Chapter 23
JAKE
She had been T-boned pulling out onto the highway late last night, headed in to work her night shift. Her car was totaled, though somehow she’d survived.
My mind reeled while the doctor pelted words at me. Things like “she was lucky,” “weeks of physical therapy,” and “months off of work.” But the only phrase that meant anything to me was the doctor’s repeated assurance of, “she’ll be okay.”
I didn’t remember grabbing Shelby’s hand, but she was there, holding mine, as we opened the door to my mom’s hospital room.
I held my breath as we entered, not sure what to expect while being terrified that the doctor had gotten it wrong.
Maybe he’d mixed up the patients, and my mom wasn’t the one who should “make a full recovery.”
But there she was, lying in her hospital bed with her legs lifted up on what looked like a pulley contraption.
Her dark hair was matted against her head and streaked with more gray than I remembered seeing before.
A grid of tubes lined her arms and face, and she looked so incredibly frail lying there. She caught my eye and smiled sleepily.
I let go of Shelby’s hand in order to lean over and give my mom a big hug. Instead, I clung to her, trying to hold everything in but failing. Miserably.
We didn’t have time to talk much; she could hardly keep her eyes open.
But she was okay. I relaxed the longer we sat there, half stunned at the turning of life.
How, even though you can almost expect it, you’re never prepared for it.
One day, everything was fine. The next day, your world gets rocked and completely upended.
But she was fine. That was all that mattered.
We’d get through this.
Shelby was holding my hand again.
I spent most of the morning responding to texts and phone calls from concerned friends and neighbors who’d heard about the accident.
After a while, I handed my phone to Shelby and let her type out responses.
Now that my mom had been declared stable and was being moved to a different room, Kelsey was going to bring Sophie to the hospital to see her grandma and me.
Shelby volunteered to take her back home afterward and stay with her overnight so she could sleep in her own bed.
There were so many emotions clamoring around inside of me when she volunteered for this that all I could do was give her a grateful smile before I had to look away. Before I lost it.
My mom was fine. I should be teasing her about her bad driving, but I wasn’t there yet.
We had almost lost her. My brain couldn’t see past the pain in that scenario.
The what-ifs. My inability to believe that we were actually spared from tragedy.
I kept tabs on the monitors in her room, needing to see proof of her heartbeat.
Sophie came later that afternoon, along with Kelsey and Cade, with snacks for us and flowers for my mom.
I gave them a hug and thanked them for everything but couldn’t bring myself to say much more than that.
Instead, I listened as Sophie told me all about the newborn kitten Kelsey let her name at Cade’s house while Shelby chatted with our friends.
After a while, Cade and Kelsey went home.
This time, I grabbed Shelby’s hand.
Sometime later, Shelby was getting ready to take Sophie home to make her dinner when a knock sounded in the room. I looked up to see the door open a crack before my mom’s nurse, Angie, entered the room.
“Hey, you have a visitor, and I was just checking to make sure your mom was awake.”
She had just drifted off again, and there wasn’t a chance I was going to wake her up. “She just fell back asleep. Who is it?”
Angie swung the door open wider, and a man stepped inside the room.
And here I had thought the day couldn’t get any worse.
It happened so casually. With no fanfare. One minute, he had abandoned us, and the next, he was stepping into my mom’s hospital room like he had a right to be there.
To the untrained eye, he looked unassuming.
He wore cowboy boots and jeans and a gray polo shirt.
His dark hair was slicked back and graying slightly, stopping just above his ears.
He’d taken off his tan cowboy hat when he entered and held it in his hands as he took me in.
From what I’d heard, he had quit riding and was now a full-time rodeo announcer for a TV station in Texas.
I couldn’t be sure. I’d stopped watching professional rodeo years ago.
In another life, he could have been a sweet grandpa.
In another life, Sophie could have run and jumped into his arms. But in this life, my daughter only glanced up at this stranger, unbothered, before going back to her coloring page.
An untrained eye wouldn’t have known this man had once been cocky and self-absorbed enough to leave his wife and kid behind while he chased fame and a mediocre name.
I didn’t move, lead filling my gut. Sensing my inner turmoil, Shelby gripped my hand tight.
“Hey, Ang!” I called the nurse, who had just stepped back into the hallway. “He’s not family.”
Her head popped back in, her brow furrowed. “Oh? I thought he said he was—“
“Not family.” I did my best to work up a smile, nonchalant, though my heart wasn’t in it. “If you’d kindly escort him out of here, that would be great.”
“Jake,” he said. “We need to talk.”
I scoffed and looked over at my mom, lying in a hospital bed with half of her body hooked to wires and tubes. “I’ve got nothing to say to you.”
“Can we please talk? I’m not leaving until we do, and I don’t want to wake your mother.”
I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to hear what he was going to say. I had him exactly where I wanted him. Where he had always placed my mom and me.
An afterthought.
“Jake. Son. Please.”
My fists clenched. But he wasn’t going to leave, and I didn’t think my mom or Angie would appreciate me starting a fight in the hospital. And Sophie didn’t need to see any of this.
I turned to Shelby. “Can you take her—“
“Yeah. We’ll leave in just a sec.” She turned and wiggled her fingers at Sophie.
“Let me know if—“ I trailed off, not sure what I even meant to say.
“I will.”
I nodded to her in thanks. Not sure I could speak full sentences.
My emotions were raw, and my body was tight and rigid and begging for some sort of release.
Not a great combination for an afternoon chat with this man.
But I followed him out to the waiting room.
But instead of stopping there, I kept walking out the front doors of the hospital, finally stopping on the sidewalk.
I folded my arms and waited.
Cole Evans cleared his throat. “How’s your mom doing?”
I shook my head. “Try again.”
“What?”
“You’re not part of this family. It shouldn’t concern you.”
He blew out a frustrated sigh. “Jake. Don’t be like that. I know I messed up, alright?“
“Why are you here?” I asked, forcing myself to look him in the eye, though it made me sick to do it.
“I’m still your mom’s emergency contact. They called me last night when they couldn’t get a hold of you.”
“Sorry you had to make the trip. I’ll be sure to have you removed.”
I tried to brush past him, but he stepped in front of me, his hand on my chest. “I’m glad they called me. I want to help. I know it’s going to be expensive. She’s going to have to be out of work for a long time. Insurance won’t cover all of this.”
A bitter laugh flew past my lips, though nothing about this was funny. There had been so many times growing up that I’d lived for the day I could tell my dad off, but he never showed up at the right moment. I could only be grateful he pulled it off today.
“I don’t remember you showing up to help when the car you left us with blew a transmission.
I don’t remember you showing up out of the goodness of your heart to help when our well went dry, and we took out a thirty-thousand-dollar loan to dig another one.
I don’t remember you paying for food or clothes my entire life.
So I’m sorry if I can’t quite figure out why you’re here now. ”
His jaw twitched, and he sucked in a breath. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah. There probably is. But there’s a lot I do know.”
I moved past him, fingers clenched in bridled fury when he grabbed my arm and pulled.
“Son, I tried to send—“
I yanked my arm out of his grip.
“We don’t need you,” I spat. “You don’t get to waltz in here and throw your money around and get the whole town thinking you’re something special.”
“Son—“
I stepped in front of him, eyes blazing. “You call me that again, I’ll break your damn jaw.”
My body was wound so tight, coiled, ready to spring if he made a move to touch me. I had no doubt I’d start swinging. I’d probably never stop.
Sensing that, he took a step back, swallowing and giving me a small nod before starting again.
“Jake. I have to do this. I don’t want anyone to know.
That’s not what this is about. It’s not even about you.
It’s about doing something for a good woman I wronged a long time ago. This is about me and her.”
“She doesn’t need you.”
“I know.” He nodded, clearing his throat. “I know. You stepped in where I should have been. You’ve taken good care of her. Of everything. I know you can handle this, but you shouldn’t have to. I need to do this for myself.”
“No!” I shouted. “You don’t get to do this for you. You made your choice. Go home.” I couldn’t listen to another word out of his mouth. A fire was raging inside, and I just wanted him gone. I needed him gone.
All of a sudden, a heavy hand plopped onto my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. The stiff, bridled emotion coiled inside of me, releasing the second I whipped around and saw Layne Marten at my side.