Page 66 of The Flight Risk

I lean my forearms on the desk and catch a glimpse of her nametag: Claudia. “Look, Claudia, if you help me this one time, I will throw in some tickets for you and a guest. Or even for your entire family! Just contact me and I’ll set it up for whatever date works best for you.” I apparently am not above bribery. Desperation does wonders for someone who has always been a rule-follower. I hang my head, not sure what the next words out of Claudia’s mouth will be. I’m literally at her mercy.

She starts chuckling. “You are such a sweet thing. And between you and me, I was going to let you go up to the PACU the moment you said you needed to be here for your niece.” She emphasizes that word as if she knows it’s bullshit. But, I truly see Lottie as my family.

My heart surges with relief. “Thank you so much. And please reach out to me for tickets and I’ll set you up.” I stride over to the elevators and press the “up” button over and over.

I reach the seventh floor and frantically look for room 709. When I find it, I take a deep breath and slowly open the door, hoping not to wake Lottie or Tess if they’re sleeping. I creep in and the first person I see is the only person I’m willing to change my entire life plans for. The only person who rocked my world so intensely that there is no piecing it back together to what it used to be.

Tess is sitting in a chair on the left side of Lottie’s hospital bed, laying her head on the little space between Lottie’s leg and the edge of the mattress. I can’t imagine how scared she must have been. I knock as quietly as I can on the door. Tess raises her head and registers it’s me. She looks relieved and then immediately concerned. She stands up, wraps her dark green fuzzy cardigan around her torso, and walks slowly toward me.

It’s funny. For most of our relationship, I’ve been the one to move slowly. Not wanting to rush in fear of losing the very woman I knew was the one for me. She still is. And now, I want to move things at warp speed and make up for any lost time.

“What the hell happened to you?” I’m about to tell her that I haven’t slept in days. She consumes my thoughts. I can’t stop thinking about kissing her all over. Then I realize she means my slashed jaw. Truthfully, I deserved it. I started the fight.

“You should see the other guy.” I grin. The side of her mouth pulls up a little.

“You don’t fight,” Tess whispers. Worry and exhaustion paint her face and I want to take that all away. I want to take her home where I can sleep next to her and tell her that being away from her isn’t part of the game plan of my life.

“Things change.” My eyes divert from Tess’ and I see Lottie, asleep in the hospital bed. She is connected to a bunch of machines. “How’s she doing?”

“She was great. Probably calmer than I was.” Tess sits back down in the chair as I stand by Lottie’s bedside. “I think she just really wanted her mom here.”

Right. Tara. “Did you reach her in Paris?”

Tess shakes her head and tears fill her eyes. “No. I left a bunch of messages and voicemails. To be fair, it was the middle of the night when all of this happened. There’s just so many questions I didn’t know the answers to. I have never felt so scared or incompetent in my life.”

Although my legs are screaming at me out of pure exhaustion, I bend down next to Tess’ chair and place my hands on the sides of her legs. “Tess, you did your best. No one expects you to have all the answers. Especially since you aren’t her mother.”

“I’m her guardian, though.” I’ve missed the way she pushes back with me.

“You aren’t her mother,” I double-down. She blinks and her thick, black lashes release the tears she’s been holding onto. “She should have answered the damn phone, no matter what time it is. The moment she saw the messages with Lottie’s name or the multiple calls and voicemails.” My voice is deep and growly. I’m getting heated and feel like punching that other goalie all over again.

“Oakley. She’s asleep. She probably hasn’t seen anything yet.” She looks at her watch. “It’s almost six there. I guarantee she’ll call soon.”

“I’m sorry. I just…” I glance over at Lottie and see how helpless and little she looks. “I can’t imagine leaving my kid willingly. I mean, I travel for work, but if it was to travel the world with my significant other, I would take my kid.” My hands clench into fists next to Tess’ thighs. “I just don’t understand.”

Tess’ cool, soft hands cover mine. Her touch is magic and I’d give anything to have her fingers running through my hair right now.

Tess quips, “Welcome to my entire life of trying to understand the inner thoughts and actions of Tara Lewis.”

“It’s fucking infuriating.”

“I know.” She squeezes my hands. “You know, a wise man told me to stop being her keeper and that she continues to shatter the things in my life that are beautiful. Please don’t let her shatter you, too.”

Does this mean Tess still cares for me the way I care for her? She’s my fucking world. But I never want to push Tess to do something she isn’t ready for. She’s too precious for that. She’s my snowglobe and I’ll be damned if I let her break.

She sniffles. “I’m sorry I called you. I just didn’t know who else to call. I was freaking out. I couldn’t get a hold of Tara and I called you but you didn’t answer and I didn’t know your game went so late tonight. I did reach Brooke through text. She left the game early and came over with coffee and cupcakes. She just left like fifteen minutes ago.” She shrugs and says, “You didn’t have to come, Oakley.”

That’s when I do the one thing I’ve been avoiding–touching her. I grab the sides of her face and tilt it up so she has no choice but to look at me. “Don’t ever be sorry for calling me in an emergency, Tess. I know…” I gulp and there is a pit in my stomach as I say the next words out loud. “I know that we broke up, but I will always be there for you and Lottie. Of course I was coming.” I graze my thumb against her wet cheek, eradicating her leftover tears.

Her face lays heavy against my hand, her eyes glistening. I want to kiss her so badly it hurts. Her full lips part. “Oakley…”

“Knock, knock.” A nurse in dark black scrubs peeks around the ajar door. “I’m here to check on Miss Charlotte.” I spring up and any sort of moment Tess and I were sharing is immediately broken. The nurse’s eyebrows shoot up. “Oh, I’m sorry to startle you both.”

I rub the back of my neck and say, “No, it’s okay. She was just catching me up on what happened with Lottie.”

“And you are the uncle, I presume?” The nurse attempts to glue the pieces together.

“No,” Tess groggily says, blowing my cover. “Just a friend.” Somehow this hurts worse than my jaw injury. She is still keeping me at arms length. It sucks that she is continuing to fight what I see as inevitable–we belong in each other’s lives. More than just friends.