hadn’t seen this one coming. I wasn’t a clingy, needy little sap, though. Rallying mentally, I even managed to force a smile. “Really, I’m so proud of you. This is going to be great.”
“Yeah, it should be.” He turned his head and waited for me to do the same, then looked into my eyes with something that looked a lot like hope. “Would you come work for us when we get the place up and running?”
“Seriously?” I felt my jaw loosening.
He nodded. “Seriously.”
I glanced up at the building and then back at him, finding him still looking at me. A hesitant smile formed on my lips. “I’ll have to weigh my options.”
“I’ll take it.” He nodded in the direction of what could best be described as an abandoned warehouse. “I won’t give you the tour now. The cleaners still have to come in. Once they’re done, I’d love to show you around.”
“I’d love to see it,” Adi said. “I think it’ll be very cool to work here.”
“I’m glad you agree.” He smiled at her. “How do you feel about celebratory ice cream? There’s a place just around the corner that I think will help me convince your mom to say yes to my offer.”
The ominous feeling dissipated somewhat. Just because he was leaving the hospital didn’t mean he was already going back on the promise he’d made less than half an hour ago.
He wasn’t disappearing into a puff of smoke, even if the warehouse would’ve been a pretty cool place for a magic trick like that.
Watching him and Adi together, I couldn’t deny that the immediate disappointment I felt over him leaving the hospital might have been a touch of an overreaction. I was so used to people leaving me or just plain leaving me behind that I’d automatically assumed the worst.
But he’d brought us here when he’d only found out about the place himself yesterday apparently. He wanted us to be a part of it, to celebrate with him, and to stick by him when he did it.
That’s what family is supposed to do, right?
My head jerked when I realized I’d just thought of him as family. But I had. That was what he was starting to feel like, and I had to admit that I kind of liked the feeling.
Chapter 25
CHRIS
April was pale when they came in for Adi’s therapy session. As soon as I saw her, I knew something was wrong.
Not only was she pale, but her eyes seemed like they’d been stuck open with invisible sticky tape, and her mouth was slightly open like she’d forgotten how to close it. A mostly dormant protective instinct roared to life deep down inside me, and my fingers curled into my palms.
Hunter noticed April’s expression too. He frowned at her when they pushed through the doors, then elbowed me in the side and bent his head closer to mine. “Go talk to her. I’ve got Adi.”
“Thanks.” I met them a little more than halfway across the room, smiling at Adi when I reached them. “Hey, sweetheart. I need to have a chat with your mom real quick. Hunter’s ready to start warming up with you.”
“Okay.” She gave me a hug around the waist before she released me and fist-bumped with Hunter. “Hi, Hunter.”
The two of them got along like a house on fire, and he had her in hysterics almost immediately. April, however, looked like she might be about to start crying.
“Whatever it is we need to talk about, could we not do it today?” she asked, her eyes tinted with a red so watery that it didn’t take a genius to figure out she was close to tears.
I took her hand and guided her to the office, closing the door and dropping the blinds for privacy. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” she said without lifting her gaze to mine. She collapsed in the chair and immediately hung her head, covering her face with her hands. “Okay, it’s not nothing. It’s Craig.”
That protective instinct growled and red spots danced across my vision. “What did he do now?”
“I thought he was bluffing,” she said so softly it was almost like she’d said it to herself.
With two strides, I was in front of her, sinking down to my haunches. My pulse started to spike and I felt the sudden urge to break something—or someone.
“Bluffing about what?”
She released a shuddering breath into her hands before she looked up. “He’s going to take me to court.”
“What for?”
Tears glistened in her eyes as her shoulders slumped. “For