In His Kiss - Ava Alise Page 0,97

seen her yet today. I’ll go across the street soon to see how she’s doing.”

“You don’t think she went to the hospital? Ben texted me that he was there. I figured she’d go too.”

“What do you mean? Ben texted you—where—why are they at the hospital?” I ask, rushing toward the living room window.

“Oh, I thought you knew. I don’t know exactly what happened,” he says, his voice trailing behind me. “I saw the ambulance leaving… he just said that Della was in the hospital.”

When I make it to the window, I notice Xia’s car is no longer in the driveway. “I’m going to go see what’s going on.” There’re only two hospitals in town. If I can’t find her at one, she’ll have to be at the other, so I grab my keys from the table and head out the door.

I dial Xia on the way to my car, listening as the phone rings and rings. I hope everything is okay. If Della is in the hospital, Xia must be wrecked. The phone rings twice more and I’m sliding into my seat just as she picks up.

“Hey.”

“Hey, Zee. I just heard. You okay? Are you at the hospital?”

“No,” she says. The distinctive sound of a car horn beeps in the background. “I’m on my way back home. Mom is okay, they are keeping her for a three-day observation on a psych hold. She wasn’t taking her meds and her depression got really bad.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, baby.” I lean back in my seat, my car keys held in a firm grasp. “Are you just leaving the hospital?”

“I didn’t go. But I’m going in the morning if they allow visitors.”

“So, where’d you go? I saw your car in the driveway when I got here. I’m at Dad’s.”

“I… went to the pharmacy. Can you come over? I’m about to pull up to the house now.”

“Of course.”

The call ends and before I get out of my car she pulls into her driveway and parks. My nerves are on edge. Something about her tone seemed off and I can’t tell if it’s because of her mother’s situation or it’s something else. By the time I make it across the street she’s walking around her car toward me carrying a small white bag.

The dress she’s wearing is royal blue with tiny white flowers sprinkled across it. Her hair is in two neat braids with the ends sitting on her chest. I start to feel lighter, like just looking at her takes some of the weight off me. She’s so damn beautiful and I love that she’s finally mine.

“You look incredible,” I say wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing her lips. She smiles before exhaling and leaning her forehead against mine.

“I don’t feel too incredible, though,” she says, closing her eyes. The bag she’s holding is pressed flat against her side. She makes pharmacy runs for her mother quite often, but it’s a little odd how tightly she’s cradling the bag. It’s almost as if she doesn’t want me to see it.

“What’s wrong?” I say, looking into her eyes. She hesitates before speaking, her gaze falling to the ground.

“Let’s go inside,” she finally says before turning toward the door. I follow close behind. She stays quiet until we make it inside the house and settle in the living room. It almost looks like she’s going to cry—well, now that I’m looking at her more closely, it seems she’s already been crying. Her brown eyes are slightly puffy and she will barely maintain eye contact, only looking at me for short intervals.

“Okay, Zee… talk to me. What is it? Are you worried about Della?” I sit on the couch and pull her onto my lap. I hear her sniffle before I see her tears fall as she stares at the pharmacy bag on the coffee table. I look from her to the bag then repeat my question.

“What is it?”

“Everything has been going great with us, ya know?” she says. “Amazing… like even better than I could have imagined.”

“It has,” I say, but my words are lost as she continues to ramble.

“A year ago I would never have guessed we’d be like this. I hoped like hell we would be but I didn’t think it could actually happen.” She moves her gaze from the bag to me and I listen hard, trying to keep up with her speedy words. “You’re just so amazing, so loving. I knew you could be, but God, Jordan we moved so fast…