Park Avenue Prince(63)

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” my mother asked, holding out a cup of water.

I shook my head. “I’m fine. Where’s Sam?”

My mother glanced at my father on the other side of the bed. He patted my hand. “Just relax.”

“I’m perfectly relaxed. The drugs are taking care of that. Where’s Sam?”

“I don’t know, honey,” my mother said.

He was here; I remembered from before they reset my leg. “Harper?” I asked. “Is he hurt?” She was sitting on a chair by the window, playing with her phone.

She looked up at me and put her cell down. “No. Not at all. I think he went to collect something. I’m not sure. I’ll try to call him.” She stood up and left the room.

Where would he be? The Sam Shaw I knew would want to be right by my side when I woke.

“How are you feeling, darling?” my mother asked me.

“I’m fine, Mom.”

“You’re not fine. We were very worried.”

“I was lucky,” I said. When I was coming back from the anesthetic, I’d heard Harper say that if the car had stopped a few inches later, things would have been much worse.

But it hadn’t and they weren’t.

I had a broken leg that would heal.

The only thing wrong was the fact Sam wasn’t with me.

“Can someone give me my phone?” I asked, trying to move to sit myself up.

“Stay still,” my mom said. “I don’t know where it is. Harper’s gone to call him. You need to concentrate on getting better.”

No one was listening to me. I wanted Sam. “Will they let me go home tonight?” I didn’t like the thought of staying here overnight. Sam and I were supposed to be spending tonight in his apartment. The bed was arriving. Shit. The bed. Had Sam gone to take delivery? Surely he wouldn’t leave me like that. Where was he?

“I don’t think so. They want to keep you here for observation.”

“The nurse said they did a CT scan, so what’s the problem?”

Harper walked back into the room, her eyes glued to the floor.

“Did you speak to him? Where is he?” I asked.

She glanced at my parents and then back at me. Whatever it was that she had to say, she didn’t want to say it in front of my mom and dad.

“Dad, would you mind getting me a magazine or a book or something for me to read when you’re gone?”

“Of course, honey. Your mother and I will go do that now.”

My mom scowled at him. “I’ll stay here. You go.”

He pulled at her elbow, knowing that I wanted to speak to Harper in private. “No, come on, Cynthia. She’ll be fine here with Harper.”

My mother rolled her eyes but grabbed her purse. My dad winked at me. Thank you, I mouthed.

Harper continued to avoid my gaze as my mom and dad left the room, closing the door behind them. As soon as they were gone, I said, “You need to tell me what’s going on. Where’s Sam? Is he okay?”

Harper’s chest rose as she took a deep breath. She finally looked at me as she moved from the chair by the window to the one closer to my bed. “I don’t know, Grace. I really don’t. I’ve got Max trying to call him.”

“I don’t understand. He was here before, wasn’t he?” I was sure he’d been by my side before my leg had been reset. He’d kissed me on my forehead and held my hand and told me he loved me.

“Yeah, but when he’d seen you he told me that he had to leave.”

“Did he say when he was coming back?”

She shuffled her chair closer and clasped her hand over mine. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon. I think he’s feeling bad about the accident—guilty.”

Why would he be feeling bad? He hadn’t caused it. “It wasn’t his fault.”

“I know,” she said. “But you know how guys are. They like to think they control the universe.” She shrugged. “And they like to protect the people they love.”

And Sam only had Angie and me.

He was feeling bad, not guilty. The accident would have been a trigger for him, bringing back all the memories from when his parents died.

Shit. He would be hurting far more than I was. I needed to see him, to comfort him, make him feel better.

“His parents died in a car accident. It must have brought back some memories for him.” More memories. Connecticut had been hard enough. “Do you have my phone? I need to call him.”

“I don’t. Maybe Sam has it?”

“Harper, I need to see him. Tell him I’m okay. He’s hurting, and he doesn’t have anyone. I need to be there for him.” I needed to get discharged. I tried to pull myself up using the rails of the bed.

“What are you doing?” Harper asked.

“I need to find Sam.”

She stood up and pried my fingers off the bed. “Lie back. You’re not going anywhere. You’ve just been in a serious car accident and you should relax. Are you crazy?”

“Are you?” I asked her right back. “I love him, Harper. I need to find him.”

“He’ll be back. Just give him some time to cool off.”

Something deep in my gut told me that giving Sam time was the last thing I should be doing. If I knew Sam like I thought I did, he was shutting down. Shutting me out. He’d said he’d had no choice in how he felt about me, but what if the accident had changed all that?