He flashed me a lopsided smile. “Feel free to speak your mind with me, April. I know this is a big shock and it’s a lot to process, but I promise you I wouldn’t be recommending it if there was any other way.”
“Will you be there?” Adi asked softly.
He turned to her. “If you want me to be, then I will be. I’ll also be there after to help you recover. You, me, and Hunter are going to spend so much time together, you’ll be begging us to leave you alone rather than being here.”
Her lips curled into a hesitant smile. “Really?”
“Really.” He moved to the side of her bed and held his fist up for her to bump with her good one. When she did, he let out a cheer. “There we go! Team Adi for the win.”
Chris turned back to me, questions in the soft green of his eyes. “What do you say? Can we go ahead and schedule the surgery?”
Fear wracked every fiber of my being, but I didn’t let it show. If Adi suspected I was afraid, then she would be too.
I glanced down at her, begging whoever the gods of tears were to keep mine at bay for now. “Sure, let’s do it. Team Adi for the win, right?”
“Yeah,” Chris said, coming closer to me to bump his shoulder into mine and lowering his voice. “Try not to worry, okay? We’ll take good care of her.”
That was easy for him to say. “Asking me not to worry is like asking the summer sun not to shine, but I know you’ll take care of her. You have to Chris. Please. She’s everything to me.”
To my utter surprise, he enveloped me in a big hug and crushed me against his strong chest. “We will, April. Trust me, okay?”
I nodded, but that didn’t mean I would stop worrying. I would never stop worrying, not until the whole ordeal was over. And even then? I hadn’t stopped worrying since they placed her in my arms, and I doubted I ever would.
Wasn’t that just part of being a mother?
Chapter 5
CHRIS
Another day, another shift.
I walked into the hospital with a burrito in hand, tearing off a bite with my teeth as I pushed my way through the revolving doors at the front. The administration was finally starting to bring in more staff members, but the going was slow, and the turnaround, as always, was too great for them to keep up with.
Sometimes, it felt like this place was a sausage machine. Whatever they put in just came out the other end and kept right on going. Announcements crackled over the intercom. People rushed by me without a second glance, and the waiting room was overflowing.
Just another day in paradise.
Personally, I had a love-hate relationship with this place. Whenever I thought the time had come to leave it, it would show me exactly why I had to stay. The day would come when I’d make my way out of those doors for good, but it wasn’t today.
I still got too high on the adrenaline of being there, still loved the thrill of the next minute too much. At the same time, the physical therapy room was something of a sanctuary for me.
No matter how many patients we had with us or waiting outside, our sessions were like tiny bursts of peace. It was only when the ER came calling that I really received that dose of excitement, and since there were more doctors down there now, it had been a couple of weeks since I’d been called in.
As I had every day for the last two weeks, I snuck a peek at the front desk as I headed for the stairwell. Instead of April’s bright red hair, I was met with the same curly blonde hair of the woman who had been acting as the temporary receptionist since Adi’s accident.
As far as I knew, April hadn’t been back since. I didn’t know why I’d been keeping tabs, but I’d even put out feelers to try to find out if she’d switched to a different shift. I’d been told she hadn’t. She’d apparently just put in for personal leave and no one knew when or if she’d be back.
Jogging up the stairs, I again wondered why I’d even gone through the effort of asking. I’d had hundreds of kids of single parents as my patients over the years, but none of them had held my interest like April and Adi