“Hey,” I said softly. “I’m okay, honey.”
“I know,” she sniffled, wiping across her nose with the back of her hand, all classy like. “But you scared the hell out of me. Don’t ever do that again.”
I felt myself smiling despite even my lips hurting. “Deal. I promise never to get hit by another car again.”
Her face was still in a pout, but she nodded her head and offered an abrupt, “Thanks.”
“Oh God, Derrick’s probably freaking out. What time is it?”
“It’s a little past noon, and to say he’s freaking is an understatement.”
“Shit, so he knows I’m here?”
“Are you kidding? He’s been here all night! He just left a few minutes ago to get some coffee. I don’t think the man’s slept in at least twenty-four hours, but he refuses to leave.”
“But… what about Eliza? Last time I saw him, he’d been heading to pick her up because Layla just up and left her home by herself in the middle of the night.”
“They hadn’t even made it back to the house when he got the call you’d been hurt. They came straight here. I just sent her back to my house with Noah a little while ago. She was crashed out in the waiting room. She didn’t want to leave, was too worried about you, but Derrick put his foot down and made her go since she was all but dead on her feet.”
My head flopped back on the thin, flimsy pillow as I thought about what that poor little girl had endured over the course of just a few hours. I lay there silently for several seconds before the sound of the door opening quietly had me shifting my eyes. Derrick stood with a coffee in his hand as he gently eased the door closed so there wasn’t more than a tiny snick. Once it was closed, he turned for the bed, only to stop in his tracks at the sight of me watching him.
“You’re awake.”
I felt the tears begin to form at just the sight of him, and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the pain, maybe it was the meds pumping through my system, but something told me it was just him, having him close, having him care that made me overly emotional. The moment he saw the tears break loose, he rushed to the bed, nearly spilling his coffee on the way before Harlow snatched the cup from his hand and sat it down.
“Baby, what’s wrong? Are you hurting? Let me get a nurse.”
“No!” I shouted through the pain, grabbing onto his arm with my good hand and holding tight. “No, no nurse. I’m fine. I just…”
He sat alongside me in the bed and pulled me in his arms the best he could to prevent any pain, keeping me safe and secure as I cried into his shirt. He didn’t say a word for as long as it took for me to get it all out, just trailed a hand up and down my back in slow, languid patterns.
“Christ, sunshine. I was so fucking scared,” he whispered in my ear. “I thought I’d lost you. Never want to go through that again, baby. I’m pretty sure you just shaved a decade off my life.”
I sniffled and nuzzled my face closer to his chest, needing his calming presence to ease me. “Derrick?”
“What is it?” he asked quietly, leaning in to brush the tears from my cheeks as those hazel eyes I loved so much stared back at me, full of concern mixed with just a hint of relief.
“I love you,” I whispered. “I just love you, and I hate that I put you through this stress. You and Eliza. You’ve already had to deal with so much, now this—”
“Shh.” He put a finger over my lips to silence me. “Stop that.”
“B-but—”
“No.” That one word alone left no room for argument. “I won’t listen to you spout anymore bullshit, you hear me? None of this is on you. None of it. If anything, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t pushed you into a relationship, you never would have been in that psychotic bitch’s scope. It’s on me. I’m the one that brought her into your life, and look what she did. She fucked with your bakery—”
I gasped. “So it was her. When I saw the damage, I guessed it might have been, but I wasn’t sure.”
“It was. We got the footage from your security cameras. And if that wasn’t bad enough, now you’re laid up in a hospital bed because of her.”
“Wait. What?”
Derrick’s eyebrows formed a deep V in confusion as he looked from me to Harlow. “She doesn’t know?”
“Know what?” I asked.
“Well, we hadn’t really gotten around to that part of the conversation before you walked in.”
“What conversation?” I asked, starting to get frustrated at being ignored.
“Shit,” Derrick hissed.
“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on? I’m getting pissed and the only reason I’m not yelling right now is because it really freaking hurts. So somebody start talking.”
Derrick looked back at me, remorse clouding his eyes. “Baby, Layla’s the one that hit you.”
My eyes went wide. “Holy shit,” I whispered, then yelled, “Holy shit!” followed by, “Ow. Ow, ow, ow, ow. Shit that hurts.” I hissed in a breath between my teeth and I hugged my battered ribs.
Derrick was over me in a flash, hovering over me, his expression revealing just how much he hated to see me in pain. “Baby, try to relax. What can I do?”
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” I panted, trying slow breaths through the pain. Once I had it under control I looked back up at him. “That crazy bitch tried to kill me?”
“Well, according to her story, the hit was just an accident. She smashed the hell out of your place, then freaked when she saw you come in. She took off, but seeing she was drunk as fuck, she lost control of the car, hit you, then smashed into a light pole. She’s looking at felony vandalism and aggravated DUI, and that’s only her criminal charges. That doesn’t even count what I’m gonna do to her in family court.”
“Holy shit,” I repeated again. “You’re going to rake her ass over the coals.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely. I’ve already talked to Walter. He’s pushing an emergency custody hearing through. I’m stripping the bitch of every parental right she has. Then you’re going to press charges. With no job, no sugar daddy, and no more child support to cushion her fall, she can’t afford to dig herself out of this hole. She’s royally fucked.”
I asked the one question that had been weighing on my mind during his whole rant. “How’s Eliza?”
He let out a whoosh of air and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Scared. Worried about you. I don’t think she’d going to feel any better until she can lay eyes on you herself and see you’re okay.”
“She doesn’t…” I trailed off and studied his face. “She doesn’t know about Layla, does she?”
“No.”
“Okay, good. I don’t want her to. She’s dealt with enough. All she needs to know is a drunk driver hit me. I don’t want her carrying anymore on her shoulders than she already does.”
Placing his hand at the back of my head, he gently pushed so my cheek was resting against his chest. “Whatever you want, sunshine.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll just leave you two alone,” Harlow spoke up. I felt like a crappy friend, because, until that moment, I’d totally forgotten she was still in the room with us.
“Okay, Low-Low. Thank you for being here.”
She came around the side of the bed and kissed the tips of her fingers before placing them on my temple since my position against Derrick didn’t allow for much else. “Always, babe. Just get better, okay?”
“I will.”
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She rounded the bed and leaned in to press a kiss to Derrick’s cheek, then slowly left the room.
Neither of us spoke. I simply lay against him, letting the rhythmic beat of his heart soothe me like my own personal lullaby. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, and I’d nearly drifted back off to sleep when his voice rumbled through his chest.
“I love you, sunshine. With everything I am.”
“I love you too, Derrick. Always will.”
And with that, I fell asleep
in the sanctuary of my man’s arms. Despite the tumultuousness of the past several hours, I drifted with a smile on my face. Not even the aches and pains could keep me down as long as I had him.
Chloe
I LOVED MY parents, I really did.
But I’d discovered a long time ago that I could only really handle them in small doses. It was around the time I entered into adulthood, when they tried to keep my nightly curfew intact.
I wasn’t even living with them at the time!
Our relationship flourished when they moved to Arizona to get away from the cold a few years ago. Absence really did make the heart grow fonder… for about a week. Then I was ready to stuff them in their carry-ons and ship them back to Scottsdale.
They’d only been in Pembrooke for a day and I was already fantasizing about duct taping my mother to a chair with her mouth gagged so she couldn’t talk.
Currently, she was doing her best to fluff the damned hospital pillow behind my head, trying to do the impossible and make it more than paper thin. She’d been at it for ten minutes.
“Mom.”
“I think I got it.” She fluffed again, only to have it fall flat once more. “Oh damn. Hold on.”
“Mom.”
“Just once second.” Fluff, fluff, fluff.
“Mom.”
“You’d think they’d give you something more comfortable. I mean, you’re already in pain after all.” My head continued to bounce like a bobble head while she attempted to beat the pillow into submission.
“Mom, really. I’m fine.”
“I’ll just get a nurse and see about getting a better quality pillow.”
“Seriously. You don’t need to bother them with that.”
She kept fluffing away and I finally snapped. “Mom!”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Maureen. Will you leave the damn girl alone already?” My dad grumbled from his place in one of the stiff hospital recliners. He didn’t even bother taking his eyes off the crossword puzzle in his hand to see that he’d said the completely wrong thing.
“Well excuse me for caring about my daughter’s comfort, Bill,” my mother harrumphed, slapping her hands on her hips and shooting daggers at him even though he wasn’t paying attention. “I guess I should just let her suffer, huh? Tell her to rub some dirt on it?”
I giggled. I couldn’t help it. This was one particular argument they’d been having since I was five years old and it only got funnier as the years passed.
“One time!” Dad barked, slapping his crossword against his leg. “I said that one damn time, and you still won’t let me forget it!”
“She had a broken arm, Bill!”
“How the hell was I supposed to know that? I’m not a doctor for Christ’s sake.”
“So you just assumed it was normal for a child’s arm to bend that way?”
“Well it wasn’t like she cried!” He took his eyes off my mom long enough to shoot me a wink. “My little girl’s always been one tough cookie.”
“A tough cookie with a broken arm that was left untended for three days until I got home from my girls’ trip and finally took her to the ER!”
My father ended the conversation the way he always had. “Well she didn’t die, did she? So I’d say I did a pretty damn good job, if I do say so myself.”
A knock sounded on my hospital room door, bringing my laughter to an abrupt halt. “Guys,” I said to my parents. “You know I love you and your own personal brand of crazy, but that’s Derrick and he had his little girl with him, so can you please just be normal for like, ten minutes? I’m begging you.”
My folks had already left Pembrooke by the time Derrick moved to town so, other than the brief exchange they’d had the night before when they got in, they’d never really met him. Once my mother announced she wasn’t leaving my bedside until I was finally released, I’d insisted Derrick go home. He fought me on it, and I could see the respect shining in my dad’s eyes as he watched the exchange between us, but I eventually won when I told him he needed to get Eliza home so she could unpack and get settled.
He finally relented, giving me a long, lingering kiss before pulling back and saying, “I love you, sunshine,” loud enough for both parents to hear before finally disappearing out the door.
I’d spent the thirty minutes after filling Mom and Dad in on everything about Derrick and how our relationship came to be, then another ten minutes in hell — also known as my mother’s delayed discussion about the birds and the bees and how important it was to make sure the condom hadn’t reached its expiration date.
After that, I wished that the car had hit me hard enough to at least put me in a coma for a few days.
My father snorted. “Pfft. We’re always nice.”
“I didn’t say nice. I said normal. I need you to act normal, Dad.”
He lifted his crossword back to his eyes. “No can do, sugar plum. I am who I am. If your young man can’t handle that then he’s not good enough for you.”
“He has a point,” my mom decreed.
The knock sounded again and I cursed under my breath before calling, “Come in.”
Derrick’s head peeked around the door and he offered me a smile that warmed me from the inside out. “Hey sunshine, got someone who’s been dying to see you.”
I grinned big and bright. “I’ve been dying to see her too.” I was pretty sure my mom sighed.
He pushed the door all the way open and led Eliza into the room. The moment her eyes landed on me they went painfully wide and the smile slipped from her face, replaced with a quivering lip.
“Chloe,” she whispered, voice so full of sorrow, eyes growing red and wet. It killed me not to be able to jump from the bed and go to her.
“Oh, no. Sweetie, please don’t cry,” I spoke up, wanting nothing more than to make her feel better. “I’m okay, I promise. It’s just some bruises, baby. Come here.” I opened my arms, desperate for a hug, but she shook her head, causing some of the tears to break loose as she took a hesitant step back.
“Baby girl?” Derrick asked, concern lacing his tone as he looked down at her.
“Please, sweetheart,” I spoke through the lump forming in my throat.
“I don’t—” she croaked, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
From the corner of my eye I saw my mother bat away a tear from her cheek. I was just about to speak up when my father suddenly rose from his chair and moved in Derrick and Eliza’s direction, squatting down so he was eye to eye with the frightened little girl.
“Hey there, honey bunch. I’m Bill, Chloe’s Daddy. It’s nice to meet you.” He stuck his hand out and held it there as Eliza tentatively reached forward and placed her tiny palm in his. “You must be Eliza.”
She nodded.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Eliza,” he continued. “And it’s a pleasure to meet you. Now, I know it’s a little upsetting to see her like this, but I promise you, my girl’s tough as nails. Why, she even walked around with a broken arm for three days without so much as crying!”
Mom snorted.
Derrick’s eyes bounced from my father to me in confusion.
Eliza gasped. “Really?”
“Yep,” Dad exclaimed proudly, like I’d managed to win the Super Bowl or something. “Little arm was bent in an S and everything. Not one single tear.”
Eliza’s mouth hung open for a few seconds before she asked, “Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?”
Mom snorted again.
“That’s neither here nor there,” Dad answered, standing to his full height and waving the question off. “Point is, she’s strong, and a hug isn’t going to do anything but make her feel better. And I bet your hug will be ten times more powerful.”
Eliza’s little shoulders lifted as though Dad’s words gave her a new strength, and she released Derrick’s hand and headed for me.
She leaned in to my embrace, wrapping her arms around my neck as I held on tight with everything I had. I closed my eyes and pulled
in a deep breath. Dad was right, just one hug from Eliza and I already felt a million times better.
“How are you feeling?” she whispered against my hair, her hold squeezing just a little more.
“So much better now, honey.” I felt her sigh heavily. The tension seemed to melt from her body as she pressed closer to me, the fear of hurting me seemingly disappearing. I opened my eyes and smiled, my gaze landing on Derrick as he shook my father’s hand, mouthing “thank you.” Dad smiled in return and patted Derrick’s shoulder with his free hand. “Any time, son.”
At the sound of her sniffle, my gaze shifted to my mom to find her wiping away more tears as she stared down at me and Eliza, a knowing smile painted across her lips.
Eliza finally pulled back enough to look up at me, and I couldn’t help but reach out and tuck a strand of dark hair behind her ear.
“I was worried,” she told me.
“I know, honey. But I’m going to be just fine. Bones heal and bruises fade.”
At that, she smiled genuinely and said something I hadn’t been expecting. “Daddy said you’re moving in with us!”
“Uh…” I turned my head to look at Derrick. “What?”
“Brilliant idea!” Dad clapped his hands and my mouth dropped open in shock.
“Bu-but.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Mom said dreamily, clasping her hands in front of her chest. Damn it.
“Uh, honey,” I turned back to Derrick and glared. “Don’t you think it’s a little soon? I mean, we’ve only been dating for a few weeks! And things have been a little crazy during that time. It’s not like it was a simple courtship or something.”
He grinned that panty-melting grin and moved to the other side of the bed, pulling up a chair. “Do you love me?”
“Of course I do!”
“Good. And I love you, so it’s settled.”
“How is that settled?!” I squeaked, sending a twinge of pain through my ribs.
“Because you love my girl, you love me, and we’re going to get married one day.”
“Woohoo!” Eliza yelped, throwing a fist in the air. “I get to be a junior bridesmaid!”
Sweet Sunshine Page 19