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10
“What doyou mean there are harsher health code regulations right now?” I asked the nurse, who had just told me Bella couldn’t go with us into the X-ray area.
“It’s state mandated, ma’am…I’m sorry.” The nurse gave me an apologetic smile and walked away. My heart hammered away inside my chest as I stood there having to choose between going with my son to get his X-rays or staying with my daughter.
Ryan spoke up from the bench he was perched on. “Bex, I’ll wait with her.”
He hadn’t left yet, and I wasn’t sure why. I had advised him that Shay worked at this hospital and would give us a ride home. I’d even offered him some cash for his gas; he had just laughed at me then followed us inside.
He made me crazy. Like striking a match and throwing it into a lake of kerosene.
I tried to ignore him as much as I could, but in moments like these, where he was being super sweet and thoughtful and actually helping me out, it wasn’t so easy to disregard the man.
“We have to head back now,” the nurse said, wheeling my son away from me.
Bella curled into Ryan’s side as though she’d known him her entire life, so I took that as my cue to go ahead and follow after Cole. It was a strange sensation to see Ryan near my kids. Of course, I had considered a billion times what that would be like, because I was on that shoreline subconsciously waiting for him…but this was so different.
I hated that I hadn’t even had a chance to explain Bella’s name to him. The night I said it in front of him, I wasn’t trying to hurt him; I just hadn’t been thinking about him. He’d been with Henna and had made my week a nightmare, so I hadn’t cared about him one way or another. But now…
“You can wait right here, Ms. Black,” the nurse said to me while my son went behind the wall where they’d take his X-ray.
I watched through the window as they took images of his leg from all different directions. A buzz in my purse had me ducking my head and pulling it free.
Logan: Is he okay?
I’d texted Logan as soon as we arrived so he would know what was going on with his son. I doubted very much that he would drive down here to check on Cole, but at least he knew, so he could call.
Me: Getting x-rays now
Logan: Keep me updated
Pocketing my phone, I brushed the hair off my face, realizing a little too late that I probably looked like a train had recently run over me. I had been cleaning the bathrooms when Bella came in and said she couldn’t see Cole outside. I knew something was wrong; Cole only ever went down and back the same route, always within viewing distance of the house. Then I heard the honk and started running down the steps in a panic.
“Okay, we’ll get these over to Dr. Nolan and meet you back in the exam room,” the nurse explained, wheeling Cole back toward the room. It was only a hallway down from the waiting room where Bella and Ryan were. I should have probably gone to check on them, but there was something at peace in my middle when I thought of Ryan with her.
Once the nurse left, I sat down across from Cole and tried to gauge how he was doing.
“How do you know Ryan Prince, Mom?” My son’s blue eyes gleamed with excitement as our first opportunity to talk alone surfaced.
“How doyouknow him is the better question.” I raised a brow.
“He does this awesome survival show on HitFlix where he has to eat these gross bugs and hunt for animals…it’s so cool. He’s also in this one movie where he battles these space creatures then finds out he’s one of them. It’s sooo cool, Mom. He’s the best.”
I laughed as my son gushed about Ryan, my ex-boyfriend, the man I had wanted to marry once. The man who was afraid of ladybugs, hamsters, and heights…the one who’d once wanted to cuddle after watching a horror movie and refused to go into the kitchen to get water. The one I was madly in love with…
“I went to college with him, bud,” I answered softly, hating that that response was all that was left of our relationship now.
“He’s nice. I like him,” Cole said happily, right as the door creaked open.
“Sorry about the delay, there seems to be some kind of commotion happening in the waiting room.” Dr. Nolan smiled at my son and started reviewing the X-rays; meanwhile I was a frantic mess. What did that mean? What had happened in the waiting room? I was kicking myself for not getting Ryan’s number when he asked for mine.
I didn’t even hear half the stuff the doctor said about fractures and whatever else, too focused on grabbing my phone and watching for notifications to come through.
A second later, the door opened again, and in squeezed Ryan’s massive frame with little Bella on his chest, her tiny arms around his neck. There were people talking loudly, murmuring outside the door, and a few camera flashes before they were cut off by the sound of the door clicking shut.
“Sorry, we’re trying to keep down how many people are in the exam rooms due to the health policy just sent out this week.” Dr. Nolan eyed Ryan skeptically.
“I know, doctor, and I respect that. However, I felt it best to get Ms. Black’s daughter away from the media circus out there.”
