Page 98 of Restless
“She may need glasses, but tests are showing she doesn’t have brain damage or heart defects.”
“I know.” He sighed, his head pounding. “Megan’ll be so relieved.”
“I’m sure she will.” Torie hadn’t removed her hand. “I promise I won’t tell her if you sneak a cigarette.”
“Thanks for the offer, babe, but Megan not like that.”
Her smile widened and she met his gaze. “It’s the least I can do. You lent me gas money.”
“Don’t look like I lent the motherfucker to you, Torie,” he said with amusement. “You ain’t repayed me.”
“I will!” she swore.
“Forget it. It was only $20.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” Twenty fucking dollars wouldn’t make or break him.
Suddenly, she dropped her hand and twirled. “Do you like my scrubs?”
He lifted a brow.
“You complimented my Minnie Mouse scrubs,” she reminded him.
He’d only noticed because Megan always liked Mickey Mouse’s woman.
Torie thrust her tits out, almost in his face. “When I saw Rudolph and Santa, I thought of you.” She stepped back, turned out, then posed, poking her curvy ass toward him.
His cock stirred and he recoiled, jumping to his feet.
Until that moment, he’d missed all Torie’s cues. Fuck, he might’ve even accidentally encouraged her flirting. He didn’t know, couldn’t even remember most of their interactions outside of their discussions about Jo and the concern Torie showed her and him.
Usually, he kept his guard up. He wanted a clear boundary of where he stood. “I love my wife,” he said, so Torie would mistake nothing else. “Megan the most important thing in the world to me.”
“But—”
“I ain’t…I didn’t mean to make you think I was open to something on the side.”
Her gaze lowered to his erection, and he gritted his teeth.
“I’m a fuckin’ man, babe, not a monk. Ain’t nothin’ I want from another woman.”
“I look forward to seeing you,” she admitted. “You make me laugh. I’ve been divorced for six months and I thought I never wanted another man. You take time to listen to me. You complimented myscrubs.”
“Megan taught me how to be a good husband,” he told her quietly. “She taught me how to be a good father.”
Torie smiled, but when he didn’t offer one in return, it faded. “You seem like such a man’s man. It is hard to believe you’d allow a woman to teach you anything. I tried teaching Cleotis. It led to more hostility. A part of me believed you visited so regularly and stayed so long to see me.”
“It was. You take time explainin’ shit to me and reassurin’ me about Jo.”
Her face crumpled and her shoulders sagged. In the stillness of the early morning, Jo’s machines and monitors broke the silence. At first, the sounds tortured Christopher. He didn’t know if they’d suddenly stop because she’d faded away. In the first forty-eight hours after the emergency, he’d almost lost his mind because when he was with Megan, he was doubly scared.
If he lost Jo, he’d grieve. If he lost Megan, he’d die.
“I’m here cuz Megan can’t be, Torie. I’m in the hospital because Megan can’t leave. It’s all her.”
“And your daughter?”
