She went to Dani’s, as she said she would, but his showing up daily, begging her to come home, was too much for her. Or at least, that was what Dani told him when she spilled the beans about Aliza leaving town for a while. She didn’t say where she was going. Aliza had left no note when she picked up some of her things while he was at work. He came home to find the closet half empty, and Cat looking as though he had lost his best friend. Elias knew exactly how Cat felt because he felt the same way.
He raked a hand through his hair; the exhaustion etched deep into his face. “She went to Dani’s like she said she would, and then—poof, she’s just gone. I showed up at Dani’s every day like an idiot, begging her to come home, and apparently, that was too much for Aliza to take. Dani told me Aliza needed space, that I was overwhelming her. All I want is for her to come home, man.” He laughed harshly. “Instead, she left town, and I have no idea how to find her.”
Jonnas didn’t interrupt. He let Elias burn through the emotions that he had been battling for the last month without Aliza by his side. He had never felt so lost in his entire life, and he wasn’t sure how to fix any of it.
“She didn’t even tell me that she was leaving town,” Elias continued, his voice cracking now despite his effort to keep it together. “There was no goodbye and no explanation as to where she was going or why she was leaving me. She is just gone.” She had even told him that she loved him when she left his place, saying that she just needed a few days to clear her head, and then, she’d be back. Aliza promised him that she wasn’t leaving him, that she just needed time to figure herself out, and he foolishly believed her. He should have insisted that she stay with him and figure it out. He should have promised to give her space and kept his damn word instead of showing up at Dani’s every other minute to check on her.
He leaned back against the counter of the table, staring at nothing. “I came home one night after a surgery, and half the closet was empty. Her clothes, her books, and even the stupid mug she always used were all gone. And Cat—” His throat tightened. “That damn cat walked around for days crying like he’d lost his person.”
Jonnas sighed. “You scared her by showing up around the clock. You promised to give her some space and then showedup there a few times a day. Maybe give her some time to figure things out, and she’ll be back.”
“I know,” Elias snapped, then deflated. “I know. I crossed a line. I told her father about the baby. I thought I was protecting her, and instead I did the one thing she begged me not to do—took her choice away. And when I promised to give her some time and space to figure things out, I fucked that up too by showing up at Dani’s. I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot—just human,” Jonnas said.
He pressed his palms to the counter, shoulders sagging. “I love her, Jonnas. I love her and that baby. And I can’t even fix what I broke.”
Jonnas’s voice softened. “You didn’t break her. You panicked, but that doesn’t make you a villain. She’ll realize that you’re the good guy here, and she’ll be back.”
“It does make me the villain when I’m the one person that she trusted not to control her life,” Elias muttered. Silence stretched between them.
“She’s pregnant,” Elias said again, quieter now, like saying it might anchor him. “My child is out there somewhere, and I don’t even know if either of them is okay.”
Jonnas finally stepped closer, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Listen to me. Aliza is strong. She didn’t disappear because she stopped loving you. She disappeared because she needed to figure some stuff out for herself.”
Elias swallowed hard. “What if she never comes back?”
Jonnas met his gaze. “Then you respect her choice. But I don’t think that’s what her choice will be. That’s not what this is.”
“Then what is it?” Elias almost shouted.
“It’s about a woman who’s been controlled her entire life, learning how to stand on her own two feet,” Jonnas said. “Andyeah—it hurts like hell that you’re not standing right next to her while she does it.”
Elias closed his eyes. “I would wait forever to get her back,” he said hoarsely. “I just wish she’d tell me she’s okay.”
Jonnas nodded. “She will. When she’s ready.” Elias straightened slowly, forcing himself to breathe through the ache in his chest.
“Until then?” he asked.
“Until then,” Jonnas replied, “you stop chasing her. You live your life. And you leave the door open for when she comes home.”
Elias gave a bitter smile. “The fucking door has never been closed.” As he walked out of the breakroom, the hospital humming around him, Elias knew one thing with painful clarity—no matter how much time passed, no matter how far she ran, a part of him would always be waiting for Aliza to come home.
Elias had thrown himself into his work, doubling up on patients and even spending most of his nights at the hospital, sleeping at his office. Going home had become nearly impossible. The only reason he stopped home every day was to feed Cat, which usually ended up being a mistake because Cat was not too happy about being left alone for so long. He could barely take care of himself, and Cat was just going to have to understand that.
The only reason why he was even eating one good meal a day was that Jonnas brought him lunch every day and ate with him. If he tried to get out of their lunch date, Jonnas would threaten to sit on him until he ate his fucking lunch. He was a good friend, and Elias was ashamed that he had ever doubted that fact.
He had just finished his last surgery for the day when his pager started going crazy in his pocket. He was old school and liked to use a pager, even though some of the younger doctors referred to him as a dinosaur for doing so. He pulled his pager out of his pocket and looked at it, feeling a bit confused.
ER consult — OB concern — Becker, A.
He didn’t do OB consults, and he wasn’t an ER doctor, so he must have gotten the page by accident. But then, he saw the patient's name attached to the end of the message, and his heart stopped.
For a split second, his world felt as though it had narrowed to the sharp beeping of monitors and the metallic smell of antiseptic. His mind was racing as his pulse was roaring in his ears. Could Aliza really be in the ER? Was the baby okay? Was she all right? So many questions rolled around his head, and all he could do was hurry to the ER to get to her.
He ran to the elevator, checking the pager message again. Becker, A. Could it really be her? The elevator ride felt as though it took forever to reach the ER, and as soon as the doors opened, he was standing in the hallway, trying to calm his mind in the chaos around him and figure out where Aliza could be.
He didn’t bother checking at the registration desk for her. Instead, he grabbed a nurse, showed her his pager, and asked where the patient was. She pointed to the hallway on the right and told him that she was in room 213. He was down the hallway and halfway to the room before she could say anything else, or anyone could stop him.
