Page 22 of Wanting You

“I can stay too,” Chloe said as she slowly stepped closer to the bed. “My classroom is all set up and…”

“No,” Billie said, using her free hand to grasp one of Chloe’s. “I know how upset you are and I think you should go to school tomorrow and maybe help where you can and then come in the afternoon.”

“But…”

“Then I’ll stay with you,” Ashlynn said. “I have plenty of coverage at the salon and…”

Billie was already shaking her head. “I swear I’m not trying to be bitchy, but…I feel like it will be overwhelming for Mom when she wakes up and the reality of what happened hits her. I think we should save our time away from our jobs and everything until she goes home. That’s when she’s really going to need people around her. For now, we need to take a step back and see what the doctors have to say.”

“I want to argue with you,” Levi said solemnly, “but you’re right. I think we should all stay until we know she’s settled in a room, and then we’ll take tomorrow as it comes.”

Chloe doubted she was going to get anything accomplished tomorrow at school, but she wasn’t about to fight with her siblings about it. She’d handle her feelings on her own. Right now, they had to focus on their mother and her recovery.

It was crazy, but Tanner was pacing in his classroom on Friday morning and wondering what happened to Chloe yesterday.

Actually, he’d been thinking about it ever since she seemingly disappeared into thin air after walking away to take a phone call.

He’d been tempted to go down to the main office and ask if anyone knew where she was or where she went, but he had a feeling it would come off sounding creepy—especially after the way they’d gotten off on the wrong foot. During their short walk together yesterday, he realized that maybe he did come on too strong and that it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Well, between that and the conversation he had with Principal Kincaid, he felt like he was probably taking the wrong approach here in Sweetbriar Ridge.

And now, the one person he genuinely wanted to impress was nowhere to be found.

“Okay, I need to go to the office and…” Tanner stepped out into the hallway when he spotted Chloe walking toward him. He smiled and was about to call out to her, but the closer she got, the more obvious it became that something was seriously wrong. Again, he was about to say something, but wasn’t sure if he was necessarily the person she wanted to talk to.

Ultimately, he couldn’t help himself and met her halfway.

“Hey,” he said with a sympathetic smile. “Everything okay?”

She shook her head and wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Sorry, just…a family thing.” When she went to step around him, he let her and then followed her to her classroom.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked and thought that was a stupid thing to say. They didn’t even know each other. What in the world could he possibly do?

Putting her bag down on her desk, she turned and studied him. “Thank you, but…I’ll be fine.” But the shuddery breath she let out said she wasn’t fine right now.

Sliding his hands into his trouser pockets, he slowly walked across the room toward her. “You may not know this about me, but I’m actually an excellent listener.”

“Really?” And yeah, that one word dripped with sarcasm. “Because so far you seem to only hear what you want to hear.” Her hand flew to her mouth and tears shone brightly in her eyes. “Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry! That was a horrible thing to say! Seriously, Tanner, I apologize.”

Instead of being offended, he appreciated her honesty. “Nothing to apologize for. You were just being truthful. Most of our interactions have been about me primarily talking about myself and disregarding things people were trying to do to help.”

Chloe swiped at a wayward tear before frowning. “Um…okay. Thank you.”

“So…do you want to talk about it?”

“About you not accepting help?”

That made him chuckle. “No,” he said gently. “I meant about whatever’s going on with your family.”

She sighed as she nodded and sat down. “My mother was in a terrible car accident yesterday. Someone ran a red light and t-boned her car. She’s in pretty bad shape—not life-threatening, but she’s going to have a long recovery ahead of her. My siblings and I were at the hospital with her until around ten last night. That’s how long it took to get her into a room and settled. It was awful.”

“That was the call you got when we were talking in the hallway, wasn’t it?”

She nodded. “The hospital’s thirty minutes away and I don’t even remember the drive. I could have caused an accident driving like that, but…”

“Hey,” he began, sitting on the corner of her desk. “Yes, that was a genuine possibility, but you don’t strike me as the kind of person who makes that sort of thing a habit. There were extenuating circumstances. And I’m sure if there were another emergency, you’d ask someone else to drive you.”

Another nod. “I should have called Ash, but I was too focused on getting there as soon as possible.”

Ash? Is that her husband? A boyfriend? What kind of name is Ash?

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