’s still a little salty about someone else competing for the title of my best friend, but he secretly loves it, even if he’ll never say it out loud.
We climb out of the car and head inside.
“Oh, Mom, I forgot to show you the coding project Theo and I worked on last week,” he says, tossing his backpack on the floor at the bottom of the stairs before bounding up to grab his laptop.
He is undoubtedly going to show me yet another thing he has created that I don’t understand at all.
Being his parent is a truly humbling experience, but in the best way possible.