Page 74 of Storm

It feels like I only napped for a few minutes before Tatum is lightly brushing his fingers along my cheek to wake me. Just as my eyes open, I see both Kevin and Richard have already left the room and I frown.

“Kevin got called back to the station, and they rode together. It was an emergency,” Tatum tells me. “With the drive back, he couldn’t wait for you to wake up.”

I nod and blink up at the ceiling to wait for the nurse to come back and unstrap me. While I completely understand that they had to leave, I’ll admit Iamdisappointed to find them gone.There’s a lump forming in my throat, so I gently cough to clear it away. I’m not going to be one of those weeping girls who can’t handle minor obstacles.

Maybe Richard was right. Maybe I need to reconsider the distance. I glance at the screen displaying my heart rate and see it already ticking up, so I inhale slowly through my nose and blow it out through my mouth.

Thoughts of moving can be tackled at a later time. Today, I need to get my ass back to work.

CHAPTER 34

KEVIN

It’s been a full month since Miriam’s ultrasound, so she’s close to twenty-five weeks, but today, her appointment went significantly different from the last few. Now, I’ve got a furious woman sitting in my passenger seat, glaring out the window, contemplating the death and destruction of every living thing she sees as we speed by.

What she doesn’t realize is she’s also emoting sadness that her next few months are about to be some of the hardest she’s faced. Maybe a bit of that with be physical struggles, but the mental toll it will take on someone who’s used to doing everything themselves will be a struggle.

Miriam Delgado is now, officially, on bed rest.

I took the opportunity to offer her a ride home when the other guys were busy asking the doctor questions, and thankfully, she accepted. Before we left, they all expressed some version of, “We need to move her out by us.” I just need to figure out how to address it when she provides me with the perfect opportunity.

A quiet sniff is my last straw, so I pull the car over to the side of the road.

“What are you doing?” she asks, looking around and seeing nothing but grass and trees. I put the car in park and reach over to unhook her seatbelt. “What the hell, Kevin? Why?—”

Tugging her into my lap, I know it was the right move when she immediately curls into me. I place my hand between her hip and the steering wheel so it doesn’t dig into her skin and make her uncomfortable.

Pressing my lips to her head, I turn my head to rest my cheek in the same place and sigh. “I’m sorry about the change in plans.”

She’s quiet for a moment, picking at the fabric of my shirt and staring off into nothing, then her face crumples. Miriam breaks in my arms and all I can do is hold her, running a hand up and down her arm to let her know I’m here.

“I’m fucking pissed.” Her teary confession is muffled against my chest. I can only nod, fully understanding how this must feel.

Keeping my voice calm, I ask, “Would you like me to offer some suggestions, or give you time to process?”

“No!” she cries out. What surprises me is when she immediately tilts her head back to look up at me. “Yes. How the hell am I supposed to function? I have ajob!People who rely on me. Not just my coworkers, but my patients, and Darlene! Then there’s my family who still need help. It feels impossible to do while lying in a bed for God knowshowlong!”

“Since you’ve given me permission, I’m going to clear a few things off your plate right now. First, your family is self-sufficient. It may not seem like that because of everything you do for them, but theyarecapable of functioning. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t survive the weeks you aren’t able to travel to them and visit. Agreed?”

She frowns, but nods. “It still doesn’t feel good.”

“It doesn’t, but you can call or get on a computer for face to face calls. Whatever works, but that you can do from bed rest.”

Her misplaced sense of duty for her family is something I’ve been wanting to crush for quite a bit, particularly after Richard filled me in on the dynamics there and from what she’s told me in the past. It’s okay to want to help, but she bears no responsibility for fulfilling a role her father should be taking on. He’s become lazy, and that’s unacceptable.

“But—”

I place a palm over her mouth and hold back a laugh when it immediately distracts her from her sadness, which turns into annoyance. Slipping it away, I let my fingers trail over her soft lips, distracting me for only a moment, but it keeps her quiet.

“Second issue, Darlene. This is the woman you help on Sundays, correct?”

Another wordless nod, but she’s tracking my hand as I keep touching her in places meant to relax her.

Tilting my head in thought, I say, “That should be an easy enough obstacle as well. I assume you provide companionship as well as assistive care for her?”

“Sí,” she murmurs.

“So, we’ll talk to her family. It’s only one day a week. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be understanding that your current situation is out of your hands at the moment. Let them know that, for now, you need a leave of absence. You can still keep in touch with her, probably more often now if you’re stuck with your feet up.”

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