“No, thanks.This is my daughter, Aria.”
“Nice to meet you,” the nurse said.“I’m Jessica.I’ll be here until seven if you need anything else.”
“Thank you.”
“This medicine makes me sleepy,” Steven said.
“So don’t take it to heart if you fall asleep while I’m talking to you?”
He smiled but she could tell he was already nodding off.“I’m going to leave.But I’ll be back.Probably not for a couple of days but I’ll call and let you know when.”
“You don’t have to do that.I’m really glad you came, but I don’t want you to think you need to come back.I don’t want to be—”
She held up a hand.“Don’t even say it.I want to see you.Deal with it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Steven said meekly.
“That’s more like it.I’ll call you.”
*
Ryan wasn’t surewhat he’d see when Aria came out of Steven’s room.But she looked better than she had in days.“It went well, I take it.”
“It was nice.We talked.Nothing about his cancer.But I told him about us.”
“What about us?”
“I told him we kinda sorta broke up.”
At least she didn’t say she kicked my ass out of the house, which is what happened.Still not great, but he’d take it.“What did he say?”
“He said not to let what he did color my relationship with you.He likes you a lot, by the way.”
“Did you tell him it was me, not him?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“He said we should talk.But I don’t think you should talk about something so upsetting while you’re driving.Let’s wait until we get back.I’ll call Whitney and tell her we’re on our way.”
“Okay.That would probably be best.”He’d never told anyone the whole story.Well, Connor knew most of it now.But other than Connor, who was an integral part of it, no one knew.And sure as hell no one but Aria knew he thought he had PTS stemming from what had happened in Afghanistan.
Before he’d left Aria in Denver, he’d thought that Afghanistan had a lot to do with why he couldn’t settle down in one place.But he hadn’t connected the dots.He hadn’t realized he was afraid to fall in love because of the disaster with Casey.He’d just figured he wasn’t meant to settle down.But now that he’d met his child and allowed himself to admit his feelings for Aria, he realized that was bullshit.He wanted Aria.He wanted to live with her and Sophie.He wanted to be able to go to sleep with Aria and wake up with her in his arms.
He wanted to marry her.But he wasn’t at all sure what she wanted.
He glanced over at Aria, who’d been quiet since she’d talked to Whitney.She’d fallen asleep.He figured she was both physically and mentally exhausted.Hopefully she’d get some sleep and feel better for it.
They were almost to Marietta when she woke up.“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.How do you feel?”
Aria yawned and stretched.“Good.Sorry I conked out on you.”
“That’s all right.You obviously needed the sleep.We’re almost there.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize I slept the entire way home.I’m going to call Whitney and check on Sophie.”
“We’ll be there in about ten minutes.”
