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“Who let you back here? You have to leave this area immediately!” she announces with her arms spread out to keep Tyler and me apart. It’s for naught as Will has me in a bear hug, and Tyler is standing rigid against the wall.
“Our son is getting a CT scan,” Tyler explains as he rubs his chest where my knuckles just landed. He turns to me as he explains, “I was going to the waiting room to call you. You can’t get a damn signal in this place.”
“I told you explicitly, no ATVs, but you refused to listen, you selfish prick!”
The nurse doesn’t seem to care for my outburst. “Enough of this! I’m going to call security.”
“No need. He’s a cop,” I spew.
“You are?” Tyler asks in keen interest. “Wait, you look familiar.”
I narrow my eyes at Tyler. “Who lets their five-year-old ride an ATV in the dark?”
Tyler has the nerve to curve his brows, as if remorseful. “It’s not what you think. It’s a little-kid one. It’s not even gas-powered. It only goes five miles per hour. He was on it all day, and I ran inside for five minutes. If the idiot driver had yielded at the damn stop sign …” Tyler’s fist goes to his mouth, and his eyes, now that I’m looking at them, are red, swollen, and filled with the fear of a father who has been in the emergency room with his son. “I didn’t hear the accident. I heard Izzy. She screamed so loud. I went into panic mode when I heard her. I thought she was being kidnapped. When I got outside, Izzy was at Hunter’s side. She’s so brave, that girl. So fucking brave. She was talking to Hunter, telling him to stay awake. I knelt beside him and went to take his helmet off, but she told me not to. Said she saw something on TV about causing more harm when you try to help.”
“Smart girl,” Will says.
Tyler nods. “I called the ambulance and told Maisie to bring Izzy to your dad’s. I didn’t …” He pauses, his hands on his hips as he looks down at the ground. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. I still don’t know what is going to happen. I didn’t want her here in case—”
An audible gasp escapes my lips. I cover my mouth and frown in my hands, devastated for my baby. “Is he going to be okay?”
“He was talking to me in the ambulance and when we got here, but he’s a little loopy. Maybe a concussion. He might have broken his wrist.”
“Broken?” Since Will won’t let me hit Tyler, I use Will’s arms to lift my body and start to kick my ex-husband, forcing him to move backward and Will to use his full force to hold me closer, like a bull before a rodeo.
“This behavior is uncalled for!” The nurse looks frazzled.
“If you want to stay back here, you need to relax. You have to decide what’s more important—hurting Tyler or seeing Hunter.” Will’s words are like ice to my heated rage.
Tyler runs his hand behind his neck and looks down at his phone. There’re a slew of text messages coming in now that he seems to be getting service. He ignores them.
“You can’t worry like that. I’ve seen a lot of accidents, and if you say Hunter was talking, is still talking, that’s a good sign,” Will explains.
The lines on Tyler’s forehead are deep as he looks up at me and Will. “Who are you again?”
The double doors at the end of the hallway open. A bed is pushed out. Lying in it is a little boy with chubby cheeks and a love of magic.
“Hunter,” I cry out, forcing Will to release me and let me run to my boy.
“Mommy!” he calls out, raspy and not as boisterous as my baby boy usually is. I’m down the hallway so fast, hovering over the side and hugging my boy and showering him with kisses as best as I can.
I do a full assessment of him. All limbs are accounted for, but I’m careful not to touch him too aggressively. He’s in a hospital gown. His arm is black and blue with some road rash on it. His eyes have dark circles, which I assume is from exhaustion and crying.
I start crying again. Salty tears fall down my chin. “I’m so happy you’re okay. Mommy was so worried. I’m sorry I wasn’t with you.”
“I wanted you,” he says with a whimper.
“I know, sweetie. I know you did.”
“Hi, Melissa.”
Behind Hunter’s bed is a hospital worker. I look at him, confused how he knows me, and I’m positive the voice who said my name was female. Then, I realize the greeting came from behind the worker. There’s a woman in designer jeans, a cashmere sweater, and long, flowing, perfectly blown-out hair.
I do a slow, dramatic spin toward Tyler. My chin is down as I glare at him. “Maisie’s here?”
He has the nerve to look at me like I’m insane for asking. “She was with me when the accident happened. I rode the ambulance with Hunter while Maisie brought Izzy to your dad’s and then met us here.”
I squint my eyes closed. “Let me get this straight. I had to sneak back here, but Maisie’s been rolling Hunter around like a candy striper?”
