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I stand but before I do I point at the purse I set down next to Astrid. “That’s Eloise’s. She had it with her when she collapsed.”
She drags it closer to her but it tumbles off the chair, spilling the contents on the floor.
A hairbrush, lipstick tubes, her wallet and phone fly out, along with one knitting needle. I rush to pick it all, stopping when I spot something barely hang on inside of it.
I scoop that into my palm and hold it against my chest. Tears well in my eyes.
“What is it, Gaines?” Berk asks as he takes over picking up Eloise’s belongings.
“It’s our book,” I whisper. “She must have taken it back tonight.”
I open it to page forty-two and spot the stain in the middle of the page that wasn’t there this morning.
It has to be from her tears.
She snuck into my apartment to take back what was hers, but she left behind my heart. I need her to wake up now and reclaim it.
Logan stormsinto the doctor’s lounge. “Give us the room. I need the room.”
I don’t move from where I’m standing next to Evan. That’s because I know that whatever Logan has to say is directed at me.
All I can do is pray that it doesn’t involve Eloise.
“I’ll go,” Evan says. “If you need me to fight him, I’ll do it.”
I know he’s trying to leverage the situation with humor, so I give him an appreciative tap on the shoulder.
As soon as he’s gone, Logan shuts the glass door.
“Gaines.”
“Don’t tell me she’s gone.” My voice cracks. “You can shut the fuck up if you’re going to say that.”
“She’s going to pull through this.” He walks toward me. “Her stats are better. The fall did a hell of a number on her ankle, but we’ll get that set. From what we can determine, that bracelet she’s wearing caused her head wound. She’s got a pretty substantial gash across her forehead but it’s being stitched up as we speak by Dr. Sufford. She came in just for it.”
Nicole Sufford is the best plastic surgeon in the city.
“You called in that favor.”
“My wife did.”
“Your wife?” I question him. “You’re married? To who?”
He laughs. “To a woman you work with everyday. I married Julissa a few months ago.”
“Shut the fuck up.” I take a step closer to him. “How is that not hot gossip around here? Everyone, literally everyone, thinks you’re single.”
“Her folks don’t know yet.” He shakes his head. “They’re on a cruise with limited access, so we’re waiting until they’re back in Florida to break that news and our other news.”
“Which is?”
He holds the palm of his left hand to the center of his forehead. “I’m going to have a son, Gaines. My little boy is arriving in six months.”
I tear up. “Jesus, Logan. That’s fucking amazing.”
“The guilt.” Tears stream down his cheeks. “It’s been suffocating. I wanted to save him, Gaines. I wanted to save Rudy.”
I drop the armor that’s protected me from our shared past for almost two decades. I wrap my arms around him. He clings tightly to me.
