Page 109 of Meant to Be
“Why don’t we take you to the apartment?” Drake stood.
“Oh, I can’t leave.” Mitch’s mother fluttered her hands.
“Mom. You need your rest,” Lexie said.
“I’m not leaving. They said I can stay with him.”
“Let me get her situated and then you can take me to get some rest,” Mitch’s father said.
“When can I see him?” Lexie’s tear-filled green eyes, so like Mitch’s, demanded more than asked.
“Why don’t you go back with your mom? They’re setting up a chair or bed or something for her to stay. You can only visit for a minute. Only your mom can stay the night,” Mitch’s father said.
Drake turned to Sydney. “Let us take you too.”
She shook her head. “I’ll make my own way, but thank you.”
Sydney didn’t makeher way home. When she was too tired to keep her eyes open, she found a doctor she knew at the hospital and asked for a cot used by on-duty doctors when they pulled long shifts. She slept a few hours until the sun peeked around the edges of the dark drapes and then got up and made her way to the restroom. Drake was right. She looked terrible. She washed her face and ran her fingers through her hair. Then she headed to the ICU, where she was told Mitch was stable, but no, she couldn’t see him.
She planted herself in a chair in the waiting area and waited.
“For a friend with benefits, you sure stick.”
Sydney shot up from her seat, grabbing Lexie’s hands. “How is he?”
“He’s good. He’s asking for you.” Lexie smirked. “There’s a ton of information you can get from a guy when he’s on drugs. We got here this morning, and he’s higher than a kite. He’s insisting on seeing you.”
“Your parents…”
“Mitch gets whatever he wants. And right now, he wants you.”
Sydney nodded. Tears sprang to her eyes.
She stepped into his room, and her heart ached to see him in the bed with wires and machines beeping around him.
When he saw her, his green eyes glinted as much as they could through the haze of medication. He sent her a lopsided smile. “Hey, Doc.”
“Officer.”
“That’s detective to you.”
She tentatively glanced at Mitch’s parents.
“Let’s get some food. Mom, Dad, come on.” Lexie motioned for her parents to leave, while Drake held the door open.
“I can’t leave—”
“Yes, you can, Mom. Your grandbaby needs food.”
Sydney could see the tug-of-war in Mitch’s mother’s eyes.
“It will be okay,” Lexie insisted, taking her mom by the arm.
When the door shut, Sydney’s nerves skidded across her skin, much the same way they had at the party her freshman year of college when Mitch swept her off her feet.
“You okay?” His eyes inventoried her body, not sexually, although she felt warm and gooey inside anyway because he cared.
Then she rushed to his side. “Mitch, I’m so sorry.”
