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And then she was heading out the door, swiping at the tears that wouldn’t stop flowing, and she suspected, looking a complete and utter wreck.
Tristan was waiting outside when she stepped into the hallway. He took one look at her face and reached for her hands, his warm breath parting her hair. “What is it? Is Hannah okay?”
Lillian struggled to remember all the reasons she shouldn’t let Tristan get close but couldn’t recall a single one. She felt protected, cared for, safe. “Yes. She’s wonderful. I’m just missing her already. It’s…hard to say goodbye.”
She sniffed and somehow found the strength to let go of his hands, swiping at the tears that wouldn’t stop. “I’m sorry. I’m crying all over you.” She searched inside her purse and found a pack of tissues, her fingers trembling as she struggled to open it.
“I don’t care about that. I care about you. Here, let me.” Tristan took the package from her hands and pulled out a tissue. Then he tipped her chin and wiped the corners of her eyes. “Better?”
She hiccupped and nodded, and he shoved the tissue in his back pocket and pulled out another, which he handed to her.
She took it and blew her nose, then crumpled the used tissue and stuffed it in her purse, along with the package of unused tissues Tristan returned to her.
He smiled and reached again for her cold hand, which he held between his warm ones. “How are you feeling?”
She tried to smile, but she suspected it looked pitiful. “Okay.” Ignoring the fluttering in her chest, Lillian kept her hand in his. Energy flowed between them, heating her from the inside out.
“Before we leave, there’s someone I’d like to introduce you to.”
“Tristan, I…”
“Please.” He held up a hand. “I promise it will take no more than twenty minutes. It would mean a great deal to me if you would meet my mother while you’re both here.”
She hesitated, then nodded. It was a small favor she could do in return for his help saving Hannah.
He led her down the hallway, and by the time they reached their destination—in a totally different section of the hospital—she was out of breath and her skin tingled all over. He knocked on a door and then opened it, gesturing Lillian inside.
A thin woman lay in a hospital bed—Tristan’s mom, Lillian presumed. She was a lot like Tristan—dark curly hair, blue eyes fringed by dark eyelashes, straight nose. But that’s where the similarities ended. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her skin had a pale-yellow tone.
“Mom, this is the friend I was telling you about…Zoey. Zoey, I’d like you to meet my Mom, Brenda.”
“So nice to meet you.” Lillian breathed through her nose, careful not to disturb Brenda’s energy level, which flickered like a candle with a short wick—one wrong move on Lillian’s part could snuff it from existence.
She gave Brenda a warm smile and sat in one of the chairs near the bed.
Tristan bent his tall frame and hugged his mom. “Feeling better?”
“My head still hurts. What did you say your friend’s name was again?”
“Zoey. Remember, she’s the nurse who’s staying with me while her friend is ill.” Tristan’s tone soothed.
“She’s pretty.” Brenda smiled at Lillian like a child who’d spotted a long-awaited toy.
Blood heated Lillian’s cheeks, and she pressed cool fingers against them. “Kind of you to say so.”
“Tristan’s never brought any of his girlfriends to see me before.” She glanced at Tristan. “Have you?”
Tristan smiled. “No, Mom.”
“We’re just friends,” Lillian said. She cast a quick glance at Tristan, but his face didn’t change expression, so she had no idea what he thought of his mom referring to Lillian as his girlfriend.
“Zoey is a talented nurse.”
Lillian tucked her hands under her legs. If she thought she could cure his mom now, she would skip the fundraiser, knowing her debt had been paid. But the moment she sat next to Tristan’s mom, she understood it would prove challenging. Brenda’s body chemistry was vastly different from Lillian’s, making it impossible to attempt a cure in Lillian’s exhausted state.
She pulled in air and held it in her lungs so she wouldn’t harm Brenda and gave her a warm smile. “It’s lovely to meet you.” Lillian ignored the glimmer of light in her mind’s eye. A dark shadow covered most of it, indicating the extent the disease had taken over Brenda King’s body. Her health was declining fast.
Brenda’s expression changed, going from calm and serene to annoyed in an instant. “You’re not the nurse I had this morning.”
