Page 136 of Learn Your Lesson

“How you doing, Pumpkin?”

My throat was raw when I spoke, but it seemed as though hearing my voice gave my daughter even more strength.

“I’m okay, Daddy,” she assured me. “I’m strong.”

“Yes, you are,” I agreed on a weak smile. “Daddy’s here, okay?”

I reached behind me, grabbing her little hand in mine and holding tight. I didn’t let go the entire way to the hospital.

And my eyes never left Chloe.

Need You

Chloe

I felt like a rag doll that had been dragged behind a truck and flung into a raging ravine by the time I was sneaking out of Ava’s room that night.

The adrenaline that had kept me alert for hours had long crashed, and I felt the remnants of it tingling beneath my skin as I carefully shut her bedroom door and tiptoed down the hall.

A heavy sigh filled with relief left my chest as I descended the stairs, running a hand back through my messy hair.

As I expected, it was a bad sprain. My guess was that she’d rolled that ankle when she came down on it. The doctor gave us a prescription for a low dose of ibuprofen and sent us home with the usual orders: rest, ice, elevate.

Ava had been an absolute trooper. In fact, by the time we left the ER, she was making the nurses laugh, happily accepting treats as her father handled the outtakepaperwork and pulled the SUV around to pick us up at the door.

The media had caught wind of the situation — which was supremely shitty, because that meant someone at the hospital had leaked it. When it was time to leave, there were reporters lined up and wanting to interview Will, to know what happened and have it aired on the evening news.

He had handled it like a pro, shielding both Ava and me from view as the camera shutters flashed. It was a stark contrast to how he’d been at the park. There, I knew he’d been in shock. But once we were on our way to the hospital, he came back to himself, back to the man with a plan.

Though he’d been silent most of the evening.

The media, blessedly, didn’t follow us home. Once we were here, Ava had wanted a bath and a book. Now she was passed out, holding tight to her favorite stuffed fish and gently snoring.

What a week it had been.

Between the chaos today and the absolute mess of emotions I’d lived in since the night with Will, I was so strung out I wasn’t sure I even qualified as human anymore.

There was no way around the truth.

He’d hurt me.

When I’d asked him to stay, when he’d thrown our arrangement in my face, asking if I could stillhandle itlike I was losing control…

It was like having the warnings of my matriarchy thrown right in my stupid face.

I couldn’t look at him after that, not without my stomach bottoming out and my heart threatening to seize in my chest. He had to have known I was already hurtingthat night, that I’d needed him. We’d found escape in each other. We’d found a release.

But I’d needed him to stay.

And he didn’t.

I didn’t know how to handle it, didn’t know what to do.Reddithad been no help. All they’d done was berate me for being stupid, saying how I’d failed at fucking without feelings.

They were right.

I’d deleted all my posts, deleted my username, and pulled up the group text with the girls. I’d typed everything out — the truth — but in the end, I deleted it all.

I’d never felt so alone.