Page 59 of No Wrong Moves

It didn’t take long for our food to arrive, and we continued on to the hospital. The fried tortilla shell filled with fries, cheese, chicken, and veggies made my tastebuds sing. I devoured the food and made far too much of a mess. Mark simply laughed and handed me a supply of napkins and some wet wipes.

“Good, right?” he asked as he pulled over to the side of the hospital while I frantically tried to clean up my mess.

“Hell yes. Good choice. Thanks, man.”

He indicated toward the hospital door that opened, a security guard appearing. “You need extra help getting in there safely or you good?”

I reached out and shook his hand. “I’ll be fine. Thanks, though.” I opened the door. “You got Venmo?”

“Yeah, man. Thanks.”

After I sent him a healthy tip, I stepped out of the car and went directly to the waiting security guard.

“Right this way, Mr. Malcolm. Mr. Phelps is in a private room with his daughter. I’ll take you right there.”

“Thanks.” With food and drinks tray in hand, I followed him along corridors, cap in place. Though with my height, Joel had been right about me not really blending in.

“Here we are, room 408. I’ve been requested to wait out here until you’re ready to leave.”

I smiled at the security guard, taking note of his name tag. “Thanks, Terry.” I shook his hand before knocking lightly on the door.

Hearing Eddie’s familiar voice, I entered. My gaze snagged his immediately, and seeing the flicker of emotions on his face confirmed I’d made the right decision by coming here. He stood immediately, then hesitated, looking toward an internal door I assumed was a bathroom.

“Where’s Lottie?” I asked.

Eddie indicated toward the door. “She’ll be out in a minute.”

With that knowledge, I didn’t let his initial hesitation stop me. After placing my goodies on the table, I was in his space, holding him tight, lips pressing against his warm neck. When he sagged in my arms, I squeezed, allowing relief to trickle into me, loosening the grip on my heart.

“She’s really okay?” I asked, easing back just enough to read his face.

“Yeah.” A sweet smile followed. “Hopefully we won’t be much longer, then we’ll be out of here.”

“That’s great. How’d it happen?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Swinging on a chair of all things. I swear I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve asked her not to do it.”

I winced and rubbed circles on his back with my thumb. I wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. “Shit happens. The important thing is she’s going to be fine. A break sucks, especially as it’s almost her summer vacation, but it could have been a whole lot worse, right?”

“Yeah.” A frown appeared, drawing his brows low. “It just made my heart stop there for a moment.” He swallowed. “Her being hurt like that, in more pain…” He shook his head. “This year’s been one for it.”

Rather than respond with words, I pulled him close, dotted a brief kiss on his mouth, and hugged him again. He embraced me back, tighter than before, and then we heard the bathroom door snick open.

With one last squeeze that made my heart sigh in welcome relief, Eddie stepped out of my hold. He looked over my shoulder, saying, “Look who I found roaming the hospital.”

I turned to Lottie. Her arm was currently in a sling. She also shot me a wide grin.

“You came.” She stepped toward us, her smile never dipping.

“Of course I did, kiddo.” When she reached me, I dropped a kiss to the top of her head, too anxious to hug her like I wanted in case I hurt her. “I needed to make sure I was the first person to sign your cast. I get dibs since I’m your favorite.”

“Cool. Perhaps you can write a limerick.”

“Uhm…”

“We’ve been working on them in class, and there’s some really fun ones. Lester at school told me a rude one.”

“He did, did he?”

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