After a few more minutes of silence she asked, “How are Jim and Marla?”
I exhaled, glad to hear her voice and that she was talking to me. I didn’t care what the topic was, just as long as she didn’t keep shutting me out. “They seem to be doing okay.” I chanced a look at her, but she averted my gaze. “Jim was the one who found Brad and he had to perform CPR. He probably saved his life.”
She sighed, and fell back against her seat. She shook her head. “Poor Jim. I can’t imagine having to find your own child like that,” she said sadly.
Now it was my turn to be silent. I knew how terrible it was to find someone you loved in that position. It had been much too late for any life-saving efforts in the case of my mother, but Brad at least had a chance. When I’d found her that day, she had been dead for several hours. The coroner report had determined that my mother had died just about an hour after Addie and I had left for the Thompsons’ house. Truthfully, it was never easy, whatever age you were.
I pulled my car into the parking garage and we were able to find a spot near the stairs on the second level. I got out and started to make my way to Simone’s side of the car so I could open the door for her, but she had gotten out before I got over there. She started toward the stairs and kept walking, not waiting for me.
I sped up so I could walk next to her once we were on the first level. I directed her to the emergency room’s waiting area. As soon as she saw Jim and Marla, she ran over to them and hugged them tightly
Trent moved over to make space for Simone next to Marla and I went back to sit on the other side of Jim. “Where’s Stella?” Jim asked.
“Kayla’s babysitting at my apartment. I didn’t think it was a good idea to bring her here,” Simone answered. She looked pale but was composed.
“Has there been any update?” I asked.
“The doctor said we could probably see him soon. Right now they are limiting it to immediate family members,” Trent answered. There was no emotion in his voice and he was in the phase of shock where he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The waiting was what made it worse.
As we sat in silence, I looked around the waiting room and noticed that Tiffany had left at some point while I had been gone. “Hey, where’d Tiffany go?” I asked.
I noticed Simone tense at the mention of the woman she had caught with Brad all those months ago.
“She got a text and said she had something to take care of. I’m not really expecting her to come back,” Trent explained.
I wasn’t surprised that Brad’s occasional girlfriend would abandon him in his time of need. Based on their on-again, off-again status, it was clear their relationship wasn’t built on solid ground. I could only hope that the fact his family was here, even when he had turned his back on them, would be some sort of wakeup call for him.
“I need to call my boss to let him know I won’t be making it for my shift tonight. I’m going to step outside for just a moment,” Simone said, grabbing her purse and heading out the sliding doors.
I couldn’t help but watch her the entire time she was outside. I wanted so desperately to go wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly through this ordeal. I had fucked up badly and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be able to fix it.
After she hung up the phone, I saw her wave to someone just out of my line of sight. A moment later I saw Addie run up and give Simone a huge hug, followed by Erik and Ian. I assumed they all drove over together. The four of them walked into the waiting room and everyone began exchanging hugs with each other.
We sat around chatting about anything but Brad or being in the hospital for another hour before the doctor came out. He informed Jim and Marla that they could go back and see their son. The both released sighs of relief as they got up out of their chairs and followed the doctor through the doors and back to Brad’s room.
After about thirty minutes, Jim came back out to get Trent so he could go visit with his brother. The five of us remained in the waiting room making small talk. About twenty minutes later, Jim, Marla, and Trent had all come back to the waiting room.
Brad wasn’t completely out of the woods and the hospital staff wanted to limit the time with visitors to family only so he could rest. Since he was stable, Jim urged all of us to go home, get some rest, and come back tomorrow when we could actually visit with him. The three of them were going to stay for a little while longer.
I drove Simone home and she was just as quiet as she had been on the way to the hospital. “You can just pull up behind my car,” she said when we pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. She was making it very clear that she didn’t want me to come up, not even to walk her to the door. Even though it went against everything I was taught on how to treat a woman, I decided not to push the issue.
“Do you want me to pick you up on my way to the hospital tomorrow morning?” I asked, hoping she would at least let me do that for her.
“No, I’ll be able to drive myself. Thank you for the ride today, though,” she said as she got out of my car and closed the door behind her before I could say anything else. I stayed where I was so I could at least watch her walk to her door and make sure she got in okay.
She may not have wanted my help or even my company right now, which was painful to admit, but I was more determined than ever to get my girl back.
Chapter 19
Simone
The next few days were a mix of working and spending time at the hospital with Brad’s family. I wanted to be there for them like they had been there during my tough times. I brought Stella a couple times to spend an hour or so in the waiting room with Jim and Marla. Her visits seemed to brighten their spirits and I was happy to see it brought them some comfort.
I had received a text this morning from Trent telling me that Brad was asking to see me. I had no idea what he wanted to talk to me about, but I was willing to go in and give him a chance to say what he needed to. Trent mentioned that he was going to lunch with his parents to discuss what their next steps were in helping Brad so I figured that would be a good time for me to go see him.
I looked in the waiting room to see if anyone was still in there, but it was empty. I walked down the long, bright hallway to Brad’s room and stopped just shy of the door. His room was private, just his bed in the middle of the open space. Brad was lying in the bed with his head turned so he could look out the window that overlooked the busy roadway below. The television was turned off and the only sound was coming from the various medical equipment set up to monitor his vital signs. It was odd to see someone his age and who had appeared relatively healthy hooked up to machines and looking so frail and weak in a hospital bed. The drugs had clearly done a number on him.
I walked in, the sound of my footsteps causing him to turn and look at me. “Trent said you were asking to see me,” I said, but it came out a bit harsher than I meant for it to.
“I was,” Brad responded, sounding tired and weak. “I wanted to apologize.”
I didn’t know what to expect when I walked in, but an apology wasn’t it. “Okay…” I paused, letting his words sink in. “What did you want to apologize for?” I asked. The guard I’d put up when it came to Brad was still firmly in place. I wasn’t sure I’d ever let it down when I was around him.
“Well, for starters, I should have been spending more time with Stella. I’m sorry that I bailed on our daughter,” he said. I couldn’t believe it and my immediate reaction was I shouldn’t, but I could actually detect some remorse in his voice and expression. “That wasn’t fair to either of you. I’m going to rehab and I hope when I’m done, you’ll let me spend some time with her.”
“I’ve never once tried to keep her from you,” I pointed out. Brad may be contrite now, but I had to remember that he could change in an instant. I had seen it before. I wasn’t going to put my daughter in a situation where he could disappoint her again. “And now that I have confirmation of your drug use, it’s going to be a while before I can ever trust y
ou with her, especially alone. If you show that you’re serious about getting clean, then we can talk about you visiting her at your parents’ house with them supervising.”
“That’s fair,” he agreed, nodding.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s fair or not. You really fucked up and now you have to face the consequences of your choices,” I said, hoping to God he was actually listening to what I said. I checked my phone, and then glanced at Brad. “Is there anything else you wanted to say? I need to go get Stella.”
“Where is she?” he asked.
“She’s with Kayla. She’s been helping out a lot since your overdose.” Brad flinched when I said ‘overdose’. But I wasn’t going to sugar-coat things for him anymore. I never felt like I could speak my mind with him before, and I was done with that. If he was truly sorry and wanted to make things better, then it was going to be on my terms and my terms were based on what I thought was best for Stella. “Anything else?” I asked, already heading toward the door.
“I’m sorry for sending Kyle those pictures,” he said, stopping me in my tracks.
“Why wasn’t I aware that you had taken them in the first place?” I asked, moving back toward his bedside.
“I don’t know. I was an asshole for taking them. We were both high as fuck that night. I guess I thought it was fun at the time,” he said, actually looking remorseful.
That’d be a first.
Truthfully, this new Brad was strange. I also believed him, which was even stranger. “Why did you send them to Kyle?”
He sighed, resting his head back. “I don’t know,” he whispered. Brad showing any emotion, other than anger, was rare. It also didn’t soften my resolve. I was still going to demand that he respect me, if anything, as the mother of his child. “I was angry at you, my brother, my parents, just everybody. Every time I talked to my mom or dad, they would lecture me on how I needed to step up as a parent. Then they would go on and on about how you were doing a great job. Fuck, even Addie thinks you’re wonderful and she should have hated you. I was tired of every one seeing me as a fuck-up and seeing you as this perfect mother.”
“It’s not my fault that you made those choices or felt that way. You know, I had a night of really bad choices, but it was just one night. I’ve worked my ass off to be a good mom, and however misguided I was, I tried really hard to be a good wife to you. You had to know that those pictures were going to be a deal-breaker for Kyle. You wanted to hurt me so badly that you used the one thing Kyle couldn’t handle to get him to leave me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said again, and I could hear the sincerity in his voice but I was still angry. I had lost so much because of the crappy choices Brad made.
“Well, sorry isn’t going to give me back the man I love, now is it?” I gritted out, letting my anger get the best of me.
In the past, any time I showed emotion, it would piss Brad off, but that didn’t happen this time. “You love him?” he asked. There wasn’t anger in his tone just general curiosity and maybe a little surprise.
“It’s really none of your business and it doesn’t even matter anymore. He made it very clear he wants nothing to do with me, so thank you for that.” I couldn’t have this conversation with him any longer. I felt like the walls were closing in on me, I had to get out of there.
I stepped out of the room and turned to my right just to see Kyle standing right there by the door.
“Whoa, you okay?” he asked, placing both his hands on my shoulders. I looked up into his gorgeous green eyes and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was already frazzled from my conversation with Brad. I couldn’t deal with Kyle on top of it. A girl could only handle so much at once. I broke out of his grasp but immediately missed the warmth of his hands on me. I had no idea how much of our conversation he’d overheard and I didn’t want to ask. I could feel the tears streaming down my face. I just needed to get out of there.
“Hey, talk to me,” he implored.
“I need to go,” I said as the sobs started to break free. Scared he was going to reach out for me again, I started to run down the hallway.
I didn’t stop running until I was safely in my car. That’s when I let my sobs take over. I felt like I was hyperventilating so I made myself take some deep breaths like I learned in my childbirth classes. Once my breathing evened out I started up my car and drove out of the parking garage. I still felt tears rolling down my face, but at least I wasn’t hysterical anymore.
I took city streets to Kayla’s house instead of the freeway. I wanted a little more time to compose myself before I picked Stella up. As I pulled into Kayla’s driveway, I heard a notification alert on my phone. I decided to ignore it and go in to hug my daughter instead. Seeing Stella immediately brightened my spirit. My relationship with her father may have been difficult, but I wouldn’t change anything in my past because it had brought me the greatest gift… her.
“Thanks for watching Stella, again,” I told Kayla. I was emotionally wrecked. Kayla just smiled and hugged me. “I don’t know how I would have made it through this week without your help. Hell, not just this week, you’ve been a lifesaver for several months now.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, smiling. “You know I adore Stella and I would do anything to help you out.”
I gave her another hug and took Stella out to the car. Once I had her buckled in I decided to take her out for lunch. After lunch we went to play at the park near our apartment, where she tired herself out by running around nonstop. As long as I stayed busy with her I couldn’t think about everything else going on in my life.
She fell asleep on the way home and I managed to carry her up to her room and put her in bed without waking her. I didn’t have to work tonight so I thought I would take advantage of the quiet time and catch up on some reading.
Then I remembered that I never read my text from earlier. I grabbed my phone, knowing in my gut who it was from.
Kyle: Please let me know you made it home. You ran out of here so quickly, I’m worried about you. Please call me. We really need to talk.
I didn’t know how to respond to his message. It warmed my heart to know he still worried about me, but was I ready to talk to him? Part of me wanted to hear his voice so badly, talk through things, and move forward. But the other part was scared that after talking, he would still decide he didn’t want to be with me, breaking my heart all over again.
A knock at the door broke me out of my depressing thoughts. I looked out the window and saw Kyle’s car down in the parking lot. I stood there for a couple minutes contemplating what to do.
“Simone, please let me in. I heard you walking around in there,” he called out, sounding defeated.
I took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to be a coward about this. This conversation with him was bound to happen, sooner or later. I opened the door and moved to the side silently giving him permission to enter. He moved past me and just the slight brush of our arms brought goosebumps to my skin. He walked to the couch and sat down, looking like he belonged there. Or maybe that was my own thoughts and desires telling me he belonged here with me.
“You didn’t answer my text,” he stated unhappily.
“I just read it a couple minutes ago, and then you knocked on the door,” I explained while still standing by the door with my arms crossed in front of me.
“I can’t do this anymore, Simone,” he started.
I blanched, not expecting him to be so blunt. “Then why waste your time coming over here to talk?!” I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air. I couldn’t bear to hear him rehash all the reasons we couldn’t be together. “You saw pictures of me doing something that’s a deal-breaker for you. I can’t go back in the past and change it. I should have told you, but this is why I didn’t.” I was crying now and my emotions were raw.
“Babe, stop,” he said, exasperated. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
I stopped talking and just stood there staring at him through my tears.
“Could you please sit down?” he asked. I took a moment to study his face and I could see the same heartbreak I had been feeling staring back at me.
I sat down at the other end of the couch and turned to face him while wiping at my face. “Okay, so what are you saying?” I asked, still unsure why he was here.
“Like I said, I can’t do this anymore. I made a huge mistake walking out on you when Brad sent those pictures. I let my past control my thoughts rather than use common sense. It was obvious those pictures were old. It didn’t help my ego to see you in a compromising position with another man. My pride took a hit and I took it out on you. The issues with my mom and my childhood shouldn’t have been applied to this situation. Instead of being mature about it, I refused to deal with it and pushed you away. I’m sorry.” He paused to take a deep breath. “I’m so very sorry that I hurt you. I love you so much and it kills me that I’ve caused you pain…” His voice faltered at the end of his speech.
I sat there in silence for a few seconds. I could feel a couple tears slip free and Kyle moved closer to me so he could wipe them away.
“Don’t cry, babe. I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but if you give me one I will prove to you that I will always listen to you and be there for you and Stella,” he said, his voice a near-whisper. I could see his eyes tearing up too, and I knew he meant every word.
I was overcome with waves of emotion and incapable of forming any words so I leaned forward and kissed him gently. The kiss took him by surprise, but he quickly returned it, filling his kiss with so much love and passion that I knew everything he had just said was true.
Eventually, I pulled away from him. “I love you, too. I’ve missed you so much. Watching you walk away was beyond painful. I felt like I had finally found everything I had been looking for and you just… left. Please promise me that you’ll talk to me if something upsets you, because I can promise you I will never do anything to intentionally hurt you.”
Falling for the Unexpected (Life Unexpected Book 1) Page 28
