A mischievous twist curled her mouth. Not unlike a certain someone else. “When I asked her twenty minutes ago.”
I stepped off the porch. “Okay, but when I get back, we’re going to have a talk about boundaries, young lady.”
She grinned. “Sure, Mom.”
“And lock the house before you head next door,” I directed over my shoulder.
Sierra waved as I pulled out of the driveway. What did it mean that I knew where to find Drew? That his schedule had somehow been added to the many lists regulating my days?
If I hadn’t already realized how far past the starting line we were in our relationship, this alone should’ve solidified the standing. Casual couples couldn’t pinpoint the other on a Monday afternoon without a check in. Nor did they break traffic laws in their haste to see the other person.
In record time, I found myself pulling into a parking spot in the garage adjacent to Mercy Hospital. I wouldn’t keep him away from his patients for long. Just a few minutes to tell him I didn’t want anyone, especially my ex-husband, coming between us. If I could find a supply closet for a few stolen moments to punctuate my declaration, all the better.
I found a directory, then made my way to Drew’s department and stopped at the front desk. “Is Dr. Bauer in? I don’t have an appointment but wanted to speak with him for just a moment.”
The receptionist eyes me warily. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give out that kind of information.”
“Oh.” Bother. I pulled out my phone. “I don’t want to get you into trouble or anything. Drew and I are friends you see.” I rotated my phone to show her I had his name and number in my contact list. “I’d call, but I was kind of hoping to surprise him.”
The woman looked like she’d worked a long day. She stared at my phone then peered back up into my face. Finally, she leaned back in her swivel chair. “Not like his visits to Miranda on the third floor are a big secret anyway. Everyone knows about him andhis girl.”
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I had to pry the appendage off to get it to function. “Third floor you said?” My voice quaked.
She tapped away on her keyboard. “That’s right.”
“Thank you.” I turned around, my body going through the motions of moving without any help from my brain. When I made it to a chair in a vestibule, I sank into the cushion, my knees giving out.
Drew and another woman? Someone named Miranda who everyone knew was “his girl”? The words were English and lined up as complete sentences, and yet they didn’t compute. They didn’t make sense at all. Finding Greg cheating on me had been a shock, but somehow also not surprising. If that made any sense. But Drew? I just couldn’t see it. No matter how immature or flippant I’d once thought him, I’d never pictured him as someone who’d cheat. That definitely hadn’t changed after all the time he’d spent pursuing me in his own goofy way.
Did I not know him as well as I thought I did?
That didn’t seem possible either. So what was the truth? What everyone at the hospital seemed to consider common knowledge—Drew and some woman named Miranda—or the Drew that I knew and, if the bruising of my ribs by the beating of my heart was any indication, possibly loved?
Most women in my position would probably run away. Maybe go home, have a good cry, and down a few pints of Ben and Jerry’s. They’d screen their calls and refuse to talk to the man who’d done them wrong. After all, this scenario had played itself out in my life before. Maybe I was just the type of woman that men cheated on.
It would have been easy to give myself over to those types of thoughts, but what good would that do?
My fingers curled around the chair’s armrests, and I pushed myself to my feet.
I’d come to the hospital to talk to Drew, and I’d be hanged if I left before I did just that.
Although, the noose would slip around his neck if I found him and another woman in the supply closet I’d imagined earlier.
There’d really only been two outcomes possible between me and Drew from the day we’d met. I’d either murder him in a fit of rage and annoyance, or I’d fall madly in love with him.
Please let it be the second one.
There was still the chance that my instincts weren’t completely unreliable. That Drew hadn’t just been playing one of his many games with me. That he was as serious as he’d claimed regarding us.
When I stepped off the elevator onto the third floor, soft strains of violin music welcomed me. Not from a recording or stereo either. Someone was playing an instrument in the hospital. But who? And why?
The soles of my shoes padded softly down the corridor, the music getting louder with each step. The hall opened to an atrium, and there, in the center of the room, stood Drew, his wooden instrument tucked snug between his chin and shoulder.
A pale child sat in a wheelchair in front of him, tubes connected to an IV hanging at her side. There were other kids scattered around the room listening to the music, but Drew seemed to be playing mainly for the girl.
A girl I’d bet was named Miranda.
Drew pulled the bow along the strings of the violin, but still I felt the motion deep in my chest, as if heartstrings were real and he was playing mine.
