Side-stepping in front of her, I drew her into my arms. “Hey, it’s okay to cry. This shit is hard.”
Fisting the front of my shirt in her hands, she sobbed into my chest. Although I knew the little girls had gotten to her, I could tell that this was about more than just them. It most likely had to do with Susan, Jake’s mom, and the grief that both she, and Jake, were still experiencing.
The sound of her brothers behind us caused her to tense in my arms. At their questioning expressions, I said, “Go on down to the limo. We’ll be down in a few.”
Micah nodded. “See you there.”
When they were safely on the elevator, she pulled away. “Sorry about that,” she sniffled.
I cupped her chin, bringing her gaze to mine. “Hey, you have nothing to apologize for. Okay? You know I’m always here for you.”
After wiping her eyes, she gave a quick jerk of her head. “I know.” She leaned up on her tip-toes to kiss my cheek. “I’ve missed you,” she whispered.
Her words caused my chest to clench. “I’ve missed you, too.”
That was all that had to be said for me to know that everything was fine between us. As we started down the hallway to the elevators, Abby slid her arm around my waist. She peered up at me and smiled. “Thanks again for coming with me today since Jake had to bail.”
“Hey, I was glad to do it.” When I punched the down arrow button, I kissed the top of her head. “Jake’s still having a hard time with hospitals, huh?”
She nodded as we stepped onto the elevator. “I don’t know how to help him, AJ.”
“Just be there for him. That’s all you can do.”
“I will.”
“You mean everything in the world to him, and he’s lucky to have you and your love.”
“Thanks, AJ.”
I smiled at her. “No problem.”
We stepped out of the hospital into the bright sunshine. Gabe, Eli, and Micah were standing outside the limo waiting on us. “Ready to head back?”
“Yep,” I replied.
As I waited my turn to get inside the limo, I gazed ahead. When the realization of where we were washed over me, I felt like someone had sent a roundhouse kick straight to my gut. St. Joseph’s loomed tauntingly at me from across the street. Like a sappy-ass chick, a rush of memories flooded my mind of meeting Mia for the first time.
A gentle nudge caused me to snap out of my thoughts. Abby stared up at me with a knowing smile. “Go see her,” she urged.
I shook my head. “That’s ancient history.”
“Give me a break, AJ. You were just staring at a hospital building with a sad, lost puppy dog expression. Mia can’t be history when you obviously still care for her.”
“She handcuffed me to a fucking shower,” I countered.
“In her mind, she had a good reason.”
“Oh really?”
Abby nodded. “Regardless of whether it was a misunderstanding or not, your past indiscretions with women came back to hurt a very vulnerable woman.”
“Thank you, Dr. Phil.”
Abby narrowed her eyes at me. “Watch it, Resendiz. Don’t forget I know you better than you think I do. And that forty-five minute drive to Mia’s house gave me a lot of time to get to know
I raked my hands through my hair. “It’s too late. I didn’t tell you at the time, but I did try to call and text her. She wouldn’t answer.”
“Maybe what you need to say should be said in person.” Abby reached over to palm my cheek. “You know I love you, AJ, and I want more than anything for you to be happy. And while you may think that what happened wasn’t that big a deal and Mia should have forgiven you, I disagree.”
My brows shot up in surprise. “Do you?”
“Yes, I do.” Abby’s gaze went to the glittering diamond on her hand. “Most people would have given up on Jake—they would have never tried as hard as I did to forgive him and give him a second chance…or many chances.” She then stared pointedly at me. “But then at the same time, he proved to me that in his own way he was working his ass off to show me how sorry he was and how much he truly cared for me. So maybe you need to step up and show a little more to Mia. Maybe she wants to reconcile with you, but she doesn’t know how to go about trying. Maybe she needs some grand and huge gesture from you to prove that you’re not like all the other assholes she’s had the misfortune of being involved with.”
Gabe poked his head out of the limo window. “You guys coming?”
At my hesitation, Abby patted my back. “You know a wise woman once said that fate had a funny way of intervening in our lives.”
“Susan said that,” I replied in a strangled voice.
“Yes, she did.”
“Fuuuccck,” I groaned.
Abby laughed. “Should I take that as an ‘I’ll see you guys later. Thanks for letting me see the error of my ways’ curse?”
“Yeah.”
“What about getting home? Want me to send the limo back for you?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ll hopefully be leaving with Mia…if not, I’ll get a cab.”
Abby reached up again on her tip-toes to kiss my cheek. After playfully ruffling my hair, she said, “Good luck.”
“Thanks, mi amor. I’m going to need it.”
When I stepped off the elevator onto Mia’s floor, my heart started pounding so loud in my ears it drowned out all the noise around me. The stretch of hallway to the nurse’s station seemed to draw on forever. As I drew closer to it, Mia’s friend, Dee, stepped out a patient’s room with a chart in the crook of his arm. When he saw me, I grimaced and prepared for a verbal tongue lashing.
Instead, his dark eyes lit up. “Well, well, sweet cheeks, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
I chuckled. “Thanks. Is Mia here?”
“She’s doing some inventory in the medicine room right now.” He then crooked his finger. “Come with me.”
“Okay, thanks.” I fell in step behind him. “Is she…?”
Glancing over his shoulder, Dee replied, “Going to bitch slap you the minute she sees you?”
Damn, he was good. Or maybe it was that he knew Mia so well. “Yeah, something like that.”
Dee spun around, causing me to skid to a stop. “I’m gonna shoot straight with you, pretty boy. I wanted your balls on a skewer for a long time for what you did to Mimi.”
“Dude, I tried to tell her I was sorry a million times. She wouldn’t talk to me. I swear, I—”
He held up a hand to silence me, and surprisingly, I shut the fuck up. “Yeah, I didn’t know that then, but she finally admitted it to me about three months ago.” He took a step closer to me. “I don’t really know you that well, but what I do know seems intrinsically decent despite you being a famous rock-star. I’m hoping that you’ve shown up here today because you miss Mia, and you want to fight for her—despite what you might have going on in your personal life.”
My brows furrowed in confusion. “Wait a minute. You lost me on the personal life stuff.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, if you wanna play coy, whatever.”
“But I—”
“Look, just get in there and fight for our girl, okay?”
I resisted the urge to salute him. Instead, I nodded. “I will. I swear.”
“Good.” He then produced a key card from his pocket, which unlocked a door behind the nurse’s station. “Go get her, tiger,” he said, before smacking me on the ass.
