Made To Love You (23 page)

“I wish you could come home with me tonight,” Jaylinn says bumping into my shoulder.

I let go of her hand and wrap my arm around her shoulder. “I know, I do too.” I sigh. “We leave so damn early. Plus, I don’t want you driving me all the way back here in the middle of the night.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I know you don’t but,” I reach over with my free hand and place it on her stomach. “I don’t want to chance anything happening, plus you need your sleep.”

“I get plenty of sleep when you’re not around,” Jaylinn whines.

I laugh and bring her closer to kiss her forehead. “Stop pouting, it’s making it harder to tell you no.”

I sigh loudly. “Fine.”

“Next time I’m in town it’s you and me.” I promise. If we didn’t go out to dinner with Fallon and Eli we would have been home and naked in bed together.

“Uncle Cooper!” Fallon yells. “Watch!”

Eli pushes Fallon up and over his head on the swing. She goes flying and tips her head back giving me a damn heart attack.

“Is that safe?”

Jaylinn giggles. “Probably not but she loves it.”

We take a seat on one of the park benches while Eli continues to push Fallon on the swing. I keep my arm around Jaylinn’s shoulder wanting her close for as long as possible.

“So, you ready to be a daddy?”

Am I ready? “Yeah.” I adjust the baseball hat on my head. “I’m nervous as hell but I guess that’s normal.” I laugh to myself. “If Mason can figure it out I’m sure I’ll have no problem either.”

Jaylinn starts cracking up. “If that’s what you want to consider figuring it out. Did you not see the house when we came back from taking Hailey to New York for her dress?”

I chuckle. “Maybe you have a point.”

We’re quiet for a few minutes watching people walk past us. It’s a nice cool night considering how hot it was earlier.

“What are you going to do about school?”

Jaylinn shrugs. “I guess I’ll take the fall semester off since I’ll be due in October but I’m going back for spring semester no matter what. I’ve got one year left, I’m getting that degree.”

With the hand resting on her shoulder I give her a little pat. “Good. I’ll be around for a good part of the spring semester. Maybe we can get Nikki to watch the baby when I’m gone? She’ll still be watching the twins but I’m sure she can handle it.”

“Yeah, maybe. We’ll figure it out.” Jaylinn yawns.

Today has worn her out plus being in the sun I’m sure didn’t help any. “Let’s get you home, babe.”

“Just come home with me. Tuck me in, no one can do it like you can.”

I groan. “Let’s not go down that road.” I signal for Eli and Fallon to come over. “Come on.”

Jaylinn let’s me pull her up from the bench and the four of us walk back to the car. They drop me off at the hotel shortly after and I stand outside of Eli’s car with Jaylinn wrapped in my arms holding on to every last second.

“I love you.”

I kiss her forehead. “I love you, too. I’ll see you next month, I should actually be able to spend the night at the house for one night.”

“Damn,” she laughs. “I was getting used to taking up the whole bed.”

I chuckle. “You can still take up the whole bed since you’ll be underneath me the whole time anyway.”

Jaylinn laughs and looks away. “Yeah, that’s going to be a problem.”

I drop my hands and put them on her stomach. “Because of this?”

“There would be no other reason.”

“We’ll figure out a way,” I wink.

“Get out here, Mr. Cahill. Go get some sleep.”

I pull her in for one more hug and kiss her before I let her go.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

She takes a few steps away but still holds on to my hand. “Text me when you get up.”

“Okay, it’ll be earlier. Mom has a doctor’s appointment in the morning.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, baby.”

Jaylinn finally slips from my fingers and opens the door to the car. Eli honks as they pull away.

I pull the keycard from my wallet as I make my way into the hotel. When I get into my room it’s empty which isn’t surprising because Montz probably found his cleat chaser for the night. He’ll be running to the bus tomorrow morning smelling like cheap beer and sex. I shudder at the thought. I’m so glad those days are long over.

I strip down to my boxer briefs and climb into bed. I send a quick text to Jaylinn wishing her sweet dreams.

My alarm goes off the next morning and I hit snooze at least three times before finally crawling my lazy ass out of bed. I go into the bathroom, take a piss then start to throw my shit in my suitcase and get dressed. I grab my phone to see if Jaylinn texted back after I feel asleep. I’ve got a missed call and text both from her.

I tap on the text first.

Jaylinn 12:41am:
Mom’s back in the hospital. Call me.

Jaylinn

My phone ringing causes me to stir. I just sat in the chair to rest my eyes. What a freaking night this turned out to be.

“Hey,” Cooper sounds a little worried. Maybe I should have just texted him to call me.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Hang on,” I pull the covers off my legs and slip from the room quietly so I don’t wake mom or Hunter. “Sorry, I wanted to walk out into the hallway.”

“It’s okay, what’s going on?”

I lean up against the wall right outside of mom’s room. “Well, Eli had just dropped me off at home. I was about to get in the shower and then go to bed but my phone rang with mom’s number,” I sniffle. “She hardly ever calls me late so I knew whatever it was that it wasn’t good. To my surprise, it was Brittany.” And man, was that a surprise.

“You’re fucking kidding. Why can’t she get the fucking clue and leave us alone?”

“Nope, she called nine-one-one for mom.” The thought of Brittany doing it softened my heart a millimeter. “Apparently, she was at Walgreens getting some medicine for herself. When she came out she noticed someone lying on the ground. She ran over and that’s when she saw mom laying on the ground.”

“What are the fucking chances?”

“That’s exactly what Hunter said, too.” I shake my head. “Brittany called nine-one-one, the ambulance came and took mom to the hospital. Brittany didn’t have any of our numbers so she opened mom’s car door that was unlocked and found mom’s cell phone in the cup holder. She called the first number which happened to be mine. She told me what happened and that she was sorry. I quickly called Eli back and had him drive me here while I called Hunter.”

Cooper blows out a breath. “Do you believe her?”

I look down the hallway. “Yeah, Mom’s white blood cells are dangerously low,” I take a deep breath and let it out. “There is a chance she may not make it, Coop.”

“Damn,” he says.

My heart squeezes painfully. “She has to make it, Coop. She has to pull through this.”

Hunter steps out from mom’s room and wraps his hands around me as I cry into the phone.

“I’m coming to the hospital, Jay. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“No, Coop, you’re about to leave,” Hunter takes the phone from me and walks down the hallway a little bit. He’s talking quietly and I can’t hear what he’s saying. A few minutes later he hands me the phone back and steps back into the room.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Cooper sounds defeated. “I need you to make me a promise.”

“Okay.”

“If things continue to keep going downhill I need you to call me immediately. Promise?”

I sniff and wipe my nose with the palm of my hand. “Promise.”

“I’ve got a few things I have to take care of. I’ll call you back in a couple of hours.”

“Okay.”

“This is another moment where we’re living in fast forward. Just hold on, alright?”

“I’m holding on,” I whisper.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I disconnect the call and take a few deep breaths. I know this stress isn’t good on the baby and I have to get myself under control. I walk back into the room and grab my purse. Hunter’s watching me. “I’m going to do downstairs, get some fresh air and some water.”

“Want me to go?”

I shrug. “It’s up to you.”

He takes my purse and tosses it back on the chair and together we make our way downstairs. The sun is just starting to rise and it’s already getting hot. This heatwave in the middle of June is no joke.

Hunter and I find a bench and wander over to it. We sit down side-by-side and he pulls me closer to him offering me his comfort.

“She’s got to make it, Hunter.”

The hand that’s wrapped around my shoulder gives me a little squeeze. “She’s mom, she will.”

“You heard the doctor though. There is a chance that she might not.” I turn my head as the tears start again.

Hunter removes his arms and rests them on his legs. “Chance is the key word, Jay. They are doing everything possible right now to help her.”

The sun hits my engagement ring and it sparkles against my jersey that I’m still wearing from last night. “I need her here for my wedding,” I cry clutching my left hand to my chest. “I don’t want to get married without her. I don’t want to do any of this without her.”

“Come on, Jay.” Hunter coaxes me back into his arms where he holds me and lets me cry it out. “Everything will be okay. If, God forbid, something does happen I’ll be here for you, just like I always have been, okay. You’re not going to be alone. Everything will be okay.”

I nod clutching on to him for dear life for a little while longer. When it starts to get unbearably hot Hunter asks if I’m ready to go back inside.

We walk through the doors and past the check-in desk and around the corner to the cafeteria so that we can grab some waters. Hunter pays for them and as we come back out I stop dead in my tracks causing Hunter to bump into the back of me.

“What the hell?”

I lift my chin the direction of Eli and Brittany. I thought Eli had left a little while ago and I didn’t even know Brittany was still here.

“What the fuck?” Hunter exclaims.

I feel the anger rolling off of him. We don’t need anything else to worry about. We have our fair share upstairs. Before I can decide to pull Hunter in the other direction, Eli spots us. He raises his hand a little motioning for us to come over.

Hunter is moving towards them in the next second and I’m hot on his trail.

“What the fuck is going on?” Hunter seethes.

Eli holds his hands up. “I was leaving and found her here crying. I stopped to make sure she was alright.”

Eli always did have a soft spot for any girl crying. If he could have channeled his old whoring ways and ignored Brittany the way he did all his past one-night stands, I think I’d love him a little bit more. Now, I just feel like wringing his neck.

“You’ve been here for what, the last hour?” Hunter glances over towards me and then back to Eli. “What bullshit lies has she told you?” he curses. “This should be good.”

Brittany stands. “I’m just going to go. This is a bad idea and they have enough to worry about.”

Eli reaches a hand out stopping her. I glance over to him with a raised eyebrow. He can’t be serious. “Just sit down and listen to what she has to say,” Hunter crosses his arms making him look bigger. “She did call for an ambulance for your mom,” Eli looks me in the eyes. “Please.”

I sigh and sit down in the closest chair. The sooner she says whatever she has to say the quicker this can be over and we can go back upstairs. I pull on the hem of Hunter’s shirt but he gives me a little shake of his head.
Well, okay then.

Brittany sits back down and fidgets in her chair before finally blowing out a deep breath. “First, I just want to say I’m sorry for everything I’ve done.” She bites on her bottom lip nervously. “I know that doesn’t fix anything that I’ve done in the past but it’s a step in the right direction for me, for us,” she glances over to Eli and he nods.
I’m going to have to have words with him after this shit is over.
“Hunter, I’m sorry about all that stuff that went down with MacKenzie a few years ago. I wasn’t in the best place in my life and that isn’t an excuse. I’ve been seeing a therapist for the last six months working through my issues,” she plays with the straps on her purse that’s in her lap. “Our dad—”

“Your dad,” Hunter interrupts her by correcting her. We don’t have a dad. He gave that right up years ago. It’d be a cold day in hell before we’d even give him the time of day.

She nods. “My dad did a real number on me. I didn’t know any better at the time until Lynn came around.” Ah, the nurse who was helping Hunter and MacKenzie when she had the accident. “She helped me see my dad for who he really is. Growing up, I only had him, as you may or may not know, my mom died of breast cancer when I was three.” We knew this. “He was hardly ever around, always
working
. I bounced from one babysitter to the next. Everyone I started getting attached to was taken away from me. When I was old enough to start staying home by myself, dad would leave me a bunch of money and made sure one of his employees was there to take me school. So, you see, I never knew how to act, when someone started paying attention to me I latched onto them. I wanted someone to notice me.”