Page 11 of Doctor Holliday

“The kid was freaking out. Demanding I not call an ambulance. She said she didn’t want the baby. She wanted me to leave her alone to die.” Keaton had turned his back and paced away from Lucy, but now he turned to look at her and threw his hands up in defeat. “I have a little girl. I panicked.”

Lucy flinched.

As stressful as tonight had been for her, it was also somewhat routine. Probably not for a small business owner. One who happened to be a divorced girl dad.

“Yeah.” She licked her lips. “It’s okay. I’m glad you did call me.”

“Is she suicidal?” he asked and then he spun around on his heel and dropped his head to his hands and groaned. “Fuck. I know you can’t answer that. I’m just—I keep seeing her in my head, hearing her cry. Telling me to let her die.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows but said nothing. She couldn’t tell him anything about Logan’s state of mind, even if she did know. And she didn’t. She had said a quiet goodbye to Logan and slipped out before things got too heavy in the room.

“Do kids that age kill themselves?”

She wasn’t sure if the rugged whisper was a rhetorical question. But she did know kids that age did attempt and succeed at suicide.

“How old?” Her voice was scratchy with emotion. She cleared her throat and tried again, “your daughter?”

“Ten.”

“Little blonde? With big brown eyes?”

He nodded.

“I’ve seen her a time or two with Alyssa over at school.”

Keaton tipped his head back and stared at the fluorescent lighting in the hall. Lucy gave him a moment to collect himself.

“I would kill anyone who laid hands on her.”

It wasn’texactlywhat he was thinking. And yet, four teenage boys, old enough to know better, had sweettalked a very young girl into taking her clothes and spreading her legs, and so yes, itkind of wasexactly what he was thinking.

“I know. I get it.” She nodded.

Because the mother in her would go to war with the doctor if anyone hurt her daughter.

Keaton cleared his throat.

“I can give you a ride.”

Lucy tipped her head. “What?”

“Your Lexus is in my parking lot.”

The reminder was like a slap in the face. This day still wasn’t over. She still had to go home and put away any groceries worth saving. She wanted to sit with Callie and share her day. Hopefully Callie had found something to eat, but Lucy’s stomach was rumbling. The salad she’d scarfed down for lunch was long gone.

And she would have to get up and do all of this again tomorrow.

“Thank you.” She nodded her appreciation. Today, tonight, and tomorrow weren’t Keaton Thatcher’s fault.

He nodded toward the elevator bank and followed her when she moved in that direction.

“I’m on call,” she told him as the stepped into the car when it arrived.

“Hmm?”

“I’m on call. I would have ended up here delivering her baby anyway.”

“And you don’t need to stay on overnight?”