He pulls out his wallet, then nods to the waitress walking by. “Can you take care of paying while I go talk to the kids?”
“Yeah, of course.”
I do as he asks, watching him and the kids the whole time I wait for the waitress to put together our bill. Lucy starts to cry, and Brent looks scared, but they also both look…resigned. For the first time, I wonder if maybe this isn’t some acute emergency that will pass, but rather some long-term thing the kids and Hunter are already intimately familiar with.
Just the idea makes my heart break for all of them. Hunter hasn’t said that much about his family during the time we’ve been together, but when he does mention his sister, it’s obvious he adores her.
The waitress doesn’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation—despite the fact that we’re literally walking out in the middle of dinner—so in the end, I shove a hundred and twenty dollars at her and head back to the table.
“Do you want to take your food?” Hunter is asking them as they slide out of the booth, but both kids just shake their heads.
“Okay. Come on,” he says, hands on both their shoulders as he steers us out of the restaurant. “I know this sucks, but I’m going to call Marta in the car, okay, guys? I’ll have her meet us at the hospital and—”
“I don’t want Marta!” Lucy says, and the tears start all over again. “I want Mommy!”
“I know, baby. That’s why Mommy’s at the hospital. So she can get better—”
“She’s not getting better.” Brent chimes in for the first time, voice bitter and face angrier than any ten-year-old should ever be. “She’s never going to get better.”
Lucy starts wailing then and Hunter stops in the middle of the parking lot. He just stops, looking shaken and frustrated and nearly as angry as Brent. He’s clearly at a loss as to what to do and I can’t stand seeing him like this.
“How about you come to my place instead?” I ask, putting a hand on Hunter’s back for support. “I’ll make milkshakes and popcorn and we can watch a movie while your uncle goes to the hospital. How does that sound?”
Lucy grabs on to me, wrapping her little arms around my waist so tightly that she nearly knocks me off balance. “Yes, yes, yes. Please, Uncle Hunter, can we go with Emerson. Please?”
His eyes meet mine and he’s obviously at a loss for words. It’s obvious he wants to say yes, obvious he wants to get to the hospit
al as soon as possible, but at the same time he doesn’t want to put too much on me.
“It’s okay,” I tell him, leaning forward and pressing a kiss on his shoulder. “I’ve got this.”
He searches my face, his green eyes dark and wild and sad, so sad. “You sure?”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
“I don’t know how long—”
“Don’t worry about it. They can spend the night and you, or Marta, can pick them up in the morning before school.” For about the millionth time I wish my car was working, so I could drop them off at school—one more thing that Hunter wouldn’t have to worry about.
“That sounds perfect,” he says as we get the kids loaded in the back of the car. “But if it’s too much trouble—”
“It’s not,” I tell him. “They’re good kids. Drop us off and then go be with your sister.”
He looks pained. “About that—”
“You can tell me later. When she’s better.”
He looks relieved. “Thank you.”
“Nothing to thank me for.” I stretch up on my tippy-toes and press a firm kiss to his mouth. “I like you and your niece and nephew. Taking them for a night is no hardship. So stop worrying about whether or not this is okay and let’s get going. The sooner you drop us at my place, the sooner you can get to your sister.”
He pulls me against him then, in a hug so tight I swear I can feel my ribs crack. But I don’t protest. Instead, I just hug him back as hard as I can, holding on to him as long as I can. Because, for the first time since I met him, Hunter feels fragile beneath my touch.
Chapter 24
Hunter
This isn’t supposed to be happening.