Expired Getaway (Last Chance County #7) - Lisa Phillips Page 0,115
paused. “I wanted to meet you first to see how you’d feel about it.”
Aiden stared at her.
She’d laid it all out in simple terms for Sydney, but for him it was everything he needed to hear. Everything he could have dreamed of. She wanted the same as him, but Sydney had to be on board.
It couldn’t ride on the fact Bridget was her mother. It would be like they were forcing a relationship on her whether she liked it or not. Sydney’s feelings needed to be taken into account.
Aiden said, “What do you think Syd?”
She just shrugged, twisting to speak to him over her shoulder. “You need a girlfriend, Dad. And she’s super pretty.”
Faced with that flash of the teenager she was going to become, which happened on occasion, he blinked.
Then he burst out laughing.
Which made his stomach hurt.
He groaned. “Ouch.”
**
By the time the door shut, Bridget could have literally slumped to the floor in exhaustion. “That was… She’s…”
Aiden watched her.
“Thank you for that.” She had to take a second and process it all. “Just…thank you.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome. I hope it was okay that she went with Mia to get a drink.”
Bridget nodded. She touched a hand to her front and shook her head. “She’s so sweet. And so beautiful.”
“You forgot precocious.” His smile turned to a grin. “I think she has the chief wrapped around her finger. She’ll probably come back with candy from the vending machine even if he would never eat it.”
Bridget wanted to chuckle. “That was your boss?” She swallowed.
He nodded. “What happened with Clarke? I assume he was taken down.”
“Since I’m here?” She hardly wanted to bring all that into the room with them, figuratively, but since Sydney had gone, it was time.
Bridget’s heart and mind were full of her daughter. She’d met Sydney, and the little girl was everything she could have imagined. Bridget took a second and closed her eyes, recalling everything about the animated little girl. The shape of her face. Her presence and personality. It was like she’d filled the room with it, absorbing all of Bridget’s attention.
She was everything. And Bridget couldn’t wait to get to know her better.
“You okay?”
She opened her eyes. “Yes. I just… Sydney. You know?”
“It’s easy to take kids for granted when you see them every day, but it’s good to remember how much of a wonder they are.”
“Not that I want to take her for granted, but I want to get to the place where I see her so much that I could. You know?”
“I know.” Aiden nodded. “What I don’t know is what happened to Clarke.”
She stood, smiling. A wave of dizziness crashed over her. She stumbled into the bed. “Sorry.”
“Are you okay?” He touched her arm, then slid his hand down to her fingers. She turned her hand in his and held on as she leaned against the side of the bed. “Should I call the nurse?”
“I’m good. Just stood up too fast.” Although, not having to talk about Clarke and everything that’d happened was worth being poked and prodded all over again. He didn’t look convinced. Before he could argue, she conceded, “The FBI took him into custody. He’s been detained, and Millie and Eric both assured me there’s no threat. They’ll make sure he doesn’t target…any of us.”
They’d spoken about Bridget, Aiden, and Sydney as though they were a unit.
A family.
His thumb stroked across the back of her hand. “Why does it seem like that’s not all there is?”
She supposed she had to tell him. It wasn’t like she wanted to start…whatever this was…by lying to him. “It’s Sasha.”
His jaw flexed. “What did she do this time?”
Bridget didn’t want to provide a cop with information that got her friend in trouble later, but she also wasn’t going to lie either. “In another effort to do the “right thing” by making irrevocable decisions in the name of what I should or should not have to deal with—”
“Bridget. Just say it.”
“She had a rifle case when I saw her last. I have no idea if she was in possession of an actual weapon. I never saw one.”
“This isn’t an interrogation. I’m in the hospital with stitches in my abdomen.”
She winced. “I’m sorry you got stabbed when it should’ve been me.”
“I’m not.”
She blinked.
“Tell me what happened with Sasha.”
“I told Millie what I’d seen and heard, and Millie made sure Sasha had no opportunity to do something she might regret. Or be arrested for later.”