“Dana is being taken to room 402. Mr. Wright, why don’t you come with me and I’ll update you on the way. The rest of you can join us in about half an hour, okay? Let your mom settle in,” the nurse said.
She smiled, only a brief uptick in the sides of her mouth, and the tension surrounding her family softened.
“Thank you.” Peter Wright kissed Ami on the head, patted Elissa on the shoulder, and ruffled Leo’s hair. “See you in a bit.”
As he walked away with the nurse, the Wright siblings collapsed into their chairs. Elissa passed around the box of tissues to dry the tears of relief.
“Lissa, I’m hungry,” Leo said after a few minutes.
“Nice to meet—” Ami grinned mischievously.
“No dad jokes!” Elissa said. “Let’s just feed the poor boy.”
“Yeah, there’s a vending machine around here somewhere.”
Ami pulled their brother up and dragged him down the hall. Elissa followed, the weight on her shoulders suddenly lessened. Her mom would be okay. She’d spent the past year worrying about cancer, but in the end, it was a stupid car accident that almost took her mom away. Something no one could predict.
Just like no one could’ve predicted Elissa would fall in love with Ryan DeMarco.
Oh god, she’d left him there. Didn’t even tell him what she felt. Didn’t let him help her. What had she been thinking? She hadn’t been, obviously. And now there was no way to make it up to him.
But that was a problem for future Elissa. Now, she had a brother to feed and a mother to see.
forty-four
indelibly inscribed
Ryan didn’t know how long he’d been sitting in the chair, staring at the door. The air still smelled of sex and Elissa’s soft powdery scent, and the covers on the bed were mussed.
He wanted a drink. Maybe ten. Maybe a whole fucking bottle of Jim Beam.
Had he imagined it all? Elissa running to him, the ride here as she clung to him, driving him nearly wild with desire, spending the evening exploring her body, making her come over and over.
No way he imagined her soft moans, his name dripping from her lips with desire. Her want, her need.
Need.
He’d believed she needed him. But she hadn’t, and the only reason he knew was because he’d caught her trying to sneak out. He gripped the arm of the chair until his knuckles were white and the wood creaked ominously.
Anger replaced the shock. He’d done nothing to deserve being treated like some one-night stand, some hookup, some fuck buddy. Not when he loved her. Not when he’d bet his trust fund, and his life, that she at least cared about him. Elissa Wright wasn’t the type of woman to hook up with just any man.
He had to see this fucking note. She could have more to say that she couldn’t bring herself to admit out loud.
Ryan tore through the room until he noticed a scrap of paper on the small desk, his name in her perfect penmanship. With trembling fingers, he opened it.
If it were possible for a heart to stop beating yet a human keep living, Ryan’s would have. It sure as fuck felt like it. For an eternal moment, he stared at the note in his hand, his brain refusing to compute the four simple words.
I can’t do this.
Do what? Sleep with him? Run away from her responsibilities? Stick around?
Love him?
Oh god, she must’ve heard him last night. He should’ve kept it to himself, buried it so far deep even he would forget. Waited until she was ready. Now he’d fucked up the one bright spot in his life. He’d pushed, though he hadn’t meant to, and now she was gone.
It didn’t matter if Elissa Wright was the woman he loved, the woman he was meant to be with, if she didn’t believe it yet. She’d run, leaving him nothing but a broken heart.
From the moment she walked into the Sandpiper, she filled his waking moments. His dreams, too. The thought of her made his heart race, even now, as it stumbled along brokenly. The mere sight of her brought him peace. In her presence, all things were possible.
