Rescued by the Single Dad by Emily Forbes

Author:Emily Forbes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-12-03T15:20:46+00:00

* * *

Pat was back at the hospital as early as possible the following day. He wanted to check on Charli. He’d sensed she’d been nervous about lunch with her father and he wanted to see her just to make sure she was okay.

He pushed open her hospital door and was confronted by an empty room. There was a travel bag on the bed, clothes folded and set in a pile beside it.

Amy came out of the bathroom, carrying a small cosmetics bag.

‘What’s going on?’ Pat asked just as the door opened behind him. Harriet was holding it as Charli stepped through with the aid of crutches. Pat was surprised. When he’d seen her yesterday, she’d still been using a wheelchair.

‘She’s made good progress,’ the physiotherapist commented when she saw Pat’s expression.

‘The doctors are ready to discharge me,’ Charli added.

‘You can fly?’

‘Not yet. Walking with crutches is enough. Flying is not one of my superpowers.’ She smiled and Pat was relieved. Maybe yesterday’s lunch had gone well.

But his relief was short-lived. If she was recovering physically and emotionally and was ready for discharge, that meant she would be leaving. Leaving the hospital and one step closer to leaving Melbourne. One step closer to being out of his life. ‘Is your father coming to get you?’

She shook her head. ‘No. He’s gone.’

‘Gone where?’

‘Back to England.’

Pat frowned. ‘Without you?’ He had assumed that Jack would stay until Charli was ready to fly. He’d assumed her father would travel with her.

‘That was what lunch was all about.’ Charli glanced at Amy. ‘He was telling us he’s leaving.’

‘Why?’ Pat was totally confused.

‘My stepmother is having complications with the pregnancy. As usual, she trumps me. Us. Dad is concerned because, apparently, Victoria is having twins, which was a bit of information he neglected to pass on initially.’

He could hear the effort she made to keep her tone light but he knew she would be hurting. She’d said enough for him to know that her father’s reserve bothered her, that she felt he had abandoned her on more than one occasion. But he wondered if her father’s departure was as straightforward as Charli believed. All relationships were complicated and he wondered if she was expecting things to be black and white when in reality they were usually shades of grey. He’d seen Jack’s expression when he’d visited Charli and Pat’s opinion was that Jack was a man who felt things but perhaps had learned to keep his emotions hidden.

But Pat knew it wasn’t his place to interfere. He didn’t know their history. He’d only heard one side of the story. And that didn’t change the fact that Jack had left, had returned to England, once again choosing his wife over his daughter, or, as he expected Charli would see it, abandoning her yet again.

He looked at the small pile of her possessions on the bed, reflecting the little she had left in her world. ‘Where are you going to go?’ He turned to Amy. ‘Is she coming to stay with you?’

‘No, I have to head back to Wombat Gully tonight.

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