Page 135 of Test the Ice
Nothing.
There’s no missed call. No text message.
Something isn’t right.
I feel it in my gut.
My heart skips a beat on the first ring.
She answers on the second and sounds out of breath. “Malaki.”
“What’s going on? Is it Benedict?”
“No,” she rushes out. “I was waiting for the game to end before I called you. I didn’t want you to worry.”
Too late.
The locker room starts to fill. I turn my back to block the chatter.
“It’s Charleigh.”
My shoulders tense. “What do you mean?”
Reese’s shaky breath echoes through the phone. “She fell before we left for the game. I’m at the hospital.”
My world stops.
Panic like I’ve never felt before slams into me.
I press a fist to my chest to stop the tightening. “I’m on my way.”
I'm sweaty and short of breath by the time I walk through the ER doors. It’s nearly empty, only a few seats taken, one by an elderly couple and the other by a mom and a coughing toddler.
“Reese Moreno,” I say as soon as I walk up to the reception area.
The woman’s eyebrows furrow. “Um?”
Anxiety claws at my chest. “I’m here to see my fiancée. Our daughter fell, and they’re in a room somewhere.”
Our daughter?
Did I really just say that?
Either way, it worked. The woman clicks a button, and two swinging doors open. “Go through there. Take a left down the hall. They’re in room four.”
My strides are hurried, my forehead tacky with sweat. I grip the curtain, peek behind it, and immediately spot Charleigh.
Relief and worry hit me like a tidal wave as I take in the scene.
Charleigh is lying on Reese’s chest with a bandage wrapped around her entire head, the blue bow holding her tiny ponytail still intact. Dried blood is sprinkled all over her new jersey and her mom’s too.
“I’m going to start calling you Rocky instead of Charleigh-girl,” I utter, heading right for her.
Reese looks up and blinks the exhaustion from her eyes. “Malaki.”
Charleigh’s eyes grow wide with a smile. “Da!”
I sit on the edge of the bed and look her over quickly. Other than the bandage around her head, she seems okay. Fully intact. Still smiling and warming me from the inside out.
