“Could I get one for my sister too? And my… roommate? And maybe my pops and his roommate?”
She put her hand on her hip and cocked it to the side. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight.” She stared at me until I added, “Old enough to know that you’re never too old for little treats?”
Her lips twitched. “Go on, then.”
I grabbed strawberry for Delly, and then three at random for Ireland, Pops, and Beck.
“You’re Wilbur Smith’s boy?” she asked.
I’d just popped the sucker into my mouth, so I noddedin answer, then removed the sucker awkwardly. “You were working when he came in yesterday?”
“I was,” she said. “Lovely man.”
“He is,” I agreed.
And I had no idea how to start the talk I needed to have with him today, but that was my next stop. In a low moment, I’d considered saying nothing about the surgery. He wouldn’t have been crazy worried if I only called for a few days instead of dropping by, but that wasn’t right.
That wasn’t the kind of person he raised me to be.
When I made it to Apartment 3A, I knocked quietly, sucking on my blue raspberry Dum Dum to ward off my growling stomach. And my nerves.
Nobody answered.
I checked in with the nurse on duty. She looked up Pops’s whereabouts on her tablet and let me know he was finishing up physical therapy down on the first floor.
If I had thought harder, I would’ve known that, but I was all out of sorts.
I still had twenty minutes left in my break, so I went back to the elevator and pushed the Down button.
The elevator opened, and I about choked on my sucker.
Ireland.
I hadn’t seen her this close since the night of the storm—and thekiss—two days ago.
Our gazes locked, and she seemed just as surprised to see me, making no move to get out. I stuck my hand that was still holding the sucker through the opening, keeping the doors from closing.
“Hi,” I said, my heart pounding. Not as fast as when her lips were on mine, but God, just looking at her made it spring into a gallop.
“Hi,” she said, her gaze drifting down me, snagging on the crook of my elbow.
She frowned as she looked back at my face, a question in her gaze. I didn’t say anything. My brain was too stupefied.
The clip-clop of heels on tile sounded as Director Links strolled by, breaking the moment as she greeted us before carrying on down the hallway.
Ireland stepped out of the elevator, almost close enough to touch. My eyes shut briefly, my body aching to follow her.
Keeping my arm in the elevator, I turned toward her. “Care-team meeting?”
She fiddled with a loose string on her jean shorts. “Yeah.”
“Hope it goes well.” I smiled at her again, but it didn’t come as easily this time.
Our gazes locked for a moment, and she nodded before following Director Links.
Ugh.That can’t be how this goes.
