Chapter Nineteen

Denise

I still feel my lips tingle when I wake up the next day. I get out of bed, walking to the coffeemaker. I take out my phone to text Steve.

We need to talk. Let me know when you get in.

I press send while I prepare to put my coffee in the thermos. Walking to the closet, I dress in gray slacks and a pink silk top. I tie up my hair in a messy bun. Tucking the front of the blouse inside my slacks, I grab a black jacket and my black Michael Kors flats.

Walking out, I lock the door and find Zack standing in front of his truck. “What?” I whisper to myself.

“Hey,” he says, raising his hand, and I take him in. He’s wearing blue jeans that fit him perfectly, a thin light blue turtleneck sweater that makes his blue eyes shine more, and a beanie on his head. He pushes himself off the truck and walks over to me. Smiling when he gets close to me, he bends to kiss me. “Morning.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask him, wiping the lip gloss off his lips.

“I dropped Mom off at the airport early and figured I could swing by, get a kiss, and take you to work,” he says. We walk back to the truck hand in hand.

“Did she get off okay?” I ask him, thinking about how she caught us kissing.

“She did,” he says, opening the truck door for me. “She wants to come back in two weeks.”

“Oh, that will be fun,” I tell him, getting in the truck, and he stands there.

“I love my mom, but I’m trying to date this hot chick, and we are keeping it a secret, so the only times I can make out with her are at night when Jack goes to bed.”

“Oh, you silly man,” I say, putting my hand on his face. “We could also make out during the day.” He shakes his head, laughing, and leans in to kiss me. I see his eyes change color just a touch, and I know this kiss isn’t going to be soft. It’s going to be hungry, and I’m not wrong; he takes the kiss. I don’t have a choice, but I want it too. My hand moves up to his beanie, and I rip it off his head so I can feel his hair even though it’s short.

“If we don’t stop, we are both going to be late,” he says, stepping out of the truck and slamming the door.

“You’re really good at that kissing thing,” I tell him, and he laughs. “I might go on that site and rate you.” He looks at me with a smirk. “I mean, later.”

“Tag me in it.” He laughs and grabs my hand while we drive to the hospital. “What time do you get off?” he asks me.

“About three,” I say, but it all depends.

“Okay, call me when you’re done, and I’ll see where I am.” I lean over, and he kisses me softly. “Go be a superhero,” he tells me, and I smile at him.

“I’ll try.” I get out of the truck and walk into the hospital with literally a bounce in my step. I have a boyfriend. I don’t think I’ve ever had a boyfriend before.

I get off the elevator and see Steve at the nurses’ station. “And there she is, the woman of the hour.” He looks over and then turns around, whipping his head back at me. “You look ...”

“Not here.” I shake my head; he is the closest thing to a best friend that I have, so it’s really no surprise that he sees it all over my face.

“I need to speak with you,” I tell him. “Can we go into your office?”

“Sure thing,” he says and leads the way to his office, opening the door and walking in. It’s the size of a broom closet. I gave up my office to the nurses. “Sit down,” he says, and I sit in the only chair in the room, throwing my purse down next to the chair.

“So,” he says, leaning against his desk.

“I have to hand Jack’s file over to you,” I tell him, and he doesn’t say anything. “I crossed the line, and before it gets to be more, I can’t have this taint anything. I won’t do that to the hospital.”

“Why him?” he asks me a two-word sentence.

“I have no idea,” I answer honestly. “I can’t put my finger on it. It was...”

“It knocked your world off its axis,” he tells me.

“It did.” I’m not going to lie to him. “He kissed me last night.”

“And you let him?” he asks with a sly smile as I glare at him. “You’ve had fathers hit on you before.”

“I have,” I say, crossing my hands in my lap. “Remember when you met Olivier, and you came in everyday looking like the cat that just swallowed a canary?”

“Olivier and I are just friends,” he tells me, and I laugh at him.

“Where did you wake up this morning?”

“In my bed.” He folds his hands.

“Alone?”

“Wench,” he says, laughing. “Okay fine, we woke up together.”

“When is the last time you didn’t wake up with him?” I ask him, and he smirks. “And not because he was traveling but because he stayed home.”

“I think it’s been six.”

“Seven months,” I tell him, “that we know of.”

“We aren’t putting a label on our relationship,” he says.

“Are you saying you guys can see other people?” I ask him, and he glares at me. “I’m just asking.”

“We have an understanding,” he says.

“That you don’t see other people?” I point out. “So you’re a couple.”

He rolls his eyes at me. “This isn’t about me. This is about you and finally letting someone past your steel exterior.”

“I don’t have a steel exterior.” Now I roll my eyes at him. “I just was busy becoming the best doctor I could.”

“Then love would come later?” he says, and I get up.

“I’ll tell Melissa and the nurses.” I walk to the door, grabbing the handle, and I’m about to leave when Steve calls me again.

“I’d better be a bridesmaid,” he says right before I slam the door. I walk past the nurses’ station. “Morning,” I say, smiling and going to the lounge to dump my purse and jacket and grab my lab coat. Walking out to the nurses’ station, I take the charts and start reading through last night’s activity.

“How is she doing?” I ask Janet when I walk to Evie’s room.

“She is so happy that her brother and father are here.” She smiles as she looks at Evie lying in bed curled up in her father’s arms. Her brother lies beside her, the sound of the Trolls movie playing on the iPad they are watching. “She’s a daddy’s girl.”

I smile at her and observe Darryl not watching the iPad but instead looking at his daughter, watching her. Kissing her head every second minute. She would look up, and her eyes just shined a little brighter.

“Love you,” he whispers to her.

“I’ll come by later and check on you.” I smile at her and walk away, but she grabs my arm.

“What if that was your daughter in there?” she says quietly. “What if that was your daughter in there dying a little bit more every day, and you couldn’t do anything for her? Would you just give up?”

“No,” I answer her honestly. “I would fight until I had no more fight left in me.”

She nods her head. “Then help me do something. Help me do anything.”

“Janet,” I say, shaking my head and looking down so I don’t have a breakdown in front of her.

“Please,” she begs, begs for her daughter, begs for herself; she begs for her family.

“Let me see what I can do,” I tell her and walk away from her to my next patient. I do my rounds, and I’m walking to the nurses’ desk when the phone buzzes in my pocket, and I see it’s Allison.

“Hello,” I say to her. Smiling, I look at the nurses and say, “I’m going for a coffee.”

“Hello,” Allison says while the nurses just nod at me.

“What’s up?” I ask her.

“We got it,” she says, and I stop walking mid-step.

“Got what?”

“We got a generous donation this morning from a new donor,” she says, and I’m hearing the words, but I don’t think I understand them.

“Allison,” I whisper at her, and she must know by my tone that I need more.

“We got the money for your patient,” she says, and I have to hold on to the wall, or I’ll be on the floor, falling to my knees.

“Are you sure?” I whisper, my heart beating as I turn around and ask the nurses. “Where is Steve?”

Mallory answers right away. “In his office.”

I run to his office while Allison tells me that they will send over the check today, so we can put it in her name and bring it over.

“Yes. I have to go tell Steve,” I tell her and hang up when I get to his office door. I knock because the last time I didn’t, I caught him pinned against the wall by Olivier.

“Come in,” he says, and I walk in panting.

“We got it,” I say, and he just looks at me. “We got the money for Evie.”

He gets up and rounds his desk. “Are you serious?”

“I am. Allison just called; they got a donation this morning, and it’s all going to her.”

“Have you told Janet?” he asks me, and I shake my head.

“No, I came to you first,” I tell him, and he puts his face in his hands and cries. I walk to him and put my hand on his shoulder. “We got her.”

“We got her,” he says, and then I turn to walk out and he follows me while we walk to Evie’s room.

We find the four of them all squeezed onto her bed with her in the middle of her brother and her father. “Hey there,” we say, and Janet looks up first, seeing us. She sits up on the bed.

“How you feeling, Evie?” I ask her, and she looks at me. She’s wearing her mint green pajamas that she loves with the matching head cap.

“Okay,” she says softly.

“Well,” I start, and now all eyes are on me. “We come with some good news.”

“Great news,” Steve says.

“We work very closely with the Max Horton Foundation,” I say, “and I called them yesterday to ask them if they could do anything for Evie.”

“Oh my god,” Janet says, putting her hand to her mouth.

“There is a new drug out, and we have one patient who will be starting it in two weeks,” I say, and then I look at Darryl, who is quietly sobbing. “We think Evie is a great candidate for this.”

“And?”

“The foundation is going to donate the money for her to get the treatment,” I blurt out not able to keep it inside, and when I do, Janet lets out a sob, her body shaking. I walk to her, grabbing her in my arms as I cry with her. “We are going to give her a fighting chance,” I whisper to her, and she holds me, and her tears soak through my jacket and my shirt.

“Did you hear that?” I look at Evie. “We are going to try to get you all better.”

She just nods her head. “I don’t think she gets how amazing this is,” her brother, Brock says to her. “Squirt, you’re going to be able to come home and play with your Barbies and annoy me and my friends.”

“Will I be able to go watch you play hockey?” She looks at him, and he just nods at her.

“I can’t wait to see you banging on that glass again, telling me to hustle,” Brock says, smiling at her

“So what happens now?” Darryl asks, and I look at them.

I tell them exactly what they are going to do when Janet looks at me. “Is that the same thing that Jack is doing?”

“What?” I ask her.

“Yesterday when they were here, Zack was telling me about the treatment that Jack is doing. When he asked us if we were doing it, I told him that we probably weren’t covered with our insurance.” It all makes sense; everything now clicks into place.

“We can’t discuss the treatment of another patient,” Steve says, and I look at her as she looks down and then grabs my hand, squeezing it.

We finish talking and walk out of the room. “Do you think?” Steve asks.

“I have no idea,” I say, and I take out my phone sending him a text.

You have some explaining to do!

He doesn’t answer me till two hours later when I’m sitting down finishing the charts. The blood drawn from Evie is being prepared to be sent out.

I’ll explain anything you want. What time are you done?

I answer him right away.

I’m done whenever.

Pick you up in thirty.

Okay. Text me when you get here.

Will do.

After I finish my charts, I look down and see he sent me a text twenty minutes later that he was downstairs. I get up, grab my coat and bag, and say bye to everyone, then walk downstairs. He stands leaning against his new truck when I walk out. His feet crossed at the ankle as I take him in. He is dressed exactly like he was this morning. His smile goes from small to big as I walk closer to him.

“Hey, you,” he says. Pushing off the truck and coming to me, he leans down to kiss my cheek.

“Hey, yourself,” I say, and we turn and walk to his truck. He opens the door for me, and I smile when I get in, watching him walk in front of the truck around to the driver’s side. I buckle my seat belt the same time he does, and he pulls away from the hospital.

“So what did you do today?” I ask him, turning to watch him.

“We had training all day. We have a home game tomorrow; are you coming?” he says, watching the road.

“Probably, I have to check,” I answer him. “So is that all you did?”

“Pretty much,” he answers.

“Did you perhaps write a check today?” I ask him, and he turns and looks at me.

“No, not me,” he says.

“You didn’t donate anything today?” I cross my arms over my chest.

“I don’t take care of that. My father does,” he answers with a smirk he tries to hide.

“You donated half a million dollars for Evie, didn’t you?” I ask him, and he turns and looks at me.

“I donated money to a charity,” he starts. “I don’t know what they do with the money I donate.”

“You just saved her life,” I tell him, and he turns and looks at me. He pulls over to the curb after we turn and parks.

He takes off his seat belt and leans over. “I didn’t save her life, you did,” he tells me. “I just helped.” His face is close to mine, and I put my hand on his cheek.

“You really have no idea how much you did,” I whisper, my fingers running through his day-old stubble. “No idea,” I say, leaning forward and finally kissing him.

My tongue comes out to slide with his, and he rolls his tongue with mine. He turns his head, deepening the kiss as I lean into him. He lets me go slowly and softly, kissing me two times before settling back into his seat. “I really can’t wait till tonight when I can finally make out with you on the couch and hold you.”

“Is that so?” I tell him, and he just nods. “Well, lucky for you, I’m also looking forward to that,” I tell him, and he pulls off and makes his way home.

He finds parking right in front. “It’s your lucky day.” I laugh, and we get out of the truck, walking up the steps. He unlocks the door and yells that he’s home.

Jack comes running out of the living room, yelling, “Daddy!” He runs into Zack’s arms, kissing his lips. “And, Dr. Denise,” he says, leaning over to come into my arms.

Sarah comes out of the living room. “Hello.” She smiles at us, and Zack asks her about Jack’s day.

I take off my shoes, walking into the house with Jack in my arms. “Did you throw a party today?” I ask him, and he just giggles.

“No.” He shakes his head. “We did puzzles and Play-Doh.”

“That sounds like fun,” I tell him, putting him down and hearing Sarah yell, “Bye.”

“We are having steak for dinner. Do you want rice or potatoes with it?” Zack asks, coming in.

“I don’t mind,” I tell him, sitting on the couch and watching Jack go to his toy corner.

Zack comes to sit next to me, slouching down a bit. I put my legs under me and turn to him. “What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t care,” he says, and we watch Jack play for a little while. When Jack comes over with a book, I read him the story while Zack gets up to prepare dinner.

We sit down for dinner at the table that Jack and I set together. I clean up the dishes when Zack goes upstairs and gives him a bath, coming back down a little while later. I’m sitting on the couch flicking the channels of the television.

“Is he out?” I ask him as he comes over to me, sitting next to me, leaning over and kissing me.

“I almost kissed you when you were cleaning the table,” he tells me, and I smile.

“I know. I felt you lean forward and then pull back.” I lean forward, pecking his lips. “I have to tell you something,” I tell him, and he looks at me. “I handed Jack’s file off to Steve today.”

“Why?” he says, sitting up.

“Because we are getting involved, and it’s a total conflict of interest, and I refuse to taint Jack and the hospital,” I tell him, and he just looks at me.

“You wouldn’t treat him any differently if we were dating or not,” he points out.

“No, I wouldn’t but ...” I tell him.

“Have you always been so selfless?” he asks, and I just shake my head.

“No,” I tell him honestly. “Max helped me.”

“As much as I know you love your brother, you and he are not at all the same,” he says, smiling.

“He saved me,” I tell him and watch the questions in his eyes. “When I was sixteen, he put everything he had on the line for me.”

I take a deep breath, never thinking that this conversation would come up in the first couple of days we were together. “Our mother was a drunk, and our father a deadbeat who took off a year after I was born,” I start, and he sits up to look at me, taking my hand in his and kissing it.

So here we are on his couch, the both of us turned to each other as he holds my hand. “Max tried his best to make sure I always went to school with clean clothes and a full lunchbox.” His thumbs rub my hand while I continue the story. “It was always just the two of us. He would even take me to his practices where I would sit in the stands and watch him while I did my homework. He actually checked to make sure I finished it all when he got off the ice. When he finally got drafted, I put on a brave face and told him that I would be fine.” The tear leaks out of the corner of my eye. “By that time, my mother had remarried, and he was a drug addict. I made sure to keep my head down and not make myself known. Until it was a touch too late.”

He leans over and takes me in his arms, kissing my head as I softly cry, thinking of that night like it was just yesterday and not ten years ago. “Baby,” he says, and I push away from him a bit.

“I remember the rain. It’s funny, right? But I walked in after school, and my mother was passed out drunk on the dirty couch. I looked down and walked back to my room, locking the door after me.

“Early that night when I lay in bed listening to the howling wind outside, the handle turning made me look at my closed door, then the creaking of the door opening and there stood Brian. His yellow shirt, stained brown down the front. His light blue jeans, looking yellow from the dirt. ‘I sent your mother to the store,’ he said, coming into my room, and I remember my heart beat picking up a bit, then when he continued to advance, it got so fast, I heard it echoing in my ear,” I tell him, the tears now falling. “My mouth was dry, so dry it was hard to swallow. Almost as if I had cotton balls stuck in it. ‘Figured it would give us a chance to get closer.’” He came in, and my blood ran cold. Everything in me almost seized up. I was under my covers, dressed in black leggings and a thick sweater with Max’s name on it, socks pulled up on my leggings. I was dressed to my neck, and my body started shivering.” I shake my head, continuing, “It happened so fast, yet in slow motion. I saw him lunge for me, landing on me, the smell of him making me gag. One hand trying to grab my hands to stop me from punching him while the other hand grabbed my vagina and squeezed it, making me yelp out in pain. “‘Bitch,’” he hissed out when one of my knees came up, connecting with his leg and giving him a charley horse. I didn’t stop there; it took everything in me—all one hundred and five pounds—to fight off this man. ‘Teasing me all the time with your perky tits.”’ He kept slurring his words. He tried to kiss me, and I tried to head butt him. The pain made me see stars and stop fighting for a second, and it was the second he needed to get the upper hand. His hand went under my shirt, and the minute his skin came in contact with me, I just went ballistic. I bucked up, surprising him, and then brought my knee up again, and this time, I hit him right in the balls. He rolled over, groaning and holding his family jewels, and I rolled off the other side of the bed. Getting to my feet, I slipped on the flimsy non-grip carpet that was next to my bed. I grabbed my bag and ran for the front door. Grabbing my shoes and running from the house, I heard him yelling for me. I went left instead of going my usual right and hid in the alley a block from my house while I put on the Converse I had grabbed on the way out.”

“Oh my god,” he whispers.

“I made my way to Max’s secret home; he bought it after he signed his first contract, and no one but me knew where it was. He opened the door, shocked to see me. He didn’t have to ask me anything because I just collapsed in his arms as I sobbed, the fear finally leaving my body. He spent the night in jail after our mother called the cops on him for beating Brian up. He saved me, then and after,” I tell him. “He went to Doug, and he pulled strings to get me to live with Max where he put me through school and paid for everything that I could ever need. Hockey got him out of the hellhole, and he made sure my brains got me out.”

He pushes the hair from around my face. “You are so beautiful; you take my breath away,” he says. “From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were an angel, and this just showed me how right I was.”

“Zack,” I whisper, and then he leans closer.

“You have a light in you that shines so brightly it can’t be dimmed,” he says and then takes my face in his hand, and his lips find mine.