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Within minutes, I’m out of the truck and running for the entrance. Cam’s stayed outside to meet me.
“They immediately took her for a scan. I couldn’t go anyway, so I decided to wait for you. Give my heart a little bit of time to catch up to my head.”
“The head knows she’s okay. The heart is still beating a thousand miles a minute?” I ask, reaching out to grab his hand.
“You have no fucking idea.” He holds his hand up to show it’s shaking. “She’s never been a daredevil, ya know? Never been the type to get hurt. Seeing her head fly back the way it did almost ended my goddamn life.”
Tears spring to my eyes, my bottom lip quivers, and my throat tightens. “Mine too. She’s never taken a hit like that before. Even in all the time I’ve watched her, she’s not gone down that hard. It was scary.”
Our arms wrap around one another. I hold him close, feeling the wetness of his tears seeping into my shirt. The shakes go through him, but I give him my strength, letting him know without words I’m here to catch him when he needs to fall.
“For a split second, she didn’t get up,” he whispers. “I didn’t know if she was…”
“I know, don’t say it,” I whisper back to him. “I worried about it too.”
“Immediately, I began thinking what my life would be like without her and that feeling was devastating.”
Tightening my arms around him, I hold him as if he’s going to be ripped out of my grasp at any moment. His strength feeds into mine, giving me what I need in order to be strong for him. “I know; I felt it too.”
He lets go and brushes his lips against mine. “We need to go in there for her. She asked for you.”
“She did?” I laugh, the tone watery. “God, I love that girl.”
“I know you do. We’re lucky to have you, Nat.”
“Call me crazy, but I think I’m the lucky one to have y’all.”
* * *
“Didyour dad think it was weird when you told him not to worry about bringing your SUV to the hospital?”
We’re sitting in the waiting area and trying to be patient.
“No, he seemed to understand I needed to get here as soon as possible. They all wanna know how she’s doing.”
“Me too.” He kisses me on the top of my head. “Patience isn’t my strong suit.”
“Mine either.”
Leaning my head against his chest, I allow myself to melt into him and let him hold me up with his stoic strength. Closing my eyes, I inhale the smell that is Cameron Hines.
“The family of Trinity Hines?”
We’re up in a flash. “That’s us.” Cam raises his hand.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Phillips. Good news, there’s no concussion, but she’s going to be hurting for the next few days. We called in a plastic surgeon to stitch up her cheek. She’ll have around five stitches and we’ll send you home with some instructions.”
“So, no lasting issues?” I breathe out, crossing my arms over my chest.
“There shouldn’t be. As she gets older, you’re going to have to watch the scar. It can possibly stretch. She may want to do something more cosmetic then, but no. She’s a very lucky kid.”
“Thank Jesus,” Cam breathes out, almost dropping to his knees.
I reach around, grabbing him about the waist and helping to hold him up. “She’s going to be fine.”
* * *
“She’s out,”Cam whispers as he walks into his bedroom. “It didn’t take her long at all.”
