AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Turns out I’m still the luckiest fucker in the world.
TWENTY-TWO
Lance
“You want me to come in with you today?”
I hand Scarlet the parking ticket and make my way into the hospital with her by my side. “And have you and Annie laugh at me in pain?” I side-eye her. “No, I do not.”
Scarlet’s smile is full, has been for weeks. “We don’t laugh at you.”
“No, you do a shitty job of not laughing at me.”
“It’s an x-ray and check in. She isn’t going to hurt you. She’ll probably let you get rid of your crutches today. You seem pretty steady on your feet.”
“I’ve not needed them for weeks.”
“Not true.” Her hand roams the length of my back and around to my side. She pushes up onto her tiptoes to place a kiss on my cheek. “But I love your enthusiasm. I’m going to go see Mia.”
I watch from the waiting room door as she slips out of my grasp, entranced by the way she moves through the hospital corridors as she does through life. Fully. Head up. Never missing a step.
The last few weeks have felt impossible, and yet, they’ve been the easiest of my life.
She’s right there, always smiling and laughing and perfect. And I’m here, trying—fucking trying my hardest, to give her the time she needs.
We share a bed. We walk the meadow. We steal moments only we’ll ever know about, and then share precious ones with our daughter that she’ll never forget.
And we pretend every fucking day it’s not a big deal. That I’m not already on my ass in love with her, and she’s not tripping at my feet, falling.
I shake my head and push into the room, knowing I look like a fool staring after her.
When Annie eventually calls my name, I pick up my crutches in one hand and walk the distance to the examination room without aid.
“Look at you go.” She whistles as I pass her. “Show off. I see Dr Lowell has done a stellar job looking after you.”
“Coddled, that’s what she’s done to me.” I fight the smile that threatens, knowing Scarlet would have my ass if she could hear me.
Annie grins, setting me up on the bed. “So, we’re flying tomorrow. It’s quite the distance, isn’t it?”
“Two days of travel.”
She nods. “You’ll have some discomfort.” She puts a hand on her chest. “I’d have discomfort. But you should be okay. Let’s get some x-rays done, and I’ll see how well you can really pitch on that leg.”
Annie takes me to x-ray herself, telling me she could use the walk. We’re in and out before Scarlet can get back.
“It’s looking good. I’m so glad they operated in the end, you know,” she tells me without turning around. She nods at the x-ray on the screen. “I can see the callus growing around the break, and you seem to be pretty comfortable pitching on it.”
I smirk. I told Scarlet I didn’t need my crutches.
Annie spins on her chair, smile wide, victorious. “Do you think you could go home, try finding your feet back in your own space?”
My smile drops, and I frown, the room turning grey as I sit, wondering if Annie just said I could go home as if it’s the greatest idea in the world. “Home?”
Her brows rise, panic washing out her glee. “Oh, sorry. I don’t know why I thought Scarlet said you had a place of your own to go back to.” She shakes her head. “I see so many families, Lance, you’ll have to forgive me.”
I stare at a spot on the ground, wondering at what point I lost sight of the goal. Wondering at what point I forgot I’d have to leave them again. “I have a place,” I say absentmindedly.
“You do?”
