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Chapter Twenty-eight
Peyton
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“Hey.” Henna pops herhead in the door, a small bouquet of flowers in her hand.
“Hey.” I cringe as I shift upright in bed.
“How are you feeling?” She hesitantly enters the room, setting the flowers on the small bedside table next to me.
“Well,” I look down at my arm, “I’ve been better.” I laugh, not really sure what else I can do at this point.
“Peyton, I’m so sorry,” she starts but I immediately cut her off.
“Stop it. You didn’t see that car and neither did I. Don’t try to find a way to blame yourself for this. Don’t go all Henna on me.”
A small smile graces her pretty face.
“Go all Henna on you,” she mocks, seeming to relax. “I saw your dad and Tina as they were leaving.” She gestures toward the door.
“Yeah, I had to practically kick them out to get them to leave for a little bit. I swear my dad still looks at me like a helpless child.”
“Because you’re still his child. And,” she quickly adds, “you’re all he has left.”
“He has Tina.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the same and you know it.” She plops down on the edge of the bed and angles herself toward me.
“I know.”
“So, have you heard from Abel?” she asks, her change of subject more painful than the physical pain I’m in.
I’ve been here since yesterday and he hasn’t come to see me. He hasn’t called. Hell, he hasn’t even answered the text I broke down and sent him earlier.
I don’t get it. I know from my dad that he was here the whole time. That he stayed through my entire surgery. But then once he found out that everything was okay, he took off and not one person has heard from him since. Other than Aaron, who could only confirm that he’s fine and would give me no other information. I’m not sure if it’s because there was no information left to give or if it was because he didn’t want to give it.
“Nope.”
“What’s his deal, I wonder?”
“Honestly, I’d like to know the same thing. I mean, why did he even come here in the first place if I mean that little to him?” I let my fear get the better of me and find that it’s easier to resort to anger.
And boy am I angry. Furious, even. I thought we had more. I thoughtImeant more.
“You don’t mean that little. You should have seen him when he got here yesterday. He was wrecked with worry.”
“So then what happened? Why leave and not even have the courtesy to return a phone call?”
“Something must have freaked him out. Do you think your dad would have said anything to him?”
“Chuck Rivers? That man doesn’t have it in him. He would never do that to me. He knows I’m crazy about Abel.”
“I didn’t realize you had told them. Yesterday I wasn’t sure how to introduce Abel.”
“They’ve known for a few days. It’s my dad, so I left out most details but he knows I’m happy, and that’s all he cares about.” I pause. “Or at least I was happy.”
“Hey.” Henna places her hand on my shin and squeezes gently. “Whatever this is, whatever is going on with him, I’m sure he’ll come around and when he does, he’ll have a perfectly reasonable and forgivable explanation.”
