Page 31 of Worth the Wait

He rarely came all the way out here since he was usually buried in his office with numbers and financial shit.

“Hey.” He was out of breath.

“What’s up? What’s wrong?”

The last time he’d run out here all flustered, Clara had gone missing, and I found myself instantly panicking.

“It’s Jeremiah.” He ran his hand down his face, and I was thankful I was already aware.

“I know already. How’d you hear about him?” My tone was a little perturbed.

If anything had happened to that man, I should have been the one delivering the news, not the one hearing it.

“Brooklyn knows one of the nurses at the hospital,” he said before he threw his head back a little. “Wait. How’d you hear?”

My jaw clenched slightly. “Addi called me.”

“She did? Damn. We’ll talk about that later. You’d better get over there.” He pushed me, and I growled.

I was always fucking growling nowadays.

“I don’t need you to tell me what to do when it comes to Jeremiah. I was on my way to the hospital when you ran out here and stopped me.”

“Go then. Get a haircut while you’re at it. And maybe shave your face,” he said, sounding more like Matthew than himself. “You look like shit.”

“You look like shit,” I fired back, flipping him the bird on my way out.

I slapped my thigh for my dog to follow as I hustled to my truck, my mind filling with memories and guilt.

Jeremiah had been around when I lost my mom, and there were days when I was at his house more than I was anywhere else, especially my own. For a long time, it was really hard, being at home. The pain was palpable. It was in the air we all breathed, slowly choking the life out of us. I was grateful to Addi and for her dad. Not sure how I would have survived without them.

But the more time that passed and the longer Addi had stayed gone, the more I felt like seeing Jeremiah only caused us both pain. A different kind, but still, it hurt nonetheless. He did me a favor one day when he gave me permission to stop coming over. I thought he had seen how stepping inside their home caused my breath to catch in my throat and my legs to falter.

The memories always slammed into me a little too hard. I’d lost my balance on more than one occasion.

“You don’t have to keep coming by, Patrick. I’ll be fine. Burying myself in work helps, just like I know you’re trying to do. I’m always here if you need me. I always will be. But don’t keep hurting yourself on my account.”

It was a blessing and a curse. But I’d taken him up on his offer and avoided him for so long that I’d lost count.

I started mentally beating myself up over that decision. Jeremiah had always been a second father to me, and when Addi left, he had no one. And then selfishly, I’d gone and left him too.

When I pulled into the hospital parking lot, I cracked the windows on both sides and gave Jasper a pat on the head. “Be right back, buddy. Stay here. Be good.”

I hated leaving him in the truck, but I couldn’t bring him inside a hospital.

Rushing in, I headed straight for the check-in station and asked for the status on Jeremiah. To my surprise, I was listed on his emergency contact sheet, so apparently, I was allowed to get all the information I needed, including what had happened to him and how. I had been preparing for at least a little bit of a fight, so I was happy it hadn’t come down to that.

“When can I see him?” I shifted on my feet, and the nurse picked up the phone before hanging it back up.

“I’ll go check. Be right back.” She gave me a flirty smile that I wasn’t in the mood for. Not that I ever was, but I was especially unreceptive in this moment.

I knew that everyone in Sugar Mountain considered me single, but the truth was that I didn’t have a heart anymore. And girlfriends typically required that. I’d already given mine away, and there was no getting it back.

The nurse reappeared. “The doctor is just finishing up casting his leg, and then you can go back there and get him. You’ll give him a ride home, yes?”

“Of course.”

“You can wait in the lobby, and I’ll call you when he’s ready.” She smiled again before adding, “Or you can give me your number and I can call you.”

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