Page 22 of Jay Bird

“She likes Peppa.”

“Yeah. I gathered that after episode twelve. I’m pretty sure I know more about that pig and her family than any grown man should.”

Another laugh slipped out of Willow before she could stop it.

Then the questions came rushing back.

“What happened?” She looked at Riley. “How did I get here?”

“You passed out in front of the gym,” Riley explained. “The doctors said you were severely dehydrated and exhausted. Your body basically decided it was done, whether you agreed with it or not.”

Pieces started coming back. She remembered standing outside the gym and looking for Riley. The doors opened, and suddenly there were people everywhere. Too many people. But she remembered Riley. And—

Willow’s gaze drifted to Jay Bird, a flicker of recognition tightening in her chest. She remembered him too. Not clearly, just in broken flashes: a big man moving fast through the chaos, strong arms reaching for her before everything went black.

“Jay Bird caught you,” Riley said, following her gaze. “Both of you, actually. You were holding Lily when you went down. He got to you before either of you hit the pavement.”

Her arms tightened instinctively around her daughter.

“Thank you,” she whispered again, the words carrying far more weight this time.

Jay Bird held her gaze for a moment before giving her another quiet nod.

For the next few minutes, the room settled into something almost normal. Lily stayed curled against Willow’s side, happily eating her fries while the others talked quietly around them. Willow was still trying to wrap her head around everything. Riley was here. Mia was alive. Lily was safe. And somehow, after three years of constantly looking over her shoulder, Willow was sitting in a hospital room surrounded by people who seemed to want to help her.

Eventually, Riley pulled a chair closer to the bed.

The change in her expression was subtle, but Willow noticed it. The warmth was still there, but something else lay beneath it. Something more serious.

“Willow, I need to ask you something, and I don’t want you to feel like you have to talk about anything before you’re ready.”

Willow knew what was coming before Riley even finished. What happened? It was the question Willow had spent three years imagining someone asking her if she ever managed to get away.

She also knew Riley wasn’t asking only as her friend. Riley was law enforcement. Willow remembered that much. And strangely, that made answering easier rather than harder. If telling Riley everything she knew could keep Chen away from her and Lily—if it could give the police enough to find him—Willow would sit there and talk until she had no voice left.

“You want to know what happened.”

Riley nodded. “I do. But we can do this privately if you want. Everyone can step out.”

Willow glanced around the room. At Mia. At the three men she had only just met. She probably should have wanted privacy, but what was the point? If these people were part of Riley and Mia’s lives, they would hear some version of it eventually.

Her gaze dropped to Lily, who was currently busy making her elephant dance across the blanket, completely oblivious to the conversation happening around her. Lily might not understand most of what Willow said, but that didn’t matter. She didn’t want her little girl sitting there listening while her mother talked about Chen. She didn’t want that name, or any of the things that came with it, touching Lily any more than they already had.

Before Willow could say anything, Jay Bird seemed to figure out what she was thinking.

He reached for one of the bags that had come with them and started digging through it. A moment later, he pulled out a tablet in a thick pink case, followed by a pair of matching child-sized headphones.

Willow stared at him. Where in the world had those come from?

“A friend of ours picked up some things for Lily,” Riley explained, apparently reading the question on her face. “Clothes, snacks, toiletries. A few toys. She grabbed the tablet so Lily would have something to watch or play with while you rested.”

Willow didn’t even know what to say to that. People who didn’t know them had gone shopping for her daughter.

“Peppa?” Lily asked the second she spotted the tablet.

Jay Bird chuckled. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

He looked at Willow first, silently asking permission again.