Torin and Summer

Chapter 3 (Summer): Hi, Daddy!

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

I woke up from my nap and blinked to try to dispel the fogginess. As my brain started to function, I looked around the room to see if anyone was there. I had vague memories of Torin and...Bridgette being here. Was that right? Or had I hallucinated that? I don't know what sort of cocktail they were giving me through my IV, but it was some good shit.

A few minutes after I woke, Chris walked into my room. "Still not here for your sponge bath," he teased as I opened my mouth.

I squeezed my eyes shut in embarrassment. "I asked about that, didn't I?"

"Sure did. Right in front of your husband and his..."

"It's OK. You can say it. Girlfriend."

"Didn't seem like a girlfriend when I booted them out of your room. They were arguing outside in the hallway."

"Lover's quarrel," I grumbled.

Chris shook his head. "Not even close. My girlfriend and I occasionally argue, but it's never heated like this was. Your husband was hot. Really mad at her. Like I can't stand the sight of you mad."

Spill the tea, Chris. C'mon! Spill it! I need more dirt!

"He asked why the hell she was touching his arm so much and why the hell she even showed up here. Then he yelled at her for being a bitch to you. I wanted to high five him at that point." 

Chris fitted the blood pressure cuff on my arm, then put his stethoscope in place on my arm. When he finished and nodded in approval at my pressure, I looked up at him.

"Do you believe in love? Like real, lasting love?" I asked.

I sighed because I used to believe in it. Then I'd been shifted to third place behind Bridgette and her son by the man who'd promised to hold me before all others. LIAR!

"One hundred percent," Chris said with a secretive smile.

I pointed at him. "Spill it! What's with the smile?" 

Maybe whatever he was smiling about could distract me from feeling icky.

"I believe in love because I'm dating this incredible woman. Fallon was married before but her husband cheated on her with someone from their friend group and she was positive love was a joke. If you are reading this anywhere but wattpad, it's been stolen from groveltohea. Go to wattpad where you can read it for free. Like to the point she was never even going to date again, that's how hurt and disillusioned she was."

"Well, she clearly didn't stick with that," I smiled at him because even though I was getting fucked over in the love department, I could still feel happy for people who were winning.

"So, I figured I wasn't going to argue with her. Wasn't going to try to talk Fallon into anything. But I knew I wanted this woman in my life, and I was willing to show her I was serious. Told her fine, let's be friends and hang out. I'll be your safe space, your best friend, while we just have fun and you heal."

"You're a good guy, Chris," I said. "I promise to never bother you for a sponge bath again."

He grinned at me. "After about a year of being Fallon's friend, she leaned over one day when we were at the movies and told me she was on to my nefarious -- she actually used that word -- scheme and by the way, she liked me, too."

"Awwww!" I cooed at him, wondering why I felt worse today than yesterday. Maybe the drugs had worn off following the surgery. "That's so adorable and squishy!"

Chris blushed. "So that was about a year ago and now I'm getting ready to propose. I'm glad I didn't give up when she was pushing me away, and I'm even happier we had a year of friendship and then we had a year of dating. And now we can look forward to about sixty years of marriage when she says yes."

"That's so beautiful," I said and promptly burst into tears.

"My point --" Chris started to say, but I was not meant to hear what his point was. A rush of heat suffused my entire body, then I got sick and when Chris looked at my incision, he called the doctor right away.

Infections, especially nasty ones, can lengthen your hospital stay, not to mention make you feel as if you were never going to feel good again. For a few days, I was one sick puppy, not caring about anything, not eating and pushing the straw away only to find it coming back at me relentlessly until I would take a sip of water. Not even the hottest man in the world walking into my room with a sponge and a suggestive smile could have coaxed me out of my misery.

On day three, I opened my eyes, and I wasn't awash in fever dreams and foggy imaginings. Torin stood over my bed, his eyes concerned, one of his hands holding one of mine.

"Welcome back, Sum," he said softly. "You know who I am?"

"The cheating ass husband I'm divorcing," I murmured, proud that I knew the answer. I'd always been a gold star student.

The corners of his mouth turned down for a minute. 

"We'll talk about that later." He pressed a cool hand to my forehead. "Thank fuck. You're cool and the fever's finally broken. It's been a long, scary three days, Summer."

"Made even longer having to be away from your family, I'm sure."

"I'm not doing this when I'm so fucking happy to see your eyes clear, sweetheart. You were out of it. One day was touch and go, but they got the infection under control."

"Can I get out of the hospital?" Then it dawned on me that'd I'd maybe need a nurse to help for a day or two. All my friends worked, and with the way I was feeling, I figured I might need some help. Shannon had four little children so she couldn't help, nor would I ask her to.

"I need a nurse," I murmured, thinking out loud.

Torin immediately grabbed my nurse call button and pressed it. The disembodied voice asked how she could help.

"My wife is awake. I think her fever broke and she said she needs a nurse."

"At home," I corrected him. "I'll need a nurse at home."

"Someone will be right in," the voice said.

"I'll be at home with you," Torin said. "You won't need a nurse once we get you home."

"You'll just leave the minute she calls," I said, suddenly exhausted. Closing my eyes, I fell back to sleep.

Two days later, Torin drove me home. It was a silent ride, mostly because I was upset that Torin had refused to hire a nurse.

"I'll be with you," he insisted.

"I'm sorry if eighteen months of conditioning have caused me to not believe you," I said.

Amazingly, we were forty-eight hours in, and Torin hadn't gone running off to her yet. The only time he'd left me was half an hour ago when he'd popped over to the grocery store for some staples we needed and for some things that he hoped might coax my appetite. He must have run through the store because he was already back and in the process of bringing the bags from the car into the kitchen.

Someone knocked on the front door, and since he didn't call out to say he'd get it, I figured he was gathering the last of the bags from the car. I slowly eased my way up from the couch and walked carefully to the front door.

Figuring it was Shannon since we'd talked earlier and she'd promised to pop over closer to dinner time with a casserole, I opened the front door.

Bridgette, a covered dish in her hands, and Elijah looked back at me. Dilemma: would it be rude to slam the door in an innocent child's face since he'd arrived with his non-innocent mother? What to do, what to do...Before I could decide the answer to that, Torin walked in to the living room.

"Why are you up, Summer?" he asked me.

Spying Torin, Elijah blasted past me, throwing his arms around Torin's waist.

"Hi, Daddy!" the little boy shouted.

Torin looked surprised.

Bridgette looked pleased.

And I probably looked murderous.