The Redo (Winslow Brothers #4) (27)

I smile glancingly, knowing that staying in the good graces of the nursing staff in the hospital is about the smartest thing you can do, but mostly focus on making my way to Maria and the baby.

The door is cracked as I step up to it, the tiniest sliver of light from the hallway cutting into the darkness of the entry hallway. I push it open gently, careful to be quiet, and pause at the corner by the bathroom when I see that both Maria and the baby have fallen fast asleep.

It’s a sweet vision, to be honest, and I refuse to be the bastard who wakes them up.

Backing out slowly, I set the car seat and bag on the chair by the door and head back toward the nurses station. Several of them are milling around as they scarf down their midnight snacks, so I belly up to the counter and raise a finger to get their attention.

“Yes, sweetie?” the one with hot-pink scrubs and barely graying hair asks me with a wink.

“I was just wondering if one of you could point me in the direction of the gift shop. I thought I might pick up a few things while mom and baby are resting.”

“Sure, sugar,” offers another nurse, this one older and hungrier, if you know what I mean. Maybe she can smell the singledom on me, but something about a woman trying to pick me up in the maternity ward of a hospital when they know I arrived here with another woman seems wrong. “Want me to show you? I have a little break.”

I smile broadly, keeping the tone light and easy. “Thanks for the offer, but I think directions will do just fine.” She frowns a little, and I cock my head to the side slightly. “I’ll be sure to have them call up here for you if I need help carrying stuff, though.”

She laughs at that, as do the others, and the easiness of casual acquaintances washes back in.

“You just have to take the elevator back to the bottom floor and then follow the signs toward the cafeteria. The gift shop is right across from it and open twenty-four hours, so you’re in luck.”

“Great,” I reply with a slap of my hand on the counter. “I appreciate it.”

Turning back for the elevators, I push the call button, climb aboard, and make my way back down to the ground floor.

The security guard’s eyebrows rise when he sees me exiting so soon, and I shrug with a grin in an effort not to let him down. “They’re sleeping. Figured I’d get some food and reinforcements.”

“Good thinking.”

My chest pings a little with memories of how I’d intended my life to go. How I’d imagined I’d be married young with kids and a house and, frankly, a different life entirely. Instead, I’m in my forties, single, and pretending to be the father of a kid who belongs to a woman I’ve barely seen in the last two decades.

Yeah, but she’s not just any woman. It’s Maria.

“Don’t worry, sir.” The man tries to reassure me about the things he thinks he knows. “You’re gonna be good at this.”

“Thanks,” I murmur, my enthusiasm slightly muted by the realization that I’m just playing house rather than making it.

“You bet. Enjoy the quiet time while you can.”

I chuckle a little and give him a jerk of my chin before making my way down the hall. A blue stripe runs along the middle of the wall the entire way, and I’m sure it means something to someone. To me, though, it just reminds me of high school—of high school with Maria.

Our school colors were blue and gold, and our mascot was a strong and wild mustang. Maria cheered at all my football games, and even now, after all these years, I can remember the way her legs looked in that bright-blue uniform, stretched out inside the passenger seat of my car.

She was special, even then, and all the guys in our school knew it, including me. Normally, as a junior guy with the prospects I had, I never would have dreamed of dating a girl two years younger than me. The freshmen were practically considered an entirely different class of humans at the time. But not Maria Baros.

She was in a class of her own. Vibrant, beautiful, kind—she drew people to her like a magnet. I can hardly remember a time that I didn’t find her deeply enveloped in the grasp of someone else, someone desperate to talk to her, desperate to share even just a minute of her time between classes.

She loved to laugh, and she did it often, whether she was the one telling the joke or not. She made people feel good about themselves and about life, and I found myself ninety percent happier any time I was around her.

Clearly, only a dumb shit eighteen-year-old would let a girl like that go.

The gift shop is obvious once I reach the end of the hall and turn the corner, though at this hour, it looks mostly deserted. Lights shine on big blue and pink teddy bears, and balloons billow in the gentle breeze of the air conditioning.

A young brunette girl sits behind the counter playing on her phone, and for the briefest of moments, I almost think she’s the fifteen-year-old Maria of my memories, it all feels so fresh.

She stands up and smiles, setting her phone down on the counter when she notices my presence.

I glance around the store and then back to her, and her eyes widen in question. “Something in particular you’re looking for?”

“Something that won’t be super annoying for a new mom with a newborn.”

She laughs. “I don’t know that such a thing exists. From what I hear, the sleep deprivation is hell.”

“Okay,” I say through a soft chuckle. “Something she’ll at least appreciate, then?”