She continues to cry, but now, it’s intermixed with crazy, wild laughter. I just keep my arms around her and hope for the best.
Because that’s all I can do.
Hope for the best and love her until the day I die.
Thirty-Eight
Machlan
“I should’ve driven my car.” Hadley leans against my shoulder and pops a Swedish Fish in her mouth.
“It was your choice.”
She taps me with the side of her head. “Stop saying that.”
“Everything is your choice. The candy at the gas station. Whether you go to work or quit your brand-new job. Whether you move in with me.”
“I just accepted a marriage proposal.” She sits up and laughs. “Should I not move in with you?”
“It’s your choice.” I smirk, reaching over and grabbing her thigh. “Whatever you want.”
“If you say that again, I’m gonna kill you.” She pops another candy in her mouth. “What am I going to do now? I just quit a job I had for a day.” She makes a face while she chews. “I don’t think I would’ve liked it anyway.”
As I glance at her out of the corner of my eye, a spark of anxiety flickers in my gut. “You aren’t having second thoughts, are you?”
She grins slowly, another red candy sliding past her lips.
“Can you not fuck with me right now?” I ask. “I’m trying to be this nice, good guy and back off and let you do your thing, but when you look at me like that when I ask you something this fucking serious, it makes me wanna—”
“What? What’s it make you wanna do, Mach?”
I study her for a long second. “It makes me want to turn the truck down one of these side roads and pull you on my lap and have you ride me until I come in your pussy.”
“Do it.” She gulps.
I snicker.
“Come on,” she says, reaching across the truck and grabbing the crotch of my pants. I groan, thrusting my hips toward her. “Chicken.”
“I can’t. I have somewhere to be.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” She settles back in her seat. “And where might that be?”
“I need to get to the hospital.”
“The hospital? Why?”
My foot eases up on the accelerator. Peck said she’s fine in a text he sent right before we left Hadley’s. Still, I haven’t told Hadley, and I’m not sure how she’ll take me not telling her until now.
“Nana is in the intensive care unit,” I say carefully.
“What?” The candy flies off her lap as she twists to look at me. “What are you talking about?”
“She had a heart attack yesterday.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” Her jaw drops. “You were at my house when she was in the hospital? Machlan!”
I take my hand off her leg. “Trust me. She was fine with it.” I rough my hand over my chin. “We were there all afternoon yesterday until, well, whatever time I showed up last night.”
“And you didn’t tell me? Is she okay?”
Looking at her, I let her see the somberness in my features. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want it to be about that. I want this moment to be about us. I didn’t want you to think I showed up at your house because of that. I didn’t.”
She nods, mulling that over. “But … is she okay?” she asks softly.
“She’s okay. Peck has been texting me. Everyone is there. Even Blaire.” I catch a look of concern on her face. “I know Blaire can be scary, but she’ll love you.”
“She’s so not like me, Mach,” she says warily. “She’s … extra.”
“Extra?” I burst out laughing. “That’s a good way to put it. Extra. I’ll tell her that.”
“Don’t you dare,” she warns. “She’ll kill me with one look. I’ve never been terrified of someone my entire life except Blaire.”
“Chicken,” I tease.
“Damn right. Now, back to Nana.”
“Anyway,” I say, “they’re running tests today to see how bad it was. I talked to her for a long time last night, and she sounded strong.”
Hadley rests her head on my shoulder again. “I can’t believe you left her, though. She wasn’t alone, was she?”
“She had Peck. He was convincing her to get better to make cheeseballs. Trust me, they’re fine.” I kiss the side of her head. “She told me to leave, actually.”
“Why?”
“She told me to go get you.” I extend my arm toward her. “She pointed out a lot of good things, some of them we’ll talk about someday, and made me realize I’d never get over you. So I might as well go get you.”
She wraps an arm around my middle. The cab of the truck is warm. Soft country music plays on the stereo, and Hadley hums along as we go down the road.
I think about Nana and all the things she said. And about my parents and how my mother always said to find our blessings.