The Son & His Hope (The Ribbon Duet 3)

“I—”

The door swung open.

Dr Jorge bustled in with his e-tablet and large physique. “Ah, sorry. Thought you’d left and this room was free.” He glanced between Jacob and me. Saw my tears. Read Jacob’s anger.

He backed over the threshold. “Um, sorry to interrupt, but we have another patient that requires this room.” He hugged his tablet to his chest like armour as he reached for the door handle. “Everything okay?”

I nodded curtly as Jacob shook his head.

We spoke at the same time.

“No.”

“Yes.”

The doctor frowned. “Well…anything I can do to help?” He looked at his watch. “I can delay the other patient, I suppose.”

“No, it’s fine.” I swiped at my tears and swung my legs—cast and all—to the floor. I braced myself for the pain, realising too late I’d climbed off the wrong side. My crutches mocked me against the wall.

Damn.

Jacob noticed. Grabbing the two sticks, he brought them around the bed for me. “Here.”

I didn’t thank him.

Taking the crutches stiffly, I placed them under my arms. My first step forward was awkward, and Jacob hovered behind me, ready to catch me, willing to hurt me even more with his consideration.

My back prickled from his stare as I straightened my spine and hopped faster. I moved toward Dr Jorge. “Don’t worry. We’re leaving.”

“Okay then. See you for a check-up soon.” He stepped sideways so I could hop from the room and do my best to run from this hospital.

The hospital that had taken Jacob’s family.

The hospital that kept me prisoner in Jacob’s care.

By the time I made it outside, the sun hurt my concussed head, and I hissed between my teeth with discomfort. Jacob jogged ahead of me, vanishing amongst a row of parked cars.

A snarl of an ancient growly engine reached my ears just before Jacob swung in front of me in his truck. Climbing out, he opened the passenger door and gave me a stern smile. “Get in.”

“No.”

“We’re not finished with this conversation.”

“We are. I’m going to a hotel.”

“Get in the car, or I’ll throw you in myself.”

My chin came up, my hands squeezing my padded crutches. “Call your aunt. I’ll stay with her until my dad arrives.”

His jaw clenched as his fist latched around the door. “Give me time to talk to you. Give me that, and if you still hate my guts, I’ll drive you wherever you want to go. Even if it’s across borders and continents.”

I studied him.

I hated and loved him.

I lost to the soul-deep plea in his gaze.

“One hour. But once we’ve talked, it’s over.”

“Okay.”

“Good.” I sniffed.

And in that emptiness following a single word, Jacob stepped into me, his chest brushed my chest, his eyes found my lips, and his heart offered me to take it.

One simple word.

Four tiny letters.

An entire lifetime of love behind it.

His hand cupped my cheek, and his forehead kissed mine. “Fine.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Hope

* * * * * *

FOR THE PAST two hours, Jacob had avoided the so-called conversation we were meant to have. He’d driven me back to his place, placed pillows on his couch, layered me with blankets, snacks, and the TV remote, then vanished in his dinged-up truck to who knew where.

So much for only being here an hour.

When he returned, he carted grocery bags to the kitchen he most likely hadn’t cooked in since leaving Cherry River four years ago and proceeded to prepare something to eat.

I pretended to ignore him.

Whenever I felt his eyes on me, I studied whatever stupid show played on the TV. Whenever he cleared his throat as if looking for a right sentence to begin yet another fight, I turned up the volume and hunkered down in my blankets.

I wanted to be invisible.

But when my head hurt, he gave me painkillers.

When my broken leg ached, he gently positioned a cushion beneath it.

I merely had to wince, and he was there, doing his best to eradicate my pain.

I’d never been so fussed over, so watched or loved or wanted.

It made me cry deep inside because I’d wanted that sort of care all along.

I’d wanted the give and take of a true connection.

The domestication of lovers and friends with rolling meadows all around us, forests sheltering us, and the knowledge that we belonged to one another.

If one hurt, the other found a cure. If one was tired, the other let them rest.

A partnership until death did us part.

To see what such a life could be like with Jacob left my heart in a steady flux of throbbing agony. Whenever I looked at him in the kitchen or smelled the delicious scents of butter and pesto or caught him staring at me as if he wanted to kiss me stupid and then drag me back to his bedroom, it upset me in the most agonising way.

I thought he couldn’t hurt me any more than what he’d done in Bali.