Page 31 of Healed Hearts

Relief flies through me again. She’s barely eaten in days.

Holden sits up with a gasp. “Ugh, my back. Who let me sleep like that?” He glances around in confusion, a pink tint on his cheeks. I can’t be sure if it’s a blush or from sleeping, but either way, it’s so fucking adorable that it takes my breath away.

“Same. I slept sitting straight up,” I say, with a chuckle. “I’m assuming at some point I had my head flopped to the side because my neck is screaming at me.”

Holden laughs. It sounds a little unnaturally high, and it brings a smile to my face. “Sorry for making you my pillow,” he murmurs, the pink darkening. Ahh, so itisa blush.

“No big deal,” I say, smiling. What a nice turn of events. Holden’s sleeping in my lap, and Wren’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

“Hungry, Daddy,” Wren says, a bit louder this time. I know I have about three point five seconds to get food in her, or she’s going to be very unhappy with me.

“Give me a second, baby girl. I’ll see what I can do.”

I start to stand, but Holden beats me to it, jumping off the couch. “I’ll go get her a breakfast tray.”

“You don’t have to.” The look he shoots me has me raising my hands in surrender. “Thank you. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”

He nods sharply and turns, heading out of the room. I watch him as he leaves, then turn back to Wren. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better, baby girl.”

She smiles brightly at me. The only thing she has left attached to her is her IV and the machine keeping track of her heart rate, which is a good sign, I feel. But fuck, what do I know? I’ll ask Holden when he comes back. Or, I guess, someone else if they come in before him.

Wren is staring at the TV, which is playing SpongeBob. It was off when I fell asleep, so I guess someone must have turned it on. I don’t even remember anyone coming in here through the night, but that doesn’t surprise me. I could sleep through a tornado after taking Xanax.

The sound of the door opening catches Wren’s attention, and she perks up when Holden walks in, holding a tray with whatlooks like pancakes and fresh fruit. “Look what I got for you,” he says with a grin.

He pulls a bed tray over and slides it into position before setting the tray on it. Wren doesn’t even hesitate, picking up a strawberry off the tray and popping it into her mouth before Holden even has it situated. He opens her milk for her and sticks a swirly straw in the carton before sitting on the end of her bed. He watches her with a smile on his face as she absolutely tears into the food, getting syrup all over her face and hands. My heart is currently trying to beat its way out of my chest. I know this is his job, and he’s clearly very good at it, but try telling that to my heart.

“Is it yummy?” I ask as she pauses to take a drink of her milk.

“Yeah,” she says, then giggles at the way the milk goes through the straw. Holden laughs right along with her, and my stomach clenches. This man is… whew. I wonder if it would be presumptuous of me to ask him on a date.

We both watch her in silence as she clears her entire plate. Holden gives her leg a gentle pat and stands. “I better run home and change. I’m off today. Today and the next three, actually, but I’ll come back.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I rush to assure him. He’s already done so much more than he had to.

“Oh. Well, if you don’t want me to, that’s alright.” He tries for a smile, but it misses the mark. “Actually, whywouldyou want me here? That’s… yeah, sorry for overstepping.”

I stand abruptly. “No!” I almost yell, before taking a calming breath. “No,” I repeat, softer this time. “If you want to come back, you can. I don’t want to put you out, though.”

He pauses, something flashing across his face. “Crap. I don’t even have my car.” He groans, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m going to have to call Ro. Ugh.”

I’m a little confused, so I ask, “Is that a… bad thing?”

He does some complicated head shake and nod all in one. “Yes, and no. He’s a meddler, and if I have him take me to my car, he’s going to recognize the address.”

“Um, how is he going to recognize the address?”

“Oh… I dropped my location to him. He was the one who called me right before I left. We have a system. If I go out, I pin my location. If I don’t reach out, he comes after me.”

I smile, glad that he has someone to check in on him. Given the way he stood toe to toe with that asshole doctor last night, I doubt he needs someone to take care of him, but I also saw the way his shoulders dropped in relief when the confrontation was done. Sure, he definitelycanstand up for himself, but I get the feeling he doesn’t really like to. “We’ll probably be here for a while, yeah?” I ask.

“Hopefully. I’d like for them to figure out what the fu—heck is going on,” he says, darting his eyes to Wren before bringing his attention to me.

I laugh. He’s too damn adorable. “Okay, so take my car.”

His eyes bug out a little. “That may raise more questions than answers, honestly.”

“So take it to get yours. As long as you don’t mind bringing us back home later?”

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