His Knees, His Pleas, But Our Son's in Peace

Chapter 39

Before I could lose myself completely in my thoughts, a soft laugh interrupted me. I turned to see Tina standing in the doorway, a teasing grin on her face, holding two mugs of coffee. "You look like you've been hit by a train," she said, walking over to sit at the edge of the bed. "Rough night?"

I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "You have no idea..."

Tina chuckled, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Oh, I think I do. You were so... relaxed when you got home last night. It was like you didn't have a care in

the world."

I peeked through my fingers, feeling my face flush even more. "Relaxed? I was drunk, Tina. And now I have to deal with the aftermath."

"Aftermath?" Tina raised an eyebrow, handing me a cup of coffee. "Or maybe you finally let yourself unwind for once? Look, whatever happened, you'll figure it out. No use stressing about it now."

I sighed, sipping the coffee and letting her words sink in. But how could I face Carlos? What if he regretted everything? What if this ruined the dynamic we had? Tina's casual reassurances did little to quell the anxiety rising inside me.

"I just... I don't know how I'm going to handle seeing him," I muttered, more to myself than to Tina.

"Well, you don't have much of a choice, do you?" she said, standing up. "You'll see him soon enough. Now, get dressed-you've got work to do."

With another groan, I forced myself to get ready. No matter how much I dreaded seeing Carlos, I couldn't hide from it. I had to face him-and whatever came next.

11:51

Chapter 39

mind raced, replaying the events of the night over and over again, each memory making me more nervous. By the time I pulled into the parking lot, my

collected as ever, his usual

My stomach dropped.

the entrance as if nothing had happened, completely unfazed. I

He didn't seem affected at

no

nod back, my heart racing, my thoughts spinning out of control.

to ask him if last night meant anything, but I couldn't. The fear of his indifference kept

I tried to push the emotions down and followed him inside. I had to focus on work. But even as I tried to pull myself together, my mind kept drifting back to Carlos-his kiss marks, his indifference, his frustratingly calm attitude. Work was a welcome distraction at first,

coworkers, who were discussing some of the children we had been working with. Their conversation caught my attention and gave me the perfect opportunity to focus on something more important. "How's Emily doing?" I asked,

well. Her immune system is barely functioning, and every infection hits her

been one of our toughest cases, diagnosed

and it was clear that her parents were struggling, emotionally and

with leukemia who had been in and

hanging in there," Lily said, but her tone

is so low. His mom never