Unbreak My Heart (Strawberry Inn Book #4)

Chapter 21

ELIZABETH

I was walking on air lately and it was all because of Dalton. Maybe it was because we were both more mature and at a better place in our lives, but dating him was so different from any other dating experience I had before. The mental list of reasons I didn’t want to date anybody was irrelevant because he showed me that not all men were like that. Slowly, but surely, he was restoring my faith in love. Being around the rest of his friends, who were now my friends, also helped. They were all in such loving relationships, well Emory was single and going through her own thing, but I was even starting to believe that she’d end up finding somebody as well.

We waited about a week after our night out to tell the girls that we were dating. Dalton took Katie to her favorite restaurant and brought the topic up gently. He said that she was a bit quiet after he told her, but she didn’t say anything negative about us dating. When they got home that evening, I asked him if I could talk to her. I brought over ice cream and we sat in her room and talked about what it meant for her dad and me to be dating. Katie was such a sweet girl; even though she never knew her mom, she still loved her.

Brandi would be so proud of her daughter. I didn’t know what it was like to lose a parent, but I figured that one of her biggest worries was that I would try to replace her mom. I ensured she knew that even if I was with her dad, her mom was still always her mom. While I didn’t want to promise too much, Dalton and I were just dating, after all, I did tell her that as long as she was Eva’s best friend, I would be there for her. I meant every bit of it. Even if Dalton and I didn’t, I’d still be there for Katie if she needed something from me.

Eva, on the other hand, was over the moon excited when I told her. She said she had asked Santa for Dalton to be my boyfriend. While I insisted that it had nothing to do with Santa or Christmas magic, she was certain that was the reason we decided to date. Whatever made her happy, I guess. Speaking of Christmas, Eva and I joined Dalton and Katie to visit Dalton’s parents on Christmas Eve. Early on Christmas morning, we headed to their place to watch the girls open gifts. My heart burst with happiness being together. It felt like this was the family I was supposed to have. That we were always meant to be together.

The girls had been back to school after Winter Break for about two weeks now and I was just as busy as I had always been at work. Dalton was finishing up his physical therapy and looking forward to reporting back to work soon. He was going to be on desk duty until he could pass the test required to return to active duty, but he was chomping at the bit to get back to work. I couldn’t blame him, I would be feeling the same way if I were him. He worked so hard to be Harrison’s right-hand man. 

Today was another busy day with back-to-back appointments. I barely had time to think, much less take a break. My 11:00 am patient had just left and I was quickly eating half a ham sandwich before my noon appointment was ready when my cell phone rang. It was the school calling and I sighed. The last thing I needed was for Eva to be sick. I couldn’t cancel my afternoon appointments and I was already mentally scrambling when I answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Good afternoon is this Ms.Norton?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“Ms. Norton, my name is Gerald Casper, the principal at Strawberry Elementary School. I know it is in the middle of the workday, but we have an emergency here and we need you to come down to the school.”

“An emergency?” Just hearing that word takes the air from my lungs. This is clearly more than just an upset stomach or fever. “What is the emergency, Mr. Casper? What is going on with my daughter?”