Page 11 of Lie for a Lie

I take my hand and firmly pat it on his shoulder before smiling and heading back to Katherine’s room. Surprised she is awake and smiles when I enter her room.

I grin softly. “Hey.”

“Hey. Are you mad?” she asks with a pained emotion.

I let out a small sigh and came to sit next to her on the bed. Wrapping my arm around her, I pull her to me. This is something we haven’t done in what feels like years. It’s awkward, but she welcomes it.

“No, I am just glad you are okay.”

I kiss her forehead as silent tears roll down her cheeks, and she looks up toward me.

“I don’t remember a lot of what happened,” she says, and for the first time in a long time, she is looking to me for answers. To be the support she needs. It almost feels wrong, but I grab her left hand and play with her ring. She watches my every movement as the tears continue to fall.

My mind wanders to when I proposed. I thought she was ready when she said yes without hesitation, but no enthusiasm. It felt like a punch to the gut. It felt like the air had been sucked right out of my body. Placing that ring on her finger is probably one of my greatest regrets, but I can’t find it myself to leave her since losing our baby. I pull her hand to my mouth and gently kiss the princess-cut diamond.

“Paige found you in the bathroom unresponsive and called 9-1-1.”

Katherine laughs, clearly disgusted.

“The nurse bitch?”

Her tone makes my skin crawl. Pulling away from her, the sudden withdrawal of my contact makes Kat immediately defensive.

“Paige doesn’t deserve that,” I spit out.

She lets out a huff and crosses her arms. I run my hands through my hair, letting out my exhausted sigh. The silent anger filling the room says more than any words we can ever share. I am getting to the point where I don’t even know why I bother. Kat is on a life path she is perfectly fine with. No matter how much it affects those of us around her.

“When can I go home?” she barks, hitting her call light.

“I’ll go see if I can find your nurse,” I sigh, ignoring her protest as I leave the room.

I walk past the nurse’s station and let them know she is awake before taking a long walk around the hospital.

What I want to do is run. I need to clear my head and feel the miles just pass by me. Just count each step until my mind stops racing. I eventually find myself downstairs at the small coffee shop and order a black coffee and a vanilla latte for Kat. The hospital lobby is busy, and I take about thirty minutes before I return to her hospital room.

I hear her yelling at the hospital staff from down the hall, and several people are standing outside Kat’s door. I roll my shoulders in annoyance before heading towards the room.

Kat is the one yelling. Some bullshit about the staff holding her against her will. The nurses are doing their best to remain calm, but I have worked with enough of them over the years to know Kat has outstayed her welcome.

“Katherine,” I say firmly, and she sits down almost immediately with a cocky-shit-eating grin.

Samantha, Kat’s primary nurse, is filled with rage if her eyes are anything to go by. I know she probably has been called every name in the book since entering the room.

“Tell these bitches that I am ready to leave. They can’t hold me against my will.”

Katherine’s tone is entirely unexpected, and I am mortified that she thinks it is okay to treat people like this. I place the latte in front of Kat and roll my eyes. She doesn’t appreciate the eye roll and flips me off, taking a sip of the latte.

“Samantha, can we get discharged please? I think I can handle her from here.”

Relief floods the nurse’s eyes, and she wastes no time retrieving the paper from the nursing station. Within ten minutes, I have Katherine, and we are sitting in my truck. She has a smug grin, and I can’t stop replaying the last hour of my life.

This isn’t what I envisioned for myself. Kat has turned into a person I just don’t love or understand. She is no longer the fiery redhead I once loved. Now, she doesn’t care about anything or anyone, including herself.

The drive home is entirely silent, and she doesn’t even bother to speak to me before she heads into her bathroom to shower. I don’t say a word before grabbing my gym bag and heading right back out the front door of our townhouse.

Chapter 7

Paige

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