by Ashley Munoz
A pair of blue eyes blinked open, staring up at me. His dark hair was matted under the helmet, his face a pale white, making him look so young and fragile, so breakable. How did parents do this? How could you let something so meaningful walk out of your house and risk getting hurt?
The kid gasped. “You’re Ryan Prince.”
I smiled down at him, glad he was well enough to be starstruck. “I am.”
“Cole!” a female voice yelled from down the street. “Oh my god! Cole, are you okay?” Bexley sprinted toward us. She was barefoot, wearing a pair of jean shorts and a simple tank top. The sidewalk was blistering hot, so I had no idea how she was even upright.
She slid to a stop, bending down over her son. Her hair was pulled back in an elastic tie, leaving little strands falling around her face, making her look gorgeous in a way that models and Hollywood’s finest had to work hours for—but it was the concerned look on her face that did me in. Fuck, motherhood looked good on her. She glowed, lit up like the goddam sun when she looked at her kid.
I sat back, giving her some room, needing a second to recover from her blinding love. The kid’s eyes didn’t leave me though.
“Mom, I’m fine…my leg just hurts,” Cole said with a bit of a wince.
The sound of sirens echoed from down the street. Bexley looked up and around, a new kind of worry etched along her features.
“Shit,” she whispered.
The guy who’d been driving bent down and started rapidly stating facts and apologies.
“Nick, it’s fine. It was an accident,” she said to her neighbor, likely trying to get him to calm the hell down. He was more worked up than the kid was. She still hadn’t seemed to notice me, or if she had, she just didn’t act like she had.
“Buddy, can you stand?” she asked, carefully pulling at the bike, but it wouldn’t budge. Before Nick the neighbor could help out, I bent down to help lift it off of him.
“Owwww,” Cole cried, cradling his shin.
The ambulance parked across the street, and a few EMTs ran over with their gear and bent down next to Cole.
I stood back so they could asses him. A cop car pulled up behind the ambulance, and an officer slowly crossed the street toward us. Grabbing for his notepad, he eyed the neighbor and myself—the only two people not talking to the kid and the EMTs.
“Who was the driver?” the cop asked, eyeing the dark-haired man to my left. He looked guilty, which was probably why he questioned him first.
Nick went pale as he struggled to find words.
“I saw the kid riding and noticed that he didn’t see the truck.” I gestured toward the guy. “Nick here was pulling out, and I honked my horn to try to get his attention, but it was too late. The kid ran into the bed of the truck.”
“I didn’t see him. I swear…” Nick started.
“We won’t press charges. It’s fine, Nick.” Bexley stood, joining our conversation. The EMTs were bracing their hands along Cole’s leg.
I eyed her, frustration gnawing away at me. I didn’t want the guy to go to jail, but he should know that kids ride in this neighborhood…it was a freaking subdivision with family homes on either side of the street. He should at least get a slap on the wrist for exiting his driveway so fast.
“Do you want us to take him to the hospital?” the EMT asked.
Bexley brought a hand to her forehead, rubbing at it. A second later, she shook her head no.
“I’ll take him. Thank you so much for coming out.”
“Okay, we’ll head out.” The EMTs and the officer walked away, leaving us alone.
Cole clearly couldn’t walk, and Bexley didn’t look like she could carry him, something she probably hadn’t considered when she turned down the ambulance. She bent down to pick up the destroyed bike while trying to help her son balance on his undamaged leg.
“Here.” I bent down, taking over and grabbing the bike. I walked over and put it in the back of my SUV, ignoring the glare Bexley sent my way.
“I can carry you, honey,” she said softly, but Cole shook his head.
“I can hold on to you and hop there,” Cole offered weakly, while he stared down at her bare feet. He couldn’t put any pressure on his injured leg, which meant a fracture or a break, and there was no way Bexley could hold him steady while running on the hot sidewalk, not to mention the asphalt between her block and this one.
Before either of them could protest, I walked closer to the two, scooped the kid into my arms, and headed toward my car.
“Ryan, you don’t need to—” Bexley started, but I cut her off.
“He can’t put any pressure on it. He needs to get to the hospital…you should have had him ride in the ambulance.”
Opening the side door to my SUV, I secured Cole in the back seat, ignoring Bexley yelling at my back to stop and not to worry about them.
“Thank you, Mr. Prince,” Cole muttered softly as I sat him on the seat.
“You can call me Ryan, bud.”
I shut the door, got into the driver’s seat, and pulled the rig over to the side of the street where Bexley was. She stood with her arms crossed and a pinched expression on her face. I was sure she was just pissed at herself for not wearing shoes, because there was no way she could be mad at the fact that I was being nice.
“Well, come on,” I said through the window.
Heaving a sigh, she opened the passenger door and got in.
I drove down the few houses until we were in front of hers. Putting it in park, I turned to look at Cole’s mother. “Let’s take him right now…no use in moving him again.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “That’s not necessary. I’ve got it from here.”
She opened her door and immediately started hopping from foot to foot.
“Cole, baby, I’m going to get my shoes, okay?” she said, giving me a warning look before darting off toward her house.
Cole spoke up from the back. “She can’t take me…her minivan is in the shop and my Aunt Shay is at work.”
How nice that Shay managed an invitation to stay in Bexley’s life.
“Why didn’t she just let you ride in the ambulance?” I asked, confused and slightly irritated that she was being so stubborn.
“Do ambulances cost money?” he asked curiously, shifting around in the back seat.
“Uh…yeah,” I replied cautiously. It was too much work to try to explain insurance to this kid, so I figured I’d just stick with simple answers.
“Mom can’t afford a lot of things. She doesn’t think we notice, but that’s why she started her new job.”
Fuck, that made me feel like shit for messing with Bexley at her job and threatening it.
Bexley ran up to the car door a second later with a little girl trailing behind her. The girl had golden curls that were tamed with a pink headband. Again, like it had with Cole, my heart beat unsteadily in my chest at the sight of what must have been Bexley’s daughter.
Bella.
“Cole, we’re going to call an Uber and get you to the hospital, buddy,” Bexley said while examining her son’s leg.
“Bex, just let me take you guys. You’re wasting time,” I argued, leaning toward the back so she could see me more clearly.
Indecision flickered along the planes of her beautiful face, so I pressed harder.
Opening my door, I walked around and helped adjust the little booster seat Bella had on the ground next to her, putting it into the third row.
“Here, sweetie, you can sit here, so we don’t bump your brother's leg.” I set the seat in the back and carefully moved the closest seat forward, so she could crawl in.
Bexley kept her arms crossed over her body. I relaxed a little, realizing that if she didn’t trust me, there was no way in hell she’d let her kids into my car. Once Bella buckled up, I moved so Bexley could double-check everything. I walked around the vehicle while she murmured something to them both in a soothing tone. They both nodded and smiled at her.
Once I buckled, Bex
ley joined me in the front, carefully adjusting herself into the plush leather seat. She didn’t say anything as I veered away from the curb, exiting her subdivision.
From the back seat, I could hear a tiny conversation flowing between Bella and her brother. “You okay, Cowe?”
“Yeah, Baby Bell, I’m good,” Cole replied, but I could hear the strain in his voice. He was in pain.
“Did this place get a surgery center within the last ten years?” I asked while turning toward the highway.
“No,” Bexley replied coolly.
Her arms were still crossed, her body oriented toward the door.
“Okay, we’ll head one town over,” I said, heading south, toward the larger city in the area.
Cole started letting out little sounds from the back, indicating he was in pain. I checked the rear-view mirror and found him biting his lip, his head tipped back toward the door, the seat belt awkwardly crossed over his body.
“Hey, Cole, do you like watching HitFlix?” My eyes bounced between the road and watching him.
“Yeah, I do.” He winced.
“Turn on that screen behind my headrest, and you’ll see a HitFlix icon there. It’s already logged in and everything, just choose what you want to watch. Bella, there’s a screen in front of you too, if you want to watch something.”
Bella started making excited little sounds from the back.
Finally, with both kids wearing headphones and watching their shows, I turned my attention to Bexley.
“I didn’t mean to upset you by helping out,” I started, but shit, that must have been the wrong thing to say.
Narrowed eyes met the side of my face. “Help me out? What on earth were you doing in front of my house in the first place?”
If I hadn’t once known this woman really well, her harsh tone would have deterred me from talking any further.
But I did know her, and I knew when she was upset like this, it would fizzle out fast.
“I wanted to come and explain…” I tried, but damn, that wasn’t the right thing to say either. “I mean, I wanted to apologize to you.”
Facing me, she scoffed.
“Bex, I’m sorry. Shit, that’s not right, I—”
“Don’t cuss in front of my children please.” She turned to stare out the windshield again.
Her children.
“See, that’s just it…” I regained my steam, not caring if this would hurt her or not. “You have children, and a life…and I’m assuming you once had a husband, or at least someone who gave you not one, but two kids. You have a little yellow house in a subdivision. You named your daughter Bella, for fuck’s sake, and you want me to—what?” I looked over at her, trying to gauge her reaction. “You want me to pretend we’re friends? Or just be nice because you left ten years ago, breaking my heart, and now you want to pretend we aren’t anything to each other?”
“As you’ve made so clear on multiple occasions, you’re with someone. Why do you even care?” Bexley bit out in a hushed tone.
“I’m not with anyone. I haven’t been with anyone like I was with you since you left. Henna is gone. We’re over,” I replied, just as harshly.
“What, so now that you’re suddenly single, I’m supposed to be glad and fall at your feet? You were an asshole to me, Prince. A complete jerk. I would have happily had a conversation with you, gotten coffee, whatever you wanted, but you ruined it.”
I considered that for a second and hated the shame that started to unfurl inside my chest.
“You’re right,” I said softly.
I wanted to apologize, but it felt like she wouldn’t accept it.
“How can I fix this? I would really like a chance to talk to you.”
“You have a chance right now—what is it you want to say?”
“I don’t want to talk to you on the way to the hospital, while your kids are in the back…I’d like to take you somewhere, or get dinner maybe?”
If she noticed that I was upgrading our talk from coffee to dinner, she didn’t say anything about it.
She let out a soft sigh. “I’ll think about it.”
10
“What do you mean there are harsher health code regulations right now?” I asked the nurse, who had just told me Bella couldn’t go with us into the X-ray area.
“It’s state mandated, ma’am…I’m sorry.” The nurse gave me an apologetic smile and walked away. My heart hammered away inside my chest as I stood there having to choose between going with my son to get his X-rays or staying with my daughter.
Ryan spoke up from the bench he was perched on. “Bex, I’ll wait with her.”
He hadn’t left yet, and I wasn’t sure why. I had advised him that Shay worked at this hospital and would give us a ride home. I’d even offered him some cash for his gas; he had just laughed at me then followed us inside.
He made me crazy. Like striking a match and throwing it into a lake of kerosene.
I tried to ignore him as much as I could, but in moments like these, where he was being super sweet and thoughtful and actually helping me out, it wasn’t so easy to disregard the man.
“We have to head back now,” the nurse said, wheeling my son away from me.
Bella curled into Ryan’s side as though she’d known him her entire life, so I took that as my cue to go ahead and follow after Cole. It was a strange sensation to see Ryan near my kids. Of course, I had considered a billion times what that would be like, because I was on that shoreline subconsciously waiting for him…but this was so different.
I hated that I hadn’t even had a chance to explain Bella’s name to him. The night I said it in front of him, I wasn’t trying to hurt him; I just hadn’t been thinking about him. He’d been with Henna and had made my week a nightmare, so I hadn’t cared about him one way or another. But now…
“You can wait right here, Ms. Black,” the nurse said to me while my son went behind the wall where they’d take his X-ray.
I watched through the window as they took images of his leg from all different directions. A buzz in my purse had me ducking my head and pulling it free.
Logan: Is he okay?
I’d texted Logan as soon as we arrived so he would know what was going on with his son. I doubted very much that he would drive down here to check on Cole, but at least he knew, so he could call.
Me: Getting x-rays now
Logan: Keep me updated
Pocketing my phone, I brushed the hair off my face, realizing a little too late that I probably looked like a train had recently run over me. I had been cleaning the bathrooms when Bella came in and said she couldn’t see Cole outside. I knew something was wrong; Cole only ever went down and back the same route, always within viewing distance of the house. Then I heard the honk and started running down the steps in a panic.
“Okay, we’ll get these over to Dr. Nolan and meet you back in the exam room,” the nurse explained, wheeling Cole back toward the room. It was only a hallway down from the waiting room where Bella and Ryan were. I should have probably gone to check on them, but there was something at peace in my middle when I thought of Ryan with her.
Once the nurse left, I sat down across from Cole and tried to gauge how he was doing.
“How do you know Ryan Prince, Mom?” My son’s blue eyes gleamed with excitement as our first opportunity to talk alone surfaced.
“How do you know him is the better question.” I raised a brow.
“He does this awesome survival show on HitFlix where he has to eat these gross bugs and hunt for animals…it’s so cool. He’s also in this one movie where he battles these space creatures then finds out he’s one of them. It’s sooo cool, Mom. He’s the best.”
I laughed as my son gushed about Ryan, my ex-boyfriend, the man I had wanted to marry once. The man who was afraid of ladybugs, hamsters, and heights…the one who’d once wanted to cuddle after watching a horror movie and refused to go into the kitchen to get water. The one I was madly in love with…
“I went to
college with him, bud,” I answered softly, hating that that response was all that was left of our relationship now.
“He’s nice. I like him,” Cole said happily, right as the door creaked open.
“Sorry about the delay, there seems to be some kind of commotion happening in the waiting room.” Dr. Nolan smiled at my son and started reviewing the X-rays; meanwhile I was a frantic mess. What did that mean? What had happened in the waiting room? I was kicking myself for not getting Ryan’s number when he asked for mine.
I didn’t even hear half the stuff the doctor said about fractures and whatever else, too focused on grabbing my phone and watching for notifications to come through.
A second later, the door opened again, and in squeezed Ryan’s massive frame with little Bella on his chest, her tiny arms around his neck. There were people talking loudly, murmuring outside the door, and a few camera flashes before they were cut off by the sound of the door clicking shut.
“Sorry, we’re trying to keep down how many people are in the exam rooms due to the health policy just sent out this week.” Dr. Nolan eyed Ryan skeptically.
“I know, doctor, and I respect that. However, I felt it best to get Ms. Black’s daughter away from the media circus out there.”
“Media circus?” I questioned, standing to take Bella from Ryan, but she wouldn’t budge.
Ryan squeezed into the small space behind the door. “Seems like a few people recognized me.”
Shit.
He was trending in three top films this week; of course people would recognize him.
“Well, we’re almost finished up here,” Dr. Nolan said before wrapping up the Xray conversation. “He’ll need a cast. It’s a hairline break, and this one is a temporary cast. I’ll have you call the local orthopedist to get the official one set up.” He stood, smiling at us all, and exited the room.
“Bex, I don’t know if they’re still out there or not. I didn’t think anyone would recognize me here.” Ryan’s aqua eyes pleaded with me to understand.
It wasn’t his fault; there was no reason to be angry with him.
“It’s okay. I don’t blame you for it,” I said softly.