3. Heidi
CHAPTER 3
Heidi
W hat the hell just happened? I stand, confused, in the little spot that the people working on this mountain site have been parking.
“Hey, Heidi.” His growly voice behind me makes me jump. “My truck’s over here.” He points me over to a relatively new truck with four doors and huge tires.
“Trying to prove something,” I huff.
He shoots me a confused look. “What are you talking about?”
I nod my head at the truck. “That’s a really big truck. Kinda seems like you’re overcompensating for something.”
He chuckles and then smirks at me while he opens the door and holds his hand out to help me into the truck. I ignore him and grab the oh shit handle and haul my ass up.
“Believe me, I don’t need to overcompensate for anything. I’ve never had any complaints.”
I fight not to glance down to where his jeans are resting snugly on his hips, cradling his very lean hips and thick thighs.
“I’m sure.” I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. “Can we get going? If you keep puttering around like this, I might as well just get out and walk down the mountain.”
His face lights up with unholy glee and he grins at me. “Oh, don’t worry about it, honey. I’ll get you anywhere you need to go.”
I ignore the fact that the way he said it makes the simple sentence sound super-dirty. “I need to get to my daughter in the hospital. You think you can stop being an ass long enough to get me there and drop me off.”
His face sobers right away and he starts the truck up and turns down the mountain. He glances over at me where I’m sitting, my arms crossed over my chest. “I’m sorry if you thought I wasn’t taking what you needed seriously, Heidi. What’s wrong with your daughter?”
“She got hurt in gym class. They’re playing baseball right now and I don’t know what happened but they took her to the hospital right away. They were getting my permission to do what they needed to do for her which right now is x-rays. And I’m getting there before they have to do anything else.” I glance over at him, raising one dark brow. “Hopefully.”
He shakes his head. “I know that you think that I can’t take anything seriously but I do. I will get you there in plenty of time to make sure that your daughter is not alone long.”
I glance over at him and his dark green eyes stare back at me and I sigh. “Thank you, Micah. I appreciate it. I just don’t like the thought that she’s hurt and she’s alone.”
“What about your ex?”
I glare at him, recrossing my arms tightly. He gulps and I know that he knows he fucked up. Again. I’m not letting it slide though. I growl, “He’s not in the picture.”
One short nod and I turn and focus on the road and try to pretend that he didn’t just say something extra stupid. I don’t want to talk about my ex. Don’t want to even think about the dick with all his issues. Especially his mouth. As in it runs all the time and it’s hateful as hell.
Not every couple gets divorced and enjoys a great relationship. Most don’t. My own parents were a study in how to have the perfect marriage until fate bites you in the ass and messes it all up for you. But that didn’t change my feelings about love and marriage. I want it. I want it all and I’ve certainly got enough bad examples of my own brief marriage to look back on. But I know that there’s something good out there for me.
Just not now. It’s too soon. I’m still too raw and I’m just not ready to let my heart free. Locked down is where it belongs right now.
Both of us subside into silence but it doesn’t feel strained. Oddly enough, that panicky feeling I had when the school called isn’t as bad. I feel calmer. Like I’m not about to jump out of my own skin.
It doesn’t feel like forever when we get to the little hospital in the next town over. It’s only about twenty minutes away from Wildwood but it should have felt like forever.
But when he pulls up at the emergency entrance, he nods at me. “I’ll just park the truck and come in in a minute.”
I pause, my hand on the door. “That’s not necessary, Reese. I’ll get someone to come and pick us up.”
“Nope. I’m gonna come in and make sure everything’s alright.” He nods his head at the entrance. “Hurry up. You’re not changing my mind.”
“Dammit!” I jump out and hit the ground, slamming the door. He waves at me and then he pulls into the lot. I growl under my breath. What the hell is he thinking? I don’t need him here to witness me going off the rails. I’m sure he’ll just think that he needs to protect me again and I’ll have to seriously consider killing him with a sledgehammer… again. Or maybe hitting him with a framing nailer. Right in the damn junk.
Still muttering under my breath, I stomp inside the emergency room entrance. As soon as I tell them that I’m there for Cassie Crane they hand me a stack of paperwork that makes me want to rip my hair out by the roots and then slug them.
I sit down in the waiting room and hurriedly finish filling the paperwork out, one eye on the door and one eye on the swinging doors, looking for my daughter.
My heart flutters when Micah comes in the door. He sees me and his eyebrows lift. His eyes dart around. But then he walks over to me. “Where’s Cassie?”
How the hell did he remember her name?
“I don’t know. They handed me a freaking stack of paperwork to fill out and then told me to sit down and do it.”
His mouth tightens. “No fucking way,” he growls. He turns on his huge booted heel and stomps over to the desk. “Hey!”
The nurse turns to him and glares at him for one second before she gets a good look at him. Her glare softens and she smiles slyly. She runs her hand over her hair and I come seconds away from standing up and stalking over to her to….well, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
“Yes, can I help you?” She simpers and I growl under my breath, my pen snapping in my hand. What the hell? I stare down at the pieces lying in my lap and the ink staining my jeans.
Dammit! I growl and stand, grabbing a box of tissues sitting out on a table, wiping myself off as best as I can.
“My girl over there needs to see her damn daughter. She’s a minor. She shouldn’t be any fucking place without her mother. Why wasn’t she taken back to see her?”
His muttered growl is low and even. He’s not yelling. But she snaps to attention, flushing. “I need her to fill out that paperwork.”
“Her school brought her in so there’s nobody with her and she’s only…”. He turns to me.
“She’s seven,” I say.
He whips around. “She’s seven. She needs her damn mother.”
My mouth is hanging open. I didn’t even think of arguing with them. Not that I don’t want to get back to my daughter but I knew the paperwork needed done.
But Micah glares at her. “Well?”
“Let me just get the doctor. But we still need the paperwork done.”
He growls, “And she’ll take care of it. After she sees her daughter.”
He stomps back over and flops into the seat next to me as the nurse runs through the swinging doors.
I stare at him, my mouth hanging open. I snap it closed and turn back to the paperwork. “What the hell did you mean your girl ?”
“Just shut up and fill out your paperwork, Crane. I said what I needed to say. You’re not ready to hear the rest.”
I turn back and my eyes stare into his green eyes. He narrows his eyes and there’s something hiding in the back of his emerald gaze that I don’t understand. And I don’t think I’m ready to figure it out.
I turn back to the paperwork and wait for someone to come get me, reeling and wondering what the deal is with Micah Reese. He’s got me so damn confused I don’t know what to think. He’s goofy and immature and then he’s not. He’s grumpy and growly and he smirks at me and I want to smack him. His lips smile and I want to kiss him and I don’t need this shit.
“Mrs. Crane?” A man in a white jacket bustles through and gestures to me and I glance over at Micah. He smiles and settles back. I stand up and follow him.
Ms. Crane. Please.”
“I’ll wait here.” Micah raises his hand like he’s perfectly comfortable in that lousy plastic chair that’s at least ten sizes too small for his huge frame and looks like it’s going to snap if he breathes heavy.
I want to argue with him but I don’t. I just walk through the doors and focus on my daughter. Which is what I should have been doing this whole time instead of letting a pair of green eyes and a fantastic ass in a tight pair of jeans distract me.
I need to get myself right…right fucking now.
I push into a curtained area with the doc and smile for the first time today even with tears pricking behind my eyes. Cassie bursts into tears and I hug her tight, gritting my own teeth to keep from crying too.
I lift her chin up and smile. “Hey, little one. What have you been getting up to today?”
And I listen to her chatter and show me the color of the cast she’s getting and I push every damn other thing out of my head. It’s us two against the world and that’s what I need. It’s all I need.