Page 68 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

I turned around and ran back to my car, office shoes be damned.

21

REBECCA

I’dforgottenjusthowemotionally taxing working in the ER was. I’d asked for this shift because I’d hoped it would take my mind off things, and in a big way, it had. I hadn’t considered what it would do to me mentally now that I was on the trauma rotationallthe time.

Just before I walked out of the door, I stopped in one of the rooms. Despite how early it was, Amelia was sitting upright in her bed, with Zoey cross-legged at the foot of it. They each had a handful of cards.

“Snap!” Zoey shouted and gleefully raked the cards toward her.

Amelia shook her head. “You’re too good at this. I’m going to lose again!”

Zoey leaned forward and put her hand on Amelia’s, her eyes serious.

“I’ll let you win, Mommy.”

Amelia chuckled. “You’re a sweetheart.”

When Amelia looked at me, she smiled.

“You’re up early,” I said.

She nodded. “Zoey is a morning person, right, Zoe?”

“I don’t sleep in the day,” Zoey said gravely.

“You should let your mom rest,” I said to the little girl.

“It’s okay,” Amelia said and winced when she shifted around her stitches. “When you nearly lose it all, you realize just how precious every minute is. I’ll never complain about her waking up early again.”

I smiled, my heart constricting. Amelia had survived. Zoey still had her mom. It was just the two of them against the world, but no matter what, they had each other.

“I’ll check in soon,” I said, trying not to get emotional.

“Bye, Rebecca!” Zoey said happily before she slammed another card down on the bed and yelled, “Snap!”

I smiled and left the room.

When I walked out, the sun was just a promise on the horizon. I stopped outside the hospital doors, looking at the dim glow above the twinkling city lights, and let out a breath, billowing my cheeks. I wasn’t physically exhausted, but mentally I was ready to check out for a while.

Four teenagers had come in. They’d gone on a road trip, and the one driving had swerved to avoid a deer. The car had rolled, and they’d all been critical. They might all have died if they’d hit the deer—that kid might have saved their lives—if they managed to pull through. All four were in intensive care, and we still didn’t know if they would make it.

Maybe kids were in danger all the time, but I didn’t notice because I wasn’t a mother. Now I was pregnant, I was so aware of the number of young kids coming in, small children who nearly lost their parents—or did—and teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them losing limbs, losing brain function, losing the things that mattered.

Bringing a child into this world became more and more terrifying. Was this what my parents had felt like when they’d lost Naomi? Losing my sister had hurt like a bitch. It hurt so much sometimes that I couldn’t breathe, but she’d been my sister, not my child.

It shed new light on how my parents acted. The hole it must have left behind…

I pushed the thoughts away. I didn’t have what it took to go through all that now, too. Not after the night I’d had.

At least Amelia had made it. That counted for something—happy endings did exist—I just had to keep searching for them. After every dark night, the sun opens like a flower on the horizon. Dawn would come, bringing a new day.

I climbed into my car and drove home. I was ready to get into bed. I wanted to close my eyes and forget about the night, forget about the constant ache in my chest that was proof that even though I didn’t actively think about Landon, he was still on my subconscious mind all the time.

When I stopped in front of my apartment, someone was sitting on my steps. When I came closer, Landon stood.

I stifled a groan.

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