“Peg,” Allie said seriously. “I want to know what happened to me.”
It took a lot of back and forth between Laney and Peg, but Allie finally pieced together what had happened between the time she’d left that message for Sam and waking up here in the hospital.
At hearing that Javier had come to the hospital and tried to smother her while she was still unconscious, she shivered and drew the thin hospital blanket tighter around her. She couldn’t think about that right now. It was too disturbing.
“Is Vi all right?” Allie asked, her voice breaking as she remembered how certain she had been of being lost to her daughter forever.
Violet, they assured her, was safe and happy—and very anxious for Allie to be home. She was staying with Ryan, unaware of the true extent of what her mother had been through.
Oh, God. She couldn’t wait to hold her daughter in her arms again. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to let go.
She was shocked to learn she’d been in the hospital since yesterday, having slept the whole night and day away. For the first time, she noticed the heaviness of her arms, and she held them up to inspect. Her wrists were covered in bandages and tape.
Peg rushed to say, “I’m sure with time the scarring will be barely noticeable.”
Laney got teary-eyed again.
Allie was suddenly too tired to deal with it all. “I need to sleep now,” she murmured.
And as she started to drift off, she felt her heart tighten with an old, familiar ache.
Sam had saved her life.
But he hadn’t come to see her.
Hadn’t called.
Hadn’t sent her flowers, or even a note.
Now that the murder was solved, he’d apparently lost interest in her.
She swallowed down the hurt and disappointment.
Ah, well. It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before—him leaving.
She’d survived back then.
She’d get over him this time, too.
Eventually…
…
The next time Allie awoke, the room was swathed with darkness. Her eyes took a moment to adjust, and she looked around, sensing someone else in the room.
Against the wall, a figure sat in the chair by the window. The person was leaning back with arms crossed. A big person. A man.
Panic swept through her, and she nearly gasped out loud. Until she remembered that Javier was under lock and key in the county jail.
“Hey,” said a soft male voice.
And suddenly, the panic was drowned in a groundswell of hope and happiness.
Sam.
She smiled. “Hey.”
He’d saved her.