Page 15 of Fragile Love (Fragile 3)
“Actually, no, because we aren’t getting anywhere with this. What was your point in bringing me out here? What do you really want to say, without bringing up the health of my cats?” Her eyes were blazing.
Cayden stayed quiet.
“Well?” she prodded.
“I don’t want you to take Andrew in.” At these words, Lillian’s mouth tightened into a thin line; he kept going anyway. She asked what I wanted to say, after all. “I can understand helping out while his parents are away, but the whole time? Like I said, that will be months. He got pretty beat up in that wreck. Yes, it could have been a lot worse, but it’ll be four to six months before his femur breaks heal. And that’s assuming all his physical therapy and tests run smoothly.”
Lillian didn’t say anything. Her teeth clamped down on her lower lip and the light reflected off her eyes.
“So, yeah,” he ended, shrugging. “That’s how I feel.”
“You know what, Cayden?” she whispered, but he quickly realized that she wasn’t whispering to stay quiet. Her voice trembled, and he saw the light glinting off her eyes was because they were wet. “I lost Amelia in this same hospital. If I could get into the ICU, I would be able to walk you to the room where she stayed with my eyes closed. I didn’t get a chance to take care of her and make sure she could walk again.”
Cayden’s heart dropped to his heels.
“Amelia would appreciate me taking care of Andrew, since he actually made it out alive.” She set her jaw. “Because she didn’t. She was wheeled out and put six feet under.”
“Don’t be so dramatic” he interrupted, pulling her against his chest. He didn’t say it to be mean; he meant that Andrew was alive and nowhere close to dying. She pulled away from him at first, but he didn’t let go, and immediately she relented, collapsing against his torso and sobbing. He knew that holding her like this always had a way of calming her down; why, he didn’t quite know. But it had helped every other time, and he desperately hoped it would now.
“You don’t deserve to have so much sadness and guilt inside you, Lil,” he murmured into her hair.
She didn’t respond, trying hard to gain control of her emotions. They stood there outside Andrew’s hospital room for a few minutes. At last, her body began to tremble a little less and her breathing started to grow more even. Finally, she drew away and looked up at him.
He wiped her tears with his sleeve and she held onto his wrist. “They’re my family, Cayden,” she whimpered. “I want you to be part of our family, too.”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry for keeping my feelings inside. I’m sorry—”
“Don’t start this,” he said, wiping another drop off her chin. He felt like such a jerk. Why did he have to let the past try to control his future? He trusted Lily. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“But—”
“Listen to me,” he said softly. “You have nothing to apologize for. And you have no reason to feel so much guilt over so many things all the time. We’re going to be honest with each other from now on, okay?”
“I don’t like it when you don’t trust me.” She sniffed.
“Well, that’s my fault, isn’t it?” Cayden felt the sickening sensation of his ego being crushed; the words felt like acid in his stomach. “I do trust you, Lil. I promise. And I’m glad you want me to get to know your family instead of trying to keep me away from them.” Under his breath, he added, “My ex always went out of her way to keep me away when her family visited.”
A little smile flashed in her eyes.
“There we go, she’s feeling better now.” He kissed the top of her head, glad he didn’t have to make any more confessions. “Are you hungry?”
“I could use some water, but I’ve got a bottle in there.” She glanced toward Andrew’s room. She grinned. “You’re hungry again, aren’t you?”
“I’ll survive.” He smiled. “When will Andrew’s parents be back?”
“I don’t know. I guess after they eat lunch. They’re probably going to want to stay here all afternoon since Andrew’s awake now.”
“You need to be here, too, to talk to the doctor about getting Andrew back home and scheduling his appointments.”
“Hey, uh...” Suddenly shy, Lillian put her hands in her pockets and looked at her shoes. “I was thinking about something earlier, before we came out here.”
“Okay...?”
“Well, it’s about Andrew and his rehab.”
“All right. What about Andrew and his rehab?”
