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I hear movement behind me just in time to see Eloise disappear down the hall.
“I’ll be there shortly,” I tell Julissa before I end the call.
By the time I’m at the doorway to my bedroom, Eloise is getting dressed. “I’ll get ready to go too.”
“You can stay,” I say. “Eat pizza, watch something, have another bath. The door will automatically lock behind you when you leave.”
“I have school in two hours.” She buttons her blouse. “I’ll take a slice to go, though.”
“Good.” I turn to exit the room.
Before I can, she’s behind me with her arms wrapped around my chest. “You’re such a good man.”
I let out a deep seated chuckle. “I’m not so sure about that. I am a good doctor, though.”
“The best.” She rounds me to grab hold of my tie. She tugs it slightly. “One last quick round of our game.”
The patient Julissa called me about is stable, and I see a playfulness in Eloise’s eyes that I don’t want to rush away from, so I bite. “Who gets to ask the question?”
“Me.” She widens her eyes as if to suggest that was a given.
“Go.”
“Why did you become a doctor?”
I have to look away from the truth that is always in her gaze. She expects that from me now, but it will take us down a path that will create a distance I can’t bear.
“Let me guess.” She taps her finger to her chin. “Was it to impress women?Or maybe it was to…”
“I need to go,” I cut her off mid-sentence. “I’m needed in the CCU, Eloise.”
Her expression shifts instantly. “Oh, of course. I’m sorry.”
I step back and suck in a breath. “Have a good day.”
“I will.” Her voice is soft. Pain taints it, but I can’t do this right now.
With just a simple goodbye, I turn and walk out of my bedroom and away from the woman who owns my heart.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Eloise
“You look a little pale,”Astrid remarks as she steps into Vinyl Crush.
“I said the very same to her when I got here,” Penny pipes up from where she’s currently sorting through a box of records that arrived yesterday.
Astrid tosses me a look and mouths the words, “Is she working here?”
“Just helping me,” I mouth back.
“I’m fine,” I say in response to my cousin’s comment. “I’ve been working on a million different projects at once.”
It’s an exaggeration. I’ve spent the past week and a half focused on Penny’s wedding dress and sketching a design for Stevie’s special dress. I plan on texting her an image of that after she’s done school today.
“One of those projects is for me,” Penny states proudly.
She skims a hand over the front of her denim shirt to brush away some dust. “I love this place. I never knew this jewel existed until Els told me to stop by for a visit.”
