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His expression was somber. “You gave me a hell of a scare. That contusion on the back of your head needed stitches, and you lost a lot of blood. You had to get a blood transfusion, and some heavy-duty antibiotics. The doctors think you contracted an infection on the island.”
“What kind of an infection?”
“They don’t know. But the antibiotics seem to be working. They said you’re getting better already.”
I sighed heavily, the gravity of the situation hitting me hard. “Can I have some water?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He picked up a pitcher from a side table and poured some water into a cup, then brought the cup to my lips. I reached for the cup, still weak but able to wrap my fingers around it.
“Thanks,” I said as I took a small sip.
It was cold and wet and everything I’d dreamed of during my time at the bottom of the ravine.
“They said not too much at first,” Archer cautioned. “You’re getting hydration from the IV fluids.”
I passed the cup back to him and he set it on the table.
“I guess we’re out of the show, then,” I said.
He nodded. “Yeah, but really, Lo, who gives fuck. You made it out of there alive. That’s all I care about.”
“You’re right.” I smiled. “What would I have done with all that money anyway?”
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said, his brows lowered in a serious look. “It’s something I should’ve told you before, but…I don’t know. It just didn’t feel right.”
Oh god. Was he about to tell me he had a girlfriend? I didn’t feel ready for that news.
“Are you sure it’s something you need to tell me?” I asked.
“Yeah, it is. That whole night I was looking for you, I couldn’t stop thinking about not telling you. I don’t know if you even want to know, or if it even matters at this point, but I need to say it.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
His brows dropped even lower in a look of confusion. “What? No.”
I leaned back against my pillow, relieved. “Okay, then. Let’s hear it.”
He took a deep breath. Then he ran a hand through his hair. Whatever this was, he was nervous about telling me.
“I didn’t just move away and forget you when we broke up,” he said. “When you accused me of that…” He looked away and shook his head, then faced me again. “I came back, Lo. I was so miserable without you in Minnesota that it affected everything I did. Nothing felt right. So I took my first big check and I went to a jewelry store and bought an engagement ring.”
I stared at him, forgetting to even breathe. He’d done what?
“It was in September, five months after I moved away. I made it all the way to your college campus in Iowa City. I didn’t know how to find you, so I went to the Admissions Office and talked to every student I saw until I found someone who knew you. She told me where to look for you. But when I found you…”
“What?” I asked, breathless with shock.
An emotion I couldn’t place swam in his eyes. “You were with a guy. You had on a baseball hat and a brown jacket. Ever since we’d started dating, you’d worn my hockey hoodie. When I saw you in a different jacket, and that guy had his arm around you and you were looking at him and smiling, I realized…” He cleared his throat. “You were over me. So I left. Got shit-faced at a bar near campus, crashed at a hotel, and drove home the next day.”
I couldn’t do anything but look at him for the next few seconds, unable to process what he’d told me. So many emotions surged through me all at once, but the main one was sadness.
“I remember the jacket,” I said softly. “But I still have that hoodie in the back of my closet. And I don’t remember the guy. Whoever it was, he wasn’t important to me.” Tears welled in my eyes. “Archer, why didn’t you say something?”
“It didn’t feel like there was anything left to say. It was too little, too late.”
My tears spilled over. “It wasn’t, though. I would have said yes.”
“Like I said, I didn’t know if you’d even want to know. But I thought you deserved to know.”
It hurt to know. It was like a sucker punch to the gut, finding out that the man I’d been so in love with actually had wanted to marry me.
“I’d like to be alone,” I said, suddenly tired.
Archer’s expression was grim. “I’m not leaving. But I will stay over in the chair and not talk to you.”
I didn’t have the strength to argue with him.
