That Pivotal Moment

Chapter 8

Gabby flew out of my room faster than I could blink. The only additional thing she said was a quiet "Excuse me" as she sped past my mother down the hall. When she left, I managed to make it to my bed and sat on the side. I closed my eyes for a second as I remembered the feel of her soft mouth. Not to mention the way she responded to me. I could feel her need when she fisted my shirt and deepened my kiss. And I can't forget that soft little moan she did; which I still don't think she realized.

My mind was brought back to the present as I heard my mom walk into my room again.

She smiled at me as she pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. "She's a pretty girl, Hayden."

Pretty was an understatement. "What's up, Mom?"

She got a weird expression on her face. Whatever she was going to tell me, it wasn't good. "I know your father hasn't been by. I told him numerous times to come see you."

When she didn't say anything else, I said, "I know, mom. It's okay. I'll talk to him when I go home."

She looked away from me then and I felt a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. "He won't be there, Hayden. We got into an argument."

"Why? An argument about what?"

She met my gaze as she said, "It's nothing for you to worry about. It's between me and him."

I wanted to press her for more information but when my mom got that look on her face she wasn't going to budge. "I'm sorry, Mom."

She rose from her chair and came to give me a hug. "You have nothing to be sorry about. As I said, it's between me and him. You just need to focus on getting better."

When I didn't say anything, she added, "She seems more than just a girl who witnessed the incident, Hayden."

I didn't know what she was exactly. I just knew she was a lot more than just a girl. "She's not into me, Mom."

"She didn't seem like a girl uninterested."

"Even if she is interested, she made it clear that it's not going anywhere."

Her gaze softened as she said, "Hayden, there are some that are out of our control."

She kissed me on the cheek before leaving me in the room. I thought about what she said and only one thing came to my mind. That it really was my fault that my dad left. I know she said otherwise, but I knew better. He hasn't come by to see me since my injury. He hasn't called. Radio silence. To him, I didn't have my priorities straight when I developed an interest in Alex and Gabby which led to the fight that destroyed my, no his, dream blah, blah, blah. I was fucking tired of hearing about his stupid dream. This was my life I was living, and it took me 15 years to finally think about what I wanted.

I folded my arms as I remembered Gabby's question: "What is your dream?" She had asked. She was the first person to ever ask me that. As I thought about it, you can have more than one dream. Right now, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life as far as a career. But the one dream I was going to focus on was making Gabby Adamson mine.

***

It has been two days since my mom told me about the argument with my dad. She's been giving me a little space and I appreciated that. Gabby was also nowhere to be seen. I wanted to get out of this fucking hospital. It was like an antiseptic jail cell.

I was supposed to be doing rehab in the pool with Ashley today, but she had a family emergency and had to reschedule. Which left me here in my hospital bed. Trapped again.

"What are you doing in here?"

I stopped flipping through channels when I heard Gabby's voice and turned to look at her. God, she was beautiful. She was wearing a black Kansas shirt with black jeans and her signature converse. Her hair was up in a ponytail and I had to admit, I liked it that way. If it was out of her face, so I could see those eyes that always pull me in. Considering the flight risk that she was, I went with a safe, "Um, this is my room. What are you doing in here?"