Monster Baller by KB Winters

Author:KB Winters [Winters, KB]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBoyfriends Publishing Inc

14

Chance

On my way to Harvest House on Monday morning, I took a detour and stopped at County Hospital to check on Aria. I signed in at the ICU desk and was told she’d been moved to a new room. The nurse led the way, and I saw that someone else had already stopped in. I was about to back away from the door when the woman glanced over. “Are you here to see Aria?” she asked, her voice soft like she’d been crying.

I nodded and took a step into the sterile room. “I brought this for when she wakes up,” I said, holding up the puppy dog stuffed animal I had tucked under one arm.

The woman nodded, giving me a watery smile. “That’s so sweet. She’ll love it.”

I eased into the chair beside Aria’s bed, casually glancing over the monitors positioned to her left. I had no idea what most of the data meant, but everything seemed to be ticking along nicely.

“Any news on when she’ll wake up?” I asked, my gaze drifting back to the woman across from me.

She gave a small shake of her head, sending her too-large silver hoop earrings quivering. “Not yet. The doctor checked on her about ten minutes ago and she said that she’s stable.”

I nodded and set the stuffed dog on the bed beside Aria. It was the same thing that Lacey and I had been told the day before when we’d stopped by after getting lunch. I kept telling myself that no news might be good news, but it was hard to keep repeating with the same level of belief. We all wanted something more concrete.

“You’re Chance Beauman, right?”

I looked up at the woman again, nodding. “Yeah. I’m volunteering at Harvest House,” I said, wondering if she knew why I was really at the non-profit. Court ordered. Volunteering. Same thing, right?

The woman’s expression didn’t give anything away. She gave me a polite smile. “That’s nice. I’m Hayley Fletcher, Aria’s social worker.”

“Oh,” I lifted from my seat, leaning over the small girl, to extend my hand to the woman. “Nice to meet you.”

She shook my hand and we both settled back into our respective chairs. Her eyes landed on Aria and a sadness flickered in her eyes. “She’s such a sweet girl.”

I smiled. “She’s special, that’s for sure. What happens in a case like this? I don’t know much about how the foster care system works.”

Hayley glanced up at me. “To be candid, she’s probably not going to be able to return to her foster home. They have two of their own children, in addition to two other foster children. Both of the parents work full time, the father is a long distance truck driver, and I’m afraid Stephanie won’t be able to take care of Aria as she’ll need special attention and a lot of rehab when she’s released from here.” She paused and shook her head slightly as though struggling to get her emotions back in check. “As of right now, I don’t know what’s going to happen.

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