Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“He volunteers with kids? Who’s Layla?”
My heart stopped, panic pausing its rhythm. “Shit,” I cursed. I’d forgotten no one knew. “It’s not really my place to say. It just came out. It doesn’t make sense to me, but it’s something Hutch wants to keep to himself.”
When I looked up at her, her face was streaked with tears. “Please, Ryder. Tell me.”
Knowing I’d already fucked up and not sure what else to do, I started talking. I told her how I’d volunteered in LA and then here. How the first day, I’d seen Hutch there. That it was awkward because of our past, and that Mads had been his concern, but that we’d ended up just talking…nothing between us. That we saw each other there every week. And then I told her about Layla and Hutch’s relationship with her and her mom. I told her about Luke too.
When I finished, she was looking at me, slack-jawed. “Let me get this straight…you and my brother have both been secretly working with kids with cancer for years?”
“Yeah.”
“You were talking online, without knowing who the other was, while also seeing each other every week at Children’s Hospital.” I nodded, and she continued, “And you’ve both connected with kids there. You play music with them, and spend time with them, get close with them knowing they’re sick…”
“They’re both doing well, Mads. It’s kinda crazy, if I’m being honest. They’re both on similar treatment schedules, and both are very likely to go into remission soon.”
“I don’t think that’s the only thing that’s a crazy coincidence in this situation,” she replied, and I chuckled. “Hutch and Layla…they’re really that close?”
“I think she sees him like a father figure, and I know he plans on being part of her life even after she’s healthy. He loves her. That little girl has him wrapped around her finger. Hutch would go to the ends of the earth for her if he had to.”
She gave a humorless laugh. “That sounds like my brother. He was the same with me.”
Yeah, yeah, he had been. He still was. The only way he’d ever hurt her was because of me. I didn’t know if my guilt over that would ever fade.
“You’re really in love with each other, aren’t you?”
“Yes. And there’s nothing like knowing that how we feel about each other is breaking him so damn much. He loves you, Mads. So much. I think he could handle the stuff with your dad if things were better with you. Honestly, it took everything in me to hold myself back after the things Grant said at dinner the other night.”
Her gaze snapped up. “Daddy talked to him? What did he say?”
I told her, and I could see the switch flip inside her. See the anger she felt on behalf of her brother. “I told him to leave it alone. I left early because…well, honestly, because I came to some conclusions of my own that night, some I’m not ready to share, but I made him promise he would leave Hutch alone.”
Christ, I didn’t understand Grant. I wasn’t at all surprised at what she said. “Well, he went back on the promise.”
“Shit.” And then, “Thank you, for telling me all that. I think I’ll have that lunch now.”
I didn’t know if what I’d said had changed anything, but I was glad I’d said it. I wasn’t going to push her, wasn’t even going to ask her. She had a right to her feelings and to deal with them in the way that was best for her. I’d tried, and the rest was in her hands.
We ate lunch together, laughing and talking like old times. It felt good to be with her that way, to see the changes she’d undergone in the last five years. But a part of me felt guilty for it too, that I could be there with her, but Hutch couldn’t.
“Thanks for coming,” I told her when we were finished.
“Thanks for inviting me, and regardless of what happens, I want you to know I heard what you said.”
That was all I could expect. Now I just had to hope it had made a difference.
25
Hutch
“No offense, Hutch, but you look like shit,” Isaac said as I joined him at the restaurant. His comment didn’t surprise me. Isaac was the type to tell it how it was.
“I try to do that when we’re together. I know how hard it must be for you…being around someone as attractive as me. Does it hurt you much?”
He laughed. “You’re an asshole.”
He was right about that. “Takes one to know one.”
The waitress came over with two glasses of ice water. Isaac must have just arrived before me. I wasn’t late, but he was known to be early. “Thank you,” I told her.
“Do you need a moment with the menu?”
“Yes, please.”