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“Thanks.” I took the paperwork from her and stood to my feet, ushering Mom and Iris toward the door. “We appreciate it.”
“Of course.” Linley nodded but grabbed my arm just as Mom and Iris were out of earshot. “Are you close with Robbie?”
I shook my head, furrowing my brow. “Oh my gosh, no. He came in for a loan a few days ago, and that’s the only time that I’ve seen him. We might have dated for maybe a month during my freshman year of high school, but that was ages ago. We don’t talk at all.” I was rambling, and Linley’s expression was unmoved by it.
Her voice was quiet but a warning tone. “I just know that he’s not a fan of Gunner.”
“Oh,” I said in recognition of what she was getting at. “Thanks for letting me know. I never knew that they didn’t get along.”
“Yeah, no idea of the origin of that. That’s just what I was told.”
Cops and criminals—makes sense.
“I have no idea.” My tone was so awkward as I gave her a half-hearted smile and headed out of the hospital. I had never been more ready to get the hell out of a hospital—and that was saying something.
“I don’t get why you couldn’t have just met me after work,” Linley’s voice seethed behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder, seeing her with her hands on her hips talking to…
Robbie.
Shaking my head, I pushed through the exit doors to the lobby, searching for Iris and my mom. However, they were nowhere to be seen in the meager waiting room. I hustled through to the main doors, relieved to see my mom helping my daughter into the backseat of my car.
“We didn’t want to wait on you,” Mom gave me a lecture in just her look.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said with a sigh. “I just need to get her home and to bed. We’ve been here hours.”
“More like forever,” Iris groaned from inside the backseat. “I want to be in my own bed.”
“I know, I know.” I jerked open the door and slid inside, reaching over and starting the car. I told my mom goodbye and shut the door, letting out a sigh of relief as I turned to Iris. “Ready to go?”
“Yes, I have never been more ready in my entire life, Mom. Like, comeon.”
“Okay,” I laughed, backing out and heading toward our new house.
“Can we put the TV in my room?”
I held back my eyeroll, knowing that she just didn’t feel good. “Yeah, I think so.”
Chapter 20
Gunner
Fuck, I’m such a dick.
I pressed the call button beside Hallie’s name, knowing that I had waitedwaytoo long to get back to her. Putting the phone up to my ear, I braced, wondering just how pissed off Hallie would be at me this time.
“Hi,” her tone was flat, though she sounded more exhausted than anything. “You must’ve been busy today.”
“Yeah, I kind of got into a mess with some stuff,” I said, my eyes glancing down to my knuckles as I stretched my hand out, wincing at the soreness. “But I was thinking that I could stop by. I’ll bring the truck, so no one is disturbed in your neighborhood.”
There was a silence on the other end of the phone before a heavy breath came through. “Fine. But Iris has been sick all day, and so I don’t know how much fun I’ll be.”
“I don’t know how much fun I’ll be, either. I just want to be with you for a while, Hal. It’s been a fucking day.”
“Yeah, I get that. We were in the hospital.”
“What?” I felt myself panicking, picking up in a jog to get to the truck across the clubhouse parking lot. “Are you okay? Is Iris okay? Shit, Hal. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She stopped me from saying anything more, her voice still devoid of any emotion. “I get that you were busy. I thought that Iris might have appendicitis, but it wasn’t. It was just a bad stomach bug. They gave her some fluids, and then we came home this afternoon. I tried to call…”
