A fractured fairytale

94

༻ Rose's POV ༺

Mia was chatting with a doctor whilst she signed the papers. He was kind of cute, in a blond hair, blue eyes, baby faced kind of way. He was young, probably in his twenties, and had the kind of smile that made people melt a little bit. Well, except for Logan. He hardened at the sight of the guy's smile, especially when it was directed towards his wife.

Even with all my bags hanging off his arms, he still managed to effortlessly slide his arms around his wife's waist and pull her into a kiss that sent a clear message to the doctor, who was mid-sentence. He trailed off awkwardly and then glanced towards me, offering me that same charming smile. It didn't make my stomach flip the way it did when Matt smiled. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone would ever elicit the same reaction from me that Matt did, or would I always only react that way to him. Still, I returned the smile to be polite.

"Ready to go?" Logan asked when he finally came up for air. Mia was flushed bright red but she had the widest grin on her face.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked back at her husband. "I was in the middle of a conversation."

He tilted his head. "And now the conversations ended. Ready to go?"

She rolled her eyes in my direction and then faltered, amusement dropping away immediately. "Yeah, let's go." She wriggled out of his arms and reached for my hand, giving it a squeeze as she gently guided me outside. Logan carried on towards the car but Mia slowed, twisting towards me as the doors slid shut behind us. "Honey, what's the matter?"

I cringed, knowing my face must've been a red, blotchy mess for her to be asking. I could never hide the fact I'd been crying. "Nothing," I told her with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "I'm fine."

Her eyes narrowed before flickering over to Logan and then back to me. "You know you can talk to me about anything," she said, squeezing my hand again. I swallowed and nodded, trying to muster up a convincing smile but the simple sentence had a lump forming in the back of my throat again. "We're always here for you," she added before throwing her arms around me.

We caught up to Logan and he opened the car door for me and dropped a kiss on the top of my head as I shuffled passed him. As he moved to open Mia's door for her, her phone started ringing, making them both pause. "Oh, it's your mom," Mia told me before raising the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

I felt a spike of panic in my chest as she twisted away from us. Logan raised a brow in my direction and I gave him a wobbly smile in return. My mom had exchanged numbers with Mia this week, since it was their family hospital that I was staying in, all the information went straight to Logan and Mia. It was Mia's idea to get my mom's number so she could keep her updated on how I was. I wasn't sure my mom would've asked had she not offered.

"Yes, of course," Mia said brightly before turning back towards me. "I'll double check with her and let you know."

My stomach dipped as she ended the call, even though she had a wide smile on her face. "Your mom wants to know if you'd be okay staying with us for a few days? Your grandmother has been staying in your room so one of you would have to take the couch and your moms worried it'll be uncomfortable. Is that okay?"

I couldn't believe my mother had simply called up and asked if I could stay at their house, but I couldn't deny that it was a relief to not be going back to the apartment. I hadn't been ready to go back to silence and isolation, so a few extra days surrounded by the Sternato's sounded like heaven.

Except for one.

Matt and I hadn't had much time alone at the hospital, we were always joined by members of his family or there were doctors and nurses coming in and out of the room all the time. It meant we hadn't had the opportunity to talk about things, about what I'd said to him, about how either of us felt, about how we wanted to move forward. Everything was completely up in the air.