I was imagining things.
But I wasn’t imagining her.
At least, I didn’t think so.
I blinked at that halo of light and?—
I recognized her!
Deep in my memory, Isawher. I just didn’t know how?—
“Who are you?” I rasped, only just refraining from askingwhatshe was too.
Her cute button nose wrinkled as waves of silvery gray danced around her shoulders. “You don’t know me,” the stranger dismissed, unaware that I could dismiss nothing where she was concerned. Her delicate beauty had me in as much of a thrall as those wide-set, gray-green eyes urged me to dive into them. “But I wanted to check on you. See how you’re doing. I figured it was strange when I heard they hadn’t discharged you before I got back.”
Got back?
“You thought I’d be dead?” I wheezed.
“No. People in your tax bracket can afford treatment at home.”
Tracing that mesmerizing glow around her, I continued blinking. “You weren’t one of my nurses?”
I had to verbalize the question because aside from the scrubs, I didn’t even know if she was a nurse. I guessed it made sense for angels to work in hospitals… Talk about prime hunting ground.
“No. I work in the ER,” she answered cheerfully. Lips I needed to taste curved into a smirk. “Just FYI, you should probably fasten that zipper before you leave.”
“Who are you?” I repeated, half-certain she was about to fade into the ether.
My fingers curled in on themselves as I fought the desire to reach out so I could keep her here. With me. I wanted to touch her. To see if she was really there.
It wouldn’t be the first time my work triggered a hallucination, and with the buzzing in my head from bending over to put on my goddamn jeans, passing out was a possibility. But… she had to be real.
“I’m nobody. Truly.” Her eyes twinkled, further ensnaring me in her web.Cristu,the color reminded me of the waves crashing into the cove below our villa in Catania— “I just wanted to check in before the doctors discharged you. I’m glad to see you on your feet.”
With that, she twisted on her heel and...disappeared.
It was so abrupt that it left me gaping at the doorway where she’d hovered.
I swallowed as the light seemed to return to normal, that glow fading into the sharp LED illumination I’d acclimated to during my ‘stay.’
A part of me wasn’t sure what had just happened.
She’d seemed real, but… she’d definitely disappeared.
One blink andpoof.No more.
Christ, was Luc right?
Did I need to be put in a psych hold?
And if shewasa ghost, why didn’t Evangeline visit me? OrPatri? And what about that ring of light around her head—a halo?
Desperate to confirm the sanctity of my sanity, I darted out of the room to trace her path.
But she’d gone.
I rushed to the end of the hall, hoping to see that head of silvery gray hair. No dice. I tried the other four corridors too, but there was no trace of her.
