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“Where’s Mimi?” He frowned at her. “Why are you here?”
It was so very tempting to pour the remaining juice over his head. “I have no idea. I’m here because I stopped to talk to your mom. She was tired and needed a break. Obviously, your fiancée wasn’t available.”
She glared at him for a long moment. “I’ll leave as soon as your mother gets here. The only reason I don’t leave now is because I promised to stay and watch you. She treats you like a child, which explains a lot.”
Other than a one-shoulder shrug, Tobias didn’t react to her statement. She dug out her book and read while he ate.
“I need to use the bathroom.”
“I’m not helping you with that.” Tori went to the bed and pushed the button. When the nurse’s voice came over the intercom, she announced, “Your patient wants to poop.”
“I didn’t say that,” Tobias argued. “That was uncalled for.”
“You do though, don’t you?” Tori grinned.
An hour later, they’d argued about several topics. The chair was comfortable and if not for spatting with Tobias, she would have fallen asleep.
Her phone dinged. “Your mother is delayed. She fell asleep and just now woke up.” Tori frowned at the phone. “I’m going to text Allison and Eric. Maybe one of them can come and watch her baby.”
“I can be left alone,” he said, but it wasn’t convincing. It was obvious being in a hospital was affecting him. Tobias was normally fiercely independent. This needy side of him was nothing she’d ever experienced.
“You don’t like hospitals.” It was a statement, but when she uttered it, his gaze moved to hers and she saw fear. “Have you been hospitalized before?”
“No. I spent enough time in one when Luke was injured though.” Tobias’ hazel gaze moved over the room. “I hate the idea of a hospital. People come here to die.”
Tori nodded. “We all have to go sometime.”
“I know,” Tobias replied. “I can’t be here. It’s too much like when Luke almost died. And those days after Taylor got shot. He was hospitalized forever.”
“Yeah. You came home on leave for that.” She remembered how no one expected Taylor to survive the multiple gunshots. “But you’re okay and will be fine.”
“I wish things were different,” Tobias muttered and Tori instinctively knew they no longer spoke about hospitals and his injuries.
“They are what they are.”
He lifted the cup of juice and drank through a straw. “If I could change anything, I would change how much I fucking love you.”
Tori’s eyes flew wide and she inhaled sharply. “Don’t say that. I don’t want to hear that. You know damned well it won’t solve anything.”
Pushing a button, he positioned the bed so that he sat up straighter. “Do I? Will I ever understand how someone could dump a guy that heads out to war? Tell me one day you love me and the next its goodbye.”
Nearing the bed, Tori lowered her voice to a whisper. “I begged you not to join the military. For days, I sobbed and pleaded that you stay with me. But you wouldn’t hear it. You refused to listen to my fears and how much I needed you to stay.”
“I had to go. My brother was gone and I couldn’t handle that I wasn’t with him. That he was in danger overseas while I stayed back.”
Tori huffed. “What about me? You could just turn your back and leave me?” Her eyes misted as angry tears surfaced. “Did you even think about how it affected me?”
“What the fuck, Tori? You were here, safe at home. You had family and friends. You could’ve waited for me.”
She gulped back a sob. “I couldn’t handle it alone. I couldn’t.”
“That makes no damned sense. Why don’t you just admit you were being a spoiled little brat?”
“Don’t you call me that!” Her rage boiled just below the surface. “You don’t know anything.”
There was fury in his gaze. Years of resentment shot at her. Tori figured it matched her own. “Why don’t you enlighten me then?”
“You don’t want to know. You really don’t.”
