Succeeding Love

Texts And Surprises

Feighlynn

“This paper explains the dos and don’ts with his neck brace, and this one is for his cast. Follow up with his regular doctor for pain.” The nurse passed me the papers for Nick’s discharge.

I leafed through them, looking for the prescriptions, so I could drop those off on the way back to his condo.

What a mess.

I looked back to narrow my eyes at Nick, tired of his crap. He was staring out the window with an empty look in his eyes.

This was in part my fault too, which is the only reason I stayed and agreed to help him get back to his apartment. If I had just gone to bed, or if I’d never sent Vin home to begin with, then I never would have been on my phone to make such a monumental mistake.

The text I sent while I was in a sleepy haze was accidentally sent to my ex. Not Vin, whom I had intended it for.

I still can’t believe I did that. While I was deleting and retyping text after text, exiting out of my phone just to open it again, I ended up opening a text from Nick, thinking it was Vin.

Nick texted me almost the same thing Vin had. “ I’m so sorry.” It was the top text in my inbox, and since the message was so similar to Vin’s, I messed up. When I typed out and sent “ I miss you ,” it went to Nick. Then Nick, being the idiot he was, decided that meant he needed to come over.

He never even made it out of his parking spot. Nick put his car into drive instead of reverse, then slammed into the concrete wall in front of him.

The security guard that heard the crash came to find an inebriated Nick passed out behind the wheel. He called an ambulance to take him to the hospital, where he was treated for a fractured wrist and a sprained neck.

He was cognitive when I got to the emergency room, and I could see the shame clearly in his expression upon seeing me. But there was also expectation and hope.

When I asked him what he was doing, why the hell would he try driving that drunk? That was when he told me about the texts.

I still can’t believe it. My sleepy mistake caused him to nearly kill himself.

“I’ll get a wheelchair to escort you both out,” the nurse said, eyeing the two of us cautiously. The hospital staff caught on quickly to our strained relationship. Especially after the yelling match we had when I clarified the text was not meant for him.

“I can walk,” Nick muttered, swinging his legs from the bed.

“Mr. Micheals, I would advise you to-”

“I said I could do it,” he snapped sharply.

The nurse pursed her lips and nodded. I pinched the bridge of my nose, then muttered an apology. She smiled tightly before wishing us luck and walking off.

Standing back, I watched Nick grimace while taking a shaky step on his own.

“Do you need help?”

“No,” he grumbled, straightening his back as he took another step, more steadily than the first.

With the cast on his wrist and the brace on his neck, he couldn’t help but to shake my head at how stubborn he looked. If he wanted to struggle, so be it.

Even though that was my initial thought, about halfway down the hall, I couldn’t take watching him struggle any longer.

“Stop.” I held his good arm. “I’m not watching you waddle like a duck all the way to the car. I’m getting a wheelchair.”

“I don’t need it,” he protested through gritted teeth.

“I don’t care what you think you need. Sit your stubborn butt right there in that chair and wait for me. I’ll be right back.”

“Fay, I’m fine. I-”

“Sit!” I raised my voice, not willing to argue any further.

His frown deepened, but he listened. He winced and groaned his whole way down to the seat on the bench. I walked off back to the nurses’ desk to ask the nurse from before for that wheelchair.

When I had him in it, no longer protesting despite the sour look on his face, the nurse walked with us to the front of the hospital and waited with Nick while I pulled my car up to the front doors.

Nick stubbornly stood before the nurse could help him, causing both the nurse and me to shake our heads, but neither of us stopped him. It wasn’t worth the argument.

“Thank you,” I told her once he was buckled in my passenger seat.

She rubbed my shoulder sympathetically. “You’re a better woman than me. I would have left my ex-husband on the curb.”

I snorted, giving her a grateful smile for the humor that I much needed.

Leaving Nick on the curb was an enticing thought, but I felt responsible. I also didn’t want to explain to my kids later why I abandoned their father in his time of need. I had already called Nick’s mom, and she was on her way here to take care of him while he recovered. The least I could do was help him get home.

“Just drop me off in front of the condo,” Nick grumbled as soon as I got in the driver’s seat. “I can get up to my apartment on my own.”

“I have to drop your scripts off at the pharmacy and then clear out all the alcohol from your place, so no can do.”

“I’m not a child, Fay,” he said coldly.

“No, but my babies will not be going back to your place unless I know you’re sober. If you don’t want me to ransack your liquor cabinet, fine. Jessie and Preston can see you at my sister’s on the weekends from now on.”

“That’s not fair. We have orders in place.”

I lifted my brow. “Do you want to go back to court? Because I won’t be as compliant this time. Not with my kids, Nick. Do you even remember last night? How drunk you were when I dragged you home? They saw that, Nick. Jessie saw that! If I had left them at your house last night, Jessie might have tried to go with you. How would you feel if she was the one in a neck brace and cast right now?”

He was quiet for a long time, his face full of guilt at the thought. I drove to the pharmacy near his condo, and when I was almost there, he finally spoke again.

“Just drop me off, Fay. Please. My mom can take care of everything else. Just, please, drop me off. I can get up to my place on my own.”

“Not without your keys, you can’t. I have those in my bag, so you’re just going to have to wait.” I parked, then grabbed my purse, tapping it smugly before putting it over my shoulder. “Hold tight. I’ll be right back.”

He huffed, looking away. “You used to be sweet all the time. You changed.”

I wanted to laugh out loud. “You’ve given me little reason to be sweet, Nick.” I shut the door, then walked off in a huffy mood.

I would love to just drop Nick off, but I don’t trust him not to go right back into his place and drink himself into oblivion again. I know Jessie, and she’s going to want to see her dad again soon. She’s already texted me asking where I was. Once I tell her what happened to her dad, she’ll want to go back to his place.

While waiting in the drop-off line, I pulled out my phone, going to text Preston to let him know we were out of the ER. Instead, my heart sped up when I saw a missed call and a text from Vin.

My Hero:| Call me when you can. I really need to talk to you.

The urge to call him now crept up on me. With Nick outside and the way Vin reacted last night to my ex, I decided against it. I wanted to talk to him. Soon. I just didn’t want the first time we talked about what happened last night to be while I was dealing with another Nick situation.

I’ll rush through getting Nick taken care of, then I’ll just go see Vin in person. It’d be better to explain everything and apologize face to face.

Vin was on my anxious mind as I finished getting the script dropped off and took Nick back to his condo building. I wanted to hurry and get home now.

I used Nick’s key card to get into the parking garage, parking in the spot he had reserved for Preston. His car had been towed from the garage, but there were still broken car part bits and glass from the headlights everywhere, along with paint smears and crash marks on the concrete wall.

Nick’s eyes looked shocked at how back the damage was. I chose not to say anything, even though it made me feel sick seeing the damage. If I hadn’t taken Nick home, my kids could have been there with him when this happened.

I tried to help Nick walk to the elevator, but he insisted he was fine on his own. I didn’t argue. It was a short walk and then a quick elevator ride up.

The elevator ride was quiet, just like the drive from the pharmacy to the parking garage. Nick looked all sour and pained while I was busy thinking about Vin and what to say to him when we met. A word slip-up last night when I blurted out that Nick followed me into the bathroom wouldn’t be wise. I needed to watch my speech for once.

When we got out of the elevators, I could tell that Nick was already in a lot of pain. The nurse said that his body would be sore for a while. His body locked up from the shock of the impact. His back was probably killing him.

I grabbed his elbow and helped support him out of the elevator, and he actually accepted my help. His pain must be greater than his stubbornness.

Walking him back to his room, I noticed the open bottle and empty glass on the kitchen counter. There was another on his bedside table, only no glass. He was just drinking it from the bottle.

Nick gritted his teeth through the pain while I helped him into bed, then noticed where I was staring.

“That’s expensive.” Nick glared at me as I lifted the bottle off the bedside table.

“I’ll reimburse you,” I muttered, walking with it to the kitchen to dump it.

I tossed the now empty bottle in the trash in the kitchen, then dumped the other bottle. I checked every cabinet, even the drawers and the freezer, but found no other bottles. His fridge was well stocked with foods Jessie and Preston like, which softened my disposition, but only a little. He still was the reason last night was such a crap fest.

Sighing, I walked back to his room. “Are there any other bottles?”

Nick was staring at those pictures on his nightstand. I wanted to smash all of them last night, since many of them were just of him and me, but there were some precious ones of my babies too. He was torturing himself with those remnants of the past. Anyone could see that.

“No,” he said without looking up. “Just the one here and the one in the kitchen. Happy?”

“No,” I scoffed. “Nothing about the last fifteen hours has made me happy.”

He closed his eyes, turning his head away from the pictures. “I’m sorry, Fay. I didn’t mean to…. I mean…” He pressed his lips together, squeezing his eyes tighter together. When he opened them again, they were glassy and just swimming with emotions. “I can’t do this without you, Fay. I can’t. I’m trying, but I can’t. I fucked up, and don’t know how to fix it.”

I could feel his pain in every word. I heard the ache in his voice. There was a time that might have moved me. I may have felt sorry for him. But I was where he currently is a year ago. I was the one drowning in my loneliness and pain.

“You can’t fix this,” I whispered, sitting on the end of his bed. “Because there’s nothing there to fix. Not anymore. Not with me.”

I picked up a picture of me holding Jessie as a baby in the hospital. Preston was sitting beside me, staring at his sister. It was such a sweet moment. I remember when this picture was taken. I was so overcome with love for my babies, nothing else mattered. Not the pain, the labor, the months of discomfort. Holding my babies was worth all of it.

They were always worth it.

Handing the picture to Nick, I whispered, “They’re a different story. When you left me, they were what got me through it all. Focusing on them. You and I can never go back to what we once were. One piece of paper was enough to sever our ties to each other, but nothing can change the fact you are their dad. If you think you need to fix something, do it for them, if nothing else.”

Nick’s tears spilled over, so I rubbed his back to offer him the only comfort I was willing to give. He set his hand on top of mine on his shoulder, then lifted it to kiss my hand.

“I really am sorry, Fay. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”

“Me too,” I patted his cheek, avoiding a long cut near his nose. “I need to get home to the kids. Are you going to be okay until your mom comes?”

“I’ll manage.”

Smiling tightly, I smoothed my thumb over his cut cheek again. “Call me if you need anything. Preston will probably come by later with Jessie. I’ll send dinner with them.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Standing up, I squeezed his hand one last time before heading out. He needed rest, and I needed to make some apologies myself.

I didn’t want to live with regrets like Nick did. Surprisingly, I had none towards my ex. Well, except that text. But I had all kinds of regrets about how I handled things with Vin last night. I would not let things fester any longer.

I headed home, barely putting my car in park before jumping out to hurry to Vin’s house. I was bouncing on my feet as I knocked on the door, ready to jump in his arms and apologize until I ran out of breath when he answered.

As the door swung open, I smiled expectantly, but that smile slowly slipped off my face when I was met with a tall, brilliantly blonde woman with sultry eyes and tanned skin.

Leaning back, I checked to make sure I had the right house. Looking over the familiar shingles and brick, I definitely had Vin’s house.

“Hi?” the blonde woman looked at me curiously. “Can I help you?”

“Um, hi? Is… Is Vin here?”

“Vin?” she tilted her head to the side.

“Who is it, dear?” I heard Velma’s voice.

I let out an anxious breath, feeling reassured I had the right house. Vin’s mom just had company. Really pretty company, but this was definitely the right house. I had my doubts for a second, thinking I had gone crazy and driven to the wrong house.

“Oh,” Velma smiled widely when she saw me. “Feighlynn! What a pleasant surprise. Have you met my son, Kevin’s girlfriend? This is Mindy.”

Kevin’s girlfriend?

My heart dropped to my stomach and my body broke out in a cold sweat.

The beautiful woman smiled, looking relaxed and not correcting Velma at all. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”