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I clamped my jaw shut and crossed my arms over my sore chest. “You are a—”
“Jerk, I know. But a jerk who loves you. Georgie’s on her way here with a pineapple and olive pizza as we speak.” He winked again, that devilish grin on his face.
“Really?” I squealed. When he nodded, I announced, “Fine, I forgive you.”
Right on cue, Georgia knocked on the doorframe, her other hand holding a large pizza, the smell wafting over to my bed.
“Oh my God, come in!” I nearly shouted. My stomach grumbled loudly as she set the pizza on the hospital tray.
I didn’t bother waiting on anyone else, just opened the lid and grabbed the biggest slice of pizza I could see. Taking a bite, I closed my eyes and savored the salty flavor of the salty olives mixed with the sweet of pineapple.
“What’d you say to make Lawson turn down pizza?” Georgia quipped as she settled into the plastic chair across from my bed.
“Lawson? I haven’t seen him,” I told her around another large bite of pizza. “God, this is so good.”
Her lip curled. “That’s the grossest thing I’ve ever seen.” She took a sip out of her to-go cup and looked at her brother. “You piss him off?”
Hampton shook his head. “Nah, I haven’t seen him either.”
I shrugged. “He hasn’t been here since he brought me into the ER and they transferred me up here.”
My mom shook her head. “No, that’s not true. He sat here with you until you woke up.”
I looked at her, my brows furrowed, and set my slice of pizza down. “He did?”
Hampton nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I told him to go home and take a nap and we nearly came to blows in the hallway.” He leaned forward and snagged a slice of pizza out of my box, ignoring me as I batted his hand away. “You would’ve thought I asked him to unplug your life support or something.” He finished with a shrug before shoving half of the pizza in his mouth.
I turned to where Georgia was perched. “You saw him just now? In the hospital?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I was getting off the elevator and he was getting on. Asked him how you were, and he muttered something about having to get to work and took off.” She lifted her shoulder again. “I just figured you’d said something to aggravate him again. You are good at that, you know.”
Boy, did I know that.
What I didn’t know was that he’d been by my side for nearly two days while I was unconscious. Why? I also didn’t know why now that I was awake he’d stayed away. I figured he was just bogged down with work. Or that he was getting updates from Hampton and figured he didn’t need to come here to see me.
But he had been here. Why hadn’t he come into the room?
“Mom, have you seen him?”
Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second. “Well, yes.”
We all stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate. When it became apparent she wasn’t going to say anything more, I prodded. “Well? Why didn’t he come in my room?”
Her cheeks pinked and a bit flustered, she said, “Well, he just didn’t want to bother you, I suppose.” She checked her watch and then looked back at Georgia. “You’ll be here with her a while, right?”
Georgia nodded. “Yep, I cleared my entire schedule to spend the day with Pip.”
Hampton chuckled. “She’s playing hooky from work because she hates her boss and using your illness as an excuse. But keep telling yourself that you’re here for Piper.”
Georgia grabbed a napkin from the tray and balled it up before throwing it at Hampton. “Shut up, asshole.”
“Georgia!” my mom admonished.
She immediately dropped her gaze to the floor and mumbled an apology before standing to hug my mother.
Mom came around and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, promising to be back this evening before slipping through the door.
The phone on Hampton’s hip beeped and he looked at it. “Shit. Duty calls. I’ll check in on you later,” he said before quickly rushing from the room.
