Page 116 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
Jamison hid her smile when her father’s eye twitched. “And I think you’re starting to act too much like your dad,” he said. “Way too much like him.”
“Is that bad?” Harper asked innocently. “What’s wrong with how my daddy acts?”
“That’s a loaded question, Harper.” Jamison sidestepped toward Carter and Taylor, leaving her father to manage the mini-female version of himself and Samuel. “We’ll be back.”
“There’s a bathroom at the end of this corridor,” Taylor said, sending a quick text as they exited the waiting room and veered left. “It’s through those double doors over there.”
Carter led the way, the hall growing darker the further they traveled. “The lights are low for the newborns,” Taylor explained as they passed several open doors where families quietly celebrated their new arrivals. “The nurses keep the doors open this time of day since they’re doing rounds for shift change.”
Try as she might, Jamison couldn’t help but peek inside, feeling like a voyeur violating people’s privacy. Everyone looked so happy. Nothing but smiles and joy poured out of each and every room. “How do you know that?”
“My best friend became a nurse, and my husband was a doctor, though he practiced internal medicine,” Taylor replied, pointing ahead. “The bathroom's right through there.”
A shirtless father stood in the entryway to one of the rooms, a bundle cradled against his chest as he spoke with a nurse. “I didn’t know your husband was a doctor,” Jamison said, attempting to keep up with the conversation while her mind switched the new father out with an image of Liam holding their baby. The vision hurt as much as it gave hope, and already so tired of hurting, she chose to hold on to the hope and store it away for when she needed it. “I’m surprised you didn’t enter the medical field.”
“Not my thing.” Taylor flashed Carter a beauty queen smile as he opened the double doors. “Growing up as I did, you learn the importance of proper medical care, and I wouldn’t want to mess things up.”
“Growing up like you did?”
Stepping through the double doors, Taylor shrugged. “It was hard to get medical care in certain parts.”
Another long, darkened corridor stretched on the other side of the double doors. About halfway down, on the left, there was an emptynurses’ station, and on the right, more patient rooms; however, unlike the previous hall, these were empty.
“The bathroom is just past the nurses’ station.” Taylor pointed to the sign hanging from the ceiling. “Right next to the vending machine.”
Carter slowed his pace. “Where the hell is everyone?”
Not a soul was in sight, and the only sound was the squeak of the flip-flops Jamison had hurriedly put on when they left Haven House.
“This wing is for hospital overflow,” Taylor explained. “They used it a lot during the pandemic.”
Carter kept a trained eye on every hospital room doorway, sweeping Jamison behind him to secure her at his back. “We’re turning around.”
“No, look, it’s right here.” Taylor strode ahead confidently, passing the nurses’ station, which then turned off to another long, poorly lit hallway. She stopped in front of twin vending machines. “See, all clear.”
From the corner of her eye, Jamison would have sworn she saw a vague figure in the patient rooms. A woman in white with long, dark hair and pale skin. She was in one room, and then in the next, and then the next, her figure flashing as they passed. With a finger pressed to her lips, she shook her head, appearing and disappearing in a blink.
“I don’t like this.” Jamison buried herself deeper into Carter’s massive back. “Carter?”
“Yeah, I hear you.” He tightened his hold. “Let’s go, Taylor.”
“You two are being silly.” Jamison couldn’t see Taylor since she was sheltered behind Carter, but it sounded like she was continuing to walk ahead. “Okay, fine, but let me grab a water from the vending machine.”
“No, Taylor.” Carter’s voice took on an annoyed, commanding tone. He halted at the nurse’s station. “We’re leaving.”
“And I said I wanted water.”
Jamison peered around Carter so she could glare at Taylor. There might have been a consensus that they were all supposed to be nice, but the woman’s audacity sometimes ventured into levels of stupidity she couldn’t even begin to comprehend. “Taylor, no one cares about your water. You're putting us in danger.”
Taylor rummaged in her purse, mocking Jamison’s tone. “You’re putting us in danger,” she whined. “God. If Mike wanted you, he'd have taken you already, so chill out.”
Carter didn’t hesitate.
“Go!” Spinning her around, Carter shoved Jamison into motion, catapulting her back the way they came. “Run!”
An enormous shadow—no, a man—emerged from behind the nurses’ station. With a syringe in hand, he crawled onto the counter and leaped high into the air to tackle Carter.
The syringe’s needle plunged directly into Carter’s muscled neck on impact, and Jamison stumbled back in shock, time inching to a stop as her brain attempted to comprehend what she was seeing.
