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“I’ll call the school tomorrow and see if I can reserve a time.”
Cole grinned. “Great. I can’t wait to tell the others, though I think we should just limit it to us guys.”
“Give it a rest, Cole,” Skylar said, with a glare in his direction. “You’re just trying to keep me from coming to watch my boyfriend play.”
“You’re a distraction,” Cole said. “If you show up, I’m not playing on the same team as Aiden because we’ll lose.”
Skylar dating Cole’s best friend continued to be a point of contention for the pair. Jay had given up trying to mediate between them. Neither of them was going to give in on their position, so it was just a waste of his time and breath to try. He had bigger issues to deal with than their petty squabble.
Like healing broken hearts—his and Peyton’s.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
After closing her office door, Misha slumped behind her desk, glad the day was over. It hadn’t been a great day. Actually, it had been a pretty terrible one.
Picking up her phone, she texted her mom a quick message.I’ve been held up at the clinic for a bit, so I’ll be late getting home.
Mom:That’s fine, darling. See you when you get here.
Glad to have a few minutes to just breathe and process the day, Misha set her phone aside, then put her head on her arms on the desk.
She had always wanted to be a doctor to help people. But sometimes help came in the form of having to deliver bad news. Or, as in this case, she’d received a copy of test results from a referral she’d ordered for a young patient from the free clinic. It had taken some doing to arrange the referral since the patient didn’t have insurance. However, Jay had been a big help.
But had it been too late?
She hadn’t had to give the child’s mother the results of the tests that had been done, but that didn’t make reading the results hurt any less. That mother was now dealing with the most horrific news a parent could ever receive, and Misha couldn’t help but put herself in that woman’s shoes.
Now that she was a mother herself, it was harder to distance herself from the parents and children she saw. But usually, bad news didn’t overwhelm her the way those test results had. But as she’d read the report, her already aching heart had broken further.
If she went home now, feeling the way she did, she’d upset her mom, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. So, she sat at her desk, trying to keep from crying, and prayed.
She prayed for comfort for the woman and her son and wisdom for the doctors who would plan the course of treatment for the little boy. Prayer didn’t feel like enough—not when she had a professional understanding of what the child faced—but God could still heal the boy, whether through medical treatments or a miracle.
A knock drew her attention, and Misha lifted her head in time to see the door crack open and Jay poke his head into the room.
“Misha?” He stepped further into the room, his brow furrowed with concern.
She lifted her hands to brush the moisture from her cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” He came around the desk and crouched down beside her chair. “Has something happened to Ciara or your mom?”
Misha wanted to throw herself into his arms and cry out her sadness, but that wasn’t their relationship anymore. “No. They’re fine. I just got a bad report on a patient. The one you helped me get the referral for.”
Jay’s expression filled with sadness. “How bad?”
Misha took a shaky breath and brushed away more tears that spilled over. “It’s going to be a rough road with no guarantees.”
Jay rested his hand on hers. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I don’t know.” She swallowed hard. “It just doesn’t seem fair.”
“Come here.” Jay stood up and pulled her up into his arms.
A war erupted inside Misha as Jay’s arms wrapped around her. She held herself stiffly, knowing she shouldn’t rely on his strength or the security and solace he offered her. But, oh, how she wanted to. She wanted to lean into his strength. To let him hold her as she cried.
But she needed to protect her vulnerable and hurting heart from even more pain.
“I’m here for you,” Jay whispered.
