get signed out of here anyway.”
She hung up the phone after Kayla had agreed and they’d said goodbye. She patted the brace on her wrist. It was kind of hot and itchy, but it was small and didn’t obstruct her motion very much. As far as injuries went, it could have been a lot worse.
She still had a pounding headache. The nurse said she’d be bringing her some Tylenol, but so far there was no sign of it.
Ruth stood up. Her whole body felt sore. She wasn’t sure why. It didn’t make much sense that a little car accident would make her entire body hurt that way. It wasn’t like she was bruised up or anything.
She walked around the small room, trying to stretch her legs. Looking down at her phone, she brought up Carter’s number again but still didn’t connect a call.
He would have come right over. She knew he would. He would have done the same thing for anyone. He was that kind of person.
Carter would have helped her. He’d have taken her to pick up Kayla and then taken them both home. Or else he would have convinced her to stay over at the Wilson house where she would have been treated like a queen and had the best of care.
He would probably be annoyed at her for not calling. For not letting him help.
She couldn’t even explain to herself why everything inside her rose up in rebellion at the thought of asking Carter for help.
Kayla and Brent were her family. The only family she had left. Carter wasn’t her family. This wasn’t his job.
She wanted him though. She wanted him so much. She wanted him to put his arms around her and tell her that everything would be okay. That she wasn’t alone. That she wasn’t going to have to spend the rest of her life dealing with hard situations like this entirely on her own.
It was all she could see. Day after day. Year after year. Dealing with her own problems and also the problems of the people around her. Exactly as her mother had her whole life.
Her mother had always carried everyone. So would Ruth.
And, like her mother, she’d never have anyone to carry her.
When she realized she was shaking helplessly, she leaned against an empty space on the wall, using the stability of the wall to control her trembling. Then her legs couldn’t seem to hold her any longer. She started to slide down until she was sitting in a heap on the floor.
The floor of a hospital was the last place she normally would have wanted to be sitting, but it fit her mood at the moment. She bent her legs up and leaned her head forward to rest on her knees.
She tried to stop herself. She always did. But this time she couldn’t control it. She was as lonely as she’d ever been in her life.
So she cried right there on the hospital floor.
At least there was no one around to see it.
Nine
IT WAS SEVERAL MINUTES later—maybe longer since she wasn’t keeping track of time—when Ruth heard someone come into the room.
She assumed it was the nurse finally bringing her the Tylenol. Or maybe the doctor coming to ask whether she’d found someone to take her home. She didn’t lift her head from her knees because her eyes were red and puffy, her nose was running, and her face was blotchy from tears.
She didn’t normally break down like that, and she wasn’t too keen on anyone else seeing it.
Instead of saying something to get her attention, the person walked over to where she was still sitting on the floor. Then he slid down to sit beside her.
She felt him there. Heard the rustle of his clothing. Sensed him watching her.
Then she smelled Carter. She knew the scent of him. Expensive soap and laundry detergent and something warm and natural underlying it.
She gasped and raised her head to look.
It was him. Sitting beside her with his back to the wall. His eyes were on her face. Sober and searching. He didn’t say anything.
“What—?” She choked out the word, so she had to stop and clear her throat. “What are you doing here?”
“Kayla called me,” he murmured. There was no judgment in his tone, despite the fact that he’d had to hear about the accident from Ruth’s stepsister.
“She shouldn’t have done that.” She wiped at her face, hoping she didn’t look too pitiful.
“She was worried about you.”
Ruth tried to say something light and