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Chapter Fifty-One
Mia
In the days that followed Chad’s death, I was surprisingly calm. I thought I might feel different or still on edge, but I didn’t. Things at work were almost normal, except for me needing to hobble around everywhere. Hearing Terry’s voice on the line that first morning was like a punch to the gut. But if he felt it too, he didn’t let it show.
He was all business.
And I was gutted.
When we saw each other in the office, he kept it professional, and I did as well. Inside, I was a mess, but you never would have known. Or at least that’s what I told myself. Ally confirmed that she couldn’t tell if I felt anything at all for him. But it was all a lie. I cried in my private bathroom. I cried when I entered my apartment all alone.
Back at the office for another day of work and another day of torturing myself. Would I see him? Or wouldn’t I? It was hard to say. He seemed to be keeping his distance from me. I wasn’t sure if I appreciated that or if it only made matters worse.
I stood in front of the elevator door, willing it to get here faster so that I could get back to my office, when I saw him—more like felt him—for the first time. My body went on high alert. I felt a tingling in my fingers, like they longed to reach out and touch him. I looked up, and there he stood in all his glory, his brown eyes avoiding mine. His face angled toward the ground, an unreadable expression covering it.
“Hi,” I said, my voice squeaking as the words came out. I didn’t even recognize my own voice. It took me a moment to realize that sound had come from me. My mind wouldn’t let Terry stand there in front of me and not say something.
“Mia,” he said with a nod of his head. My heart sank further in my chest. He didn’t want to talk to me. His body was angling away from mine. He took a step back from me, his cowboy boot clicking on the marble floor.
“How are you?” I asked him. I saw his chest rise and fall in an exaggerated motion, but the sound of his sigh was lost in the air between us. He didn’t want to talk to me. I should have stopped talking to him. But something inside of me wouldn’t stop. “I haven’t seen you around lately.”
“I didn’t want to see you,” he bit out.
The words stung, hitting me like a dagger to the heart. I couldn’t believe the words had fallen from his lips. The same lips that, days earlier, had been telling me that he loved me. How could that same man have said those words to me?
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to say next, so I willed the elevator to come faster.
“Yeah, oh. I’m sorry, but I can’t see you right now. I can’t be near you right now. And seeing as you’re the one who needs the elevator, I will be taking the stairs.” With that, Terry turned on his heel and headed for the stairs.
“Terry,” I called after him.
He stopped midstride. I thought for a moment that he wasn’t going to turn around, but he did.
“Yeah?” he asked me, eyebrows raising in question and a challenge written on his face.
“I’m sorry about everything. About you getting hurt.” I gestured to my nose as if he didn’t know where his injuries were. “I’m sorry that I hurt you. I’m just really sorry.”
“Mia,” he said, coming closer to me. “My nose is fine. It will heal. But what you did, what you said to me that day on the phone, that I will neverget over.”
I nodded, unsure of what to say to him. Just as he opened his mouth to say more, the elevator dinged and the door opened slowly.
“The elevator is here. Come on, why don’t you just ride up with me?” I hobbled in, hoping he would bite.
“How’s the foot?” he asked, taking my bait and coming onto the elevator with me. He was so angry with me, and he had every right to be. But in this moment, we were in the same space, breathing the same air. And I had never been so sure that I’d made a mistake in my life.
“It’s getting better, I guess. I hate hobbling around on these stupid things.” I told him, lifting my crutches from the elevator floor.
“You listening?” The words fell from his lips like a caress, his drawl apparent when he spoke.
“Doing my best,” I said with a shrug. He laughed, a real laugh. I loved the way his smile lit up his face. His brown eyes danced as they watched me in a way that they hadn’t when he first saw me. I enjoyed this moment, and I was going to curse the elevator doors when they opened on my floor. Terry hadn’t selected a floor, so he was either getting off on mine or he was so distracted with me that he hadn’t chosen one.
“I’m sure you aren’t,” he said with a chuckle. “You never could follow directions, and you’re always the worst patient ever.”
We both laughed at his last statement; I knew it was true. So did he. He had nursed me back to health more times than anyone else had in a long time. He was there when I broke my wrist back in college, and he managed to wait on me hand and foot. I pretended to hate it, but being a child without parents that were no longer alive, I reveled in the fact that someone loved me enough to take care of me.
The elevator dinged and the door slowly opened. The spell was broken. Terry looked away first, and I died a little inside.
“You better get going. I’m sure you have a lot of work to do,” he said, holding in the button that kept the door open. “Go on, go ahead. I’ll make sure the door stays open until you get through.”
