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“It’s not. Brock would have done anything for you.”
I jerked back, looking into his eyes. “He almost died because of me. That’s not right. That’s not normal!”
“Shh,” he said, his eyes flicking to the monitor. “He didn’t almost die because of you. He almost died for you. There’s a difference.”
I huffed out a laugh, stepping away from him as I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “Who does that? I mean, who puts his life on the line for a woman who?—”
A woman who doesn’t deserve it.
Deep down inside, I knew the thought was true. I was completely unworthy of any man dying for me. And the fact that he risked his life just crushed me.
“Cash, I never deserved?—”
“You don’t get to decide who he risks his life for,” he snapped. “He loves you, no matter what you feel for him. And that love made you worth dying for—worth giving up everything to protect you. You don’t get to diminish his sacrifice.”
“That’s not what?—”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing.” He stepped back, running his hand over his jaw in frustration. “That man loves you. Respect him enough to realize that he would give up his whole world for you.”
I couldn’t even fathom what that meant. I’d never—not once in my life—felt that way about another person.
I’d never had anyone feel that way about me.
But Cash was right. I couldn’t sit back and cry about how unworthy I was when he was lying in this bed, still fighting for his life. I turned away from Cash, unable to look him in the eye after he scolded me. Rightly so.
My hand slid over Brock’s fingers, squeezing them gently in my hand. Reluctantly, I tore my gaze from our joined hands and studied his face. This man loved me. Truly loved me. And I loved him. But where had that gotten either of us? It wasn’t fair. Life shouldn’t be this hard.
“I need a minute,” I said, stepping away from Brock. My fingers slipped from his and I turned, walking out of the room. Just outside the door, I leaned against the wall and sucked in a deep breath. My hands were shaking and my heart thumped erratically in my chest. I felt like I was about to have a heart attack. How did someone survive a situation like this? It was too painful to look at him, knowing he could still die.
“Wren?”
I opened my eyes and nearly sobbed at the sight of my father. I didn’t think as I threw myself into his arms. But he didn’t hold me back like I expected. In fact, his stiff body reminded me of the man he was. He would never be able to show me love the way I’d come to know. He was able to shut his emotions down and put them in a box. I wished I could go back in time and be the woman I used to be, when I didn’t let anything get to me.
But that time had come and gone.
“Wren,” my father sighed. “I was afraid this was going to happen.”
I untangled my arms from around his neck and stepped away, giving him the space he craved. “That he would be shot?”
“No, that you would fall in love someday.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I chuckled.
“Isn’t it?” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he watched me. “Walk with me.”
I did as he asked, walking toward the exit of the ICU. “I never told you about the woman I fell in love with a long time ago.”
His words took me by surprise, nearly shocking the hell out of me. “You were in love with Mom?”
He shook his head. “Not your mother. Her name was Sarah. She was beautiful, young, and vivacious. She was a total ballbuster,” he chuckled. He pressed the button for the doors to open and we stepped through, heading down a long hallway. “I knew the moment I saw her that I would love her forever.”
Talk about being thrown for a loop. Never in my life would I have guessed that my father would fall for anyone. Let alone call someone a ballbuster. But I was too eager to hear his words to interrupt him.
“She was poor and she didn’t want anything to do with my money. So, we would eat at the local diner and go to drive-ins instead of going to the fancy restaurants I could afford. They were happy times.”
“What happened?” I asked, completely enthralled by his story.
“She left me.”
