Hating her was much harder when she was standing in front of him looking even more beautiful than he remembered. All of this would be a whole lot easier if he didn't still love her.
But what good was love when the other person turned their back on you like you meant nothing to them?
Love was nothing more than a shortcut to pain.
He’d loved his unborn son, and the child had died.
He’d loved Chloe, and she had thrown him away.
At least he had found out earlier rather than later that she didn't really love him. It would’ve been so much worse to find out after they’d spent years married with children.
He might still be hopelessly in love with her, but she’d made it clear it was over between them, and maybe she was right. Maybe they were never meant to be. Maybe breaking up had been for the best.
“Fin?” Tom prompted. “How did you save her?”
Right, this wasn't about him and Chloe. They were in the same room only by some fluke. This was about the traumatized young woman in the hospital bed. “I didn't really save her,” he replied. “I was coming home from work, and I saw her in the street. At first, I thought she was drunk and assumed she would stumble into whichever house she’d come from. But when she headed for my house, I realized something was wrong.”
“Taylor.” Tom walked toward the bed. “Do you know whereyou were running from?”
She didn't answer, just shrank deeper into the mattress.
“Did she say anything to you?” Tom turned and asked him.
“Not much. She was freaking out until I told her I was a doctor. She told me her name, that her leg was hurt, and that she hit someone and ran.”
Returning his attention to the woman in the bed, Tom asked, “Taylor, do you know the man who hurt you?”
Taylor pulled the blankets tighter around herself.
“Thanks, Fin, for helping her, but maybe it would be best if you left now,” Tom said gently.
He nodded. He was more than happy to leave Taylor in the care of Eric Abbott, and Tom and Chloe. He’d done his part, he’d done the right thing, now he could go home and resume his wallowing in self-pity about the horrible year he’d had and everything that he had lost.
“You’re leaving?” Taylor asked as he headed for the door.
“Tom and Chloe will look after you,” he assured her.
That didn't seem to help. “You can't leave,” she insisted, sitting bolt upright.
The panic in Taylor’s face at the prospect was clear. She had already made him her safety net. It’d been a mistake to bring her to the hospital himself. He should have taken her inside and called an ambulance. Now she was too attached, it was going to make it that much harder for her when he left.
But hehadto leave.
He couldn’t be what Taylor needed. She needed her family and friends. She needed someone who could be there for her indefinitely. She needed someone she could count on.
Fin couldn’t be any of those things for her.
He wasn't in a place in his life where he could help someone who had been through something so traumatic. He didn't know how to help her. He hadn’t even been able to help his owngirlfriend deal with the grief of losing their child, how on earth was he going to help Taylor deal with whatever had happened to her?
He should go now.
Drawing it out was only going to make it worse for both of them.
“You’ll be fine,” he said, trying to sound confident.
Tears welled up in her eyes. “Please stay with me. Just a little longer. My parents have to fly in; they won't be here for a couple of days. Can't you just stay with me until then?”
He wanted to say yes.