She stands, and for a second I think she's coming over. Instead, she grabs her medical bag, throws cash on the table for coffee she never ordered, and heads for the door.
But she stops. Turns. Looks at me with those exhausted brown eyes that have seen too much.
"Sal's Diner," she says quietly. "Tomorrow. Noon. Public, lots of witnesses, no freezers."
"You sure?"
"No. But I'm coming anyway."
She leaves, and I sit there processing what just happened. The Ghost Clinic angel is my Angel. Lena Cruz saves lives in diners while covered in other people's blood. The woman I'm falling for is the same one my MC wants to protect and her brother's MC would go to war over.
My phone buzzes.
Ghost:Find anything?
Still tracking. Will update soon.
Ghost:Good. That nurse is priority one.
Yeah. She is. Just not the way Ghost thinks.
I text Lena:
Tomorrow. Noon. I'll be there.
Angel:No freezers.
No freezers. Maybe actual food this time.
Angel:I just saved someone's life and you want to talk about food?
I want to talk about you. How you didn't hesitate. How you knew exactly what to do. How you brought someone back from death like it was normal.
Angel:It is normal. For me.
Nothing about you is normal.
Angel:That's not a compliment.
It's the highest compliment I've got.
Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.
Angel:My brother's suspicious. This is dangerous.
Everything about us has been dangerous from day one.
Angel:This is different. This is real.
She's right. Texts were one thing. Voice calls another. Even the freezer was survival. But tomorrow? Tomorrow is a choice. A conscious decision to walk into disaster.
Real is better than safe.
Angel:Real might get us killed.
Then we die interesting.
Angel:That's not reassuring.
