Page 39 of Wait For It

Decision made, I squared my shoulders and moved toward the girl’s room, ignoring the stinging pain in my knee with every step. “You know, if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll just go talk to her now. Let everyone get back to their day.”

Her mouth settled in a hard line. “But—”

I pushed the handle down and let the door swing open. “Yeah, might as well get this out of the way. I’ve got a lot to do.”

At the sound of my voice, the girl hurriedly looked away, but not before I noted the bright spots of color on her cheeks. The mesh enclosure surrounding her bed snagged my attention, and I frowned, wondering why I hadn’t been given the option of a fort bed.

“Tsega, could you give us a minute?” Morgan asked with a tight-lipped smile. The aide abandoned her post beside the bed, sizing me up as she strolled toward the door.

“I’ll just grab her a breakfast tray from the cafeteria. It’s just at the end of the hall, but if you need me, my extension is on the board. I can be here within seconds.”

My mouth twitched at the implied threat. I slowly hobbled toward the bed, taking care to keep my voice soft. “Hi.”

The girl blew out her cheeks, lifting several strands of hair, but kept her eyes on the window. If I wanted to gain any ground, I’d have to take a page right out of Joe Reed’s playbook and guilt her into forgiving me.

I grimaced and raised my left foot off the ground. “Can I sit? My knee is killing me. That’ll teach me not to throw my crutches down the next time someone faints on me, won’t it?”

The girl snuck a quick glance down at the brace before pressing her lips together. She’d effectively managed to avoid looking directly at me since the incident in the hall.

Just as I began to lose hope, she lifted her shoulder. It wasn’t much, but I’d take what I could get. I leaned my crutches up against the plastic footboard and checked to make sure her feet weren’t in the way before ducking under the netting.

I reached up to touch the mesh. “Hey, this is pretty cool. It’s like we’re camping.”

She bit her lip and fidgeted with her necklace, twisting the pendant in slow circles with trembling fingers. In her defense, I hadn’t exactly done anything to warrant her acknowledgment, which was why I’d come over here in the first place.

I plastered what I hoped was an encouraging smile on my face and began. “So, I know you can’t talk—”

She jerked her chin up, eyes flashing with anger.Is that right?

The words were silent, but the hard set of her jaw as she delivered each one was more than enough to convey her feelings on my little drop-in.

I rubbed my palms against my thighs. “I just wanted to apologize if I offended you yesterday… and also the time before in the hallway. Look, I think we maybe got off on the wrong foot, and I’d like to make things right.”

While I talked, the two sisters seemed to be carrying on a silent conversation of their very own.

Great.

Just swell.

I was officially never apologizing to anyone ever again. The entire morning had played out like a bizarre dream. At least in my world, things made sense. And that was including the time I’d woken up buck naked on an inflatable flamingo in the middle of Bailey’s pool after curling up with a cask of Macallan the night before.

My shoulders slumped when the girl snatched a notebook from the table beside the bed and began writing. I imagined I was about to get quite the send-off.

She held it up, her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths.

You can go now.

The muscle in my jaw twitched as I read the words. It wasn’t as if I’d come into this expecting a warm reception, but I had assumed the girl would at least acknowledge my attempt to fix things.

I massaged the back of my neck. “You want me to leave?”

She swallowed and jerked her head toward Morgan, a flush creeping up her face.

“You want Killian to stay, don’t you?” Morgan encouraged, giving her the thumbs up.

I refrained from pumping a fist in the air, keeping my face blank as I turned back to the girl. “If you want me to leave, I will. But I am sorry—seriously, I feel like a complete ass. Can I get your name?”

Wait—where had that come from?

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