Second Chance(61)

“Do you want to see her?” The male nurse asked Cass.

Cass shrugged, disdain written on every feature. “I guess I’ll hear what she has to say.”

“Okay then. We’ll make an exception.” The nurse stood aside and waved Molly through. “But just for a few minutes.”

They walked back to Cass’s bed where she sat on the edge of it with Nate and Jack on either side of her. “Molly. This is my dad, and this is his boyfriend.” Despite everything, Nate felt a rush of happiness at the description. He wished it was totally accurate.

“So, what’s this about?” he asked, even though he already had a good idea.

Molly’s eyes filled with tears again as she stood awkwardly in front of them. She wrung her hands together. “I’m so, so sorry,” she said, voice trembling. “But this was all my fault. I did a really awful thing and I wish I hadn’t. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

So the rumours were right then. Anger simmered in Nate’s gut again, but a colder, calmer anger now. He was glad to be getting some answers, and even though he was furious with Molly, he had to admire her courage at coming to see them.

“What do you mean?” Cass asked.

“I put something in your drink. But it wasn’t meant for you—I know that doesn’t make it any better—but I thought it was Adam’s drink. I was hurt and angry and I wanted to get back at him. I didn’t know it would be that bad. I just wanted him to feel sick and dizzy, maybe make a twat of himself at the party. I had no idea it was so dangerous. Please believe me. I would never have done it if I’d known it might make someone end up in hospital. I’m so sorry, Cass.”

“You gave me ketamine.” Cass’s voice was like ice. “They could tell from the tests.”

“Yes.” Molly’s voice was tiny now and the tears were overflowing, spilling down her cheeks in wet tracks. She sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “I was so stupid.” She turned to Nate then, voice pleading. “Don’t tell the police. Please don’t. I’ll never do anything like this again. It was one stupid mistake, but if you tell them it could ruin my life. I want to study law at university. I can’t have a criminal record.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you deliberately drugged someone,” Nate said, glaring at her.

“Like I said, it was stupid. I didn’t plan it. I was drunk, and someone else at the party offered the stuff to me. I didn’t fancy taking it, and I put it in the drink I thought was Adam’s on an impulse. I know what I did was wrong—really wrong—but it wasn’t premeditated. I messed up. Please, Mr Harris, please don’t report me.”

The bearded nurse approached them. “The doctor’s coming to see Cass in a minute.” He addressed Molly directly. “You have to go.” The tone of his voice suggested that he’d overheard their conversation and had zero sympathy for her.

Molly wiped her eyes. “Okay. Thank you for letting me in.” Fixing her gaze on Nate, she said again, “I’m so sorry. But please, please don’t press charges.”

“I’ll think about it,” Nate said. Even if he decided to let this pass, he wasn’t going to let Molly off too easily. She could stew for a while.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Cass,” Molly said. “Truly. I never meant to hurt you.”

Once she was gone, ushered out by the nurse, Nate said to Cass, “What do you reckon? This isn’t only my decision. Do you want to tell the police?”

Cass was silent for a long time, before finally saying, “No. I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” Nate asked. “She hurt you, Cass. And it could have been so much worse.”

“But she didn’t mean to. I believe her on that. And I think it was pretty big of her to come and apologise. She didn’t have to admit to it, did she?”

“That’s true,” Jack said. He looked across at Nate, expression earnest. “It would have been hard to prove anything. If she hadn’t confessed we’d never have known for sure what happened. I doubt the police would have got to the bottom of it even if we had reported it.”

Jack’s use of the word we, jumped out at Nate, but he didn’t comment on it. It filled him with a sense of warm satisfaction. If Jack was starting to think of them as a unit, maybe Nate’s hopes weren’t so crazy after all. Maybe it really was possible for them to turn this into something more serious, something more permanent.

“Her apology sounded genuine,” Nate admitted. “I think she probably scared herself witless last night when she saw the results of her idiotic decision. Maybe that’s punishment enough.”

“I don’t want to involve the police anyway. It would be a lot of extra hassle and drama and I just want to get back to normal,” Cass said. “I thought I was done with drama when we moved here.”

Nate smiled, squeezing her hand. “Me too. But at least the drama wasn’t of your own making this time. And Cass, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you immediately.”

“It’s okay.” Cass leaned her head on his shoulder. Nate put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug. She turned into it, burying her face in his shoulder. “I love you, Dad.” Her voice was muffled. An invisible hand wrapped around Nate’s heart and squeezed. He looked at Jack over the top of Cass’s head and their gazes locked. Jack gave him a small smile, and the hand around Nate’s heart squeezed a little more tightly.