so quickly.
She hesitated…then went ahead and typed in: I owe you one. Thinking he was probably looking forward to getting the hell out of there, she didn’t expect him to write her back, and was already texting her mom when Paul’s response popped up on her screen.
Paul: Great news about the sprain. I’m good waiting. Your mom’s a riot. I’m grilling her for embarrassing stories from your younger years. ;)
Karin: Dear God. Forget what I said. I owe you NOTHING!!
Paul: Aw, don’t be mad. I promise I’ll let you grill my mom when you meet her.
He was planning on her meeting his mother? What on earth? Had the gorgeous jerk gone and lost his mind? Yeah, he might have helped her tonight, but she was nowhere near a point where she was ready to forgive him, much less give him a second chance.
Shaking her head over his outrageousness, Karin did the one thing that was guaranteed to remind her why she was better off steering clear of good-looking jackasses, and pulled up the number for her ex.
The second Karin’s parents cleared the ER’s automatic doors—after she sent her dad up with the news that they were still having trouble tracking down a small enough brace for Jase, so it was likely to be another hour before they could leave, and she wanted them to go ahead and head home, if Paul was willing to keep waiting—it took everything he had not to go and track her down so that he could make sure she was okay. But he didn’t want to push his luck with her…or be a pain in the ass, so he dropped down into one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs that were close enough to the elevator that he would be able to see Karin and Jase the second they stepped off, then settled in to wait.
Taking his phone from his pocket, he texted Chris to let him know what was happening, in case Karin hadn’t had the chance yet. To his surprise, Chris actually texted him back, thanking him for stepping up. He wrote back that it was no problem and he was happy to help, which was the truth. He hated that Jase had been hurt, but if the kid had to be in the hospital, then Paul wanted to be there for him and his mom. He might not have managed to convince Karin to give him another chance yet, but with every day that went by, taking care of them and making sure they were happy, healthy and protected felt more and more like the thing he’d been fucking born for.
For what had to be the thousandth time since it’d happened, Paul wished he could somehow kick his own ass for letting his head get so fucked up that he’d ended up treating her like a dick. Hell, he was still carrying around the shit ton of guilt that had messed him up in the first place, but he’d realized the day he’d caught sight of her sitting up on her balcony with Natalie that whether he deserved her or not—and despite the fucking mistakes he’d made in the past—if she gave him another shot, there was no way he would blow it. He’d do whatever it took to be what she and Jase needed. To be good enough for the both of them, no matter what it entailed.
And, Christ, even on his worst day, he was better than the prick doctor that Chris had set her up with. He still couldn’t believe she’d been on a date with the asshole tonight. And he would have laughed his ass off when he’d set eyes on him, if he hadn’t been so fucking furious. She couldn’t have agreed to go out with a guy who looked less like him if she’d tried, and for some bizarre reason, that actually gave him a spark of hope.
He heard the elevator ding, and this time when he looked over, he watched Karin and her little boy walk off.
“Hey, Paul!” Jase yelled the moment he caught sight of him, a black brace on his little wrist as he walked beside his mom, holding her hand. The kid, who had Karin’s same brown eyes and hair, sent him a big smile, and Paul nearly sagged with relief, thinking it would never cease to amaze him how resilient kids could be.
Moving to his feet, he walked over to them and took the Disney backpack that Karin had hooked over