“His sourdough is the best. I hate him for that.”
April and I both laugh.
Eventually, Aiden’s friends finish their visits and drift back out into the hallway. April and Max head in to spend a few minutes with him while Finn and I lie back in our chairs, our stomachs full and deeply satisfied.
“Thank you,” I tell Finn after a moment, turning toward him. “For being so kind to me today… despite—”
The sentence trails off, unable to finish it. He glances at me.
“Despite the fact that you don’t like me in the same way I like you, and you’ve chosen my biggest rival to fall in love with?”
I blink at him, startled by his straightforwardness.
“I don’t think I’ve reached that conclusion myself yet,” I admit honestly.
“Lass,” he says with a crooked smile, “it’s fairly clear you’re in love with the bastard, and he’s clearly in love with you. It’s pretty sickening if you ask me.”
I nudge him lightly with my elbow, my cheeks warming despite myself, which only makes him chuckle.
“Look,” he continues after a moment, his voice softening, “that bastard has one job now, and that’s to make you happy. If he doesn’t, he’ll be answering to me.”
A little while later, April and Max step back out of Aiden’s room, and we finally say our goodbyes for the night. I promise to keep them updated before they head home to get some rest, while Finn lingers a few minutes longer beside me, making me promise that I’ll send him a message if anything changes before he finally leaves with the quiet assurance that he’ll stop by tomorrow.
When the hallway falls silent again, I walk back into Aiden’s room and close the door behind me, the soft click echoing faintly in the quiet space.
For the first time all day, it’s just the two of us.
The moment our eyes meet, that familiar flutter rises again inside my chest, the one that has been living quietly beneath the surface ever since the day I met him. Though it’s only now that I finally understand what that feeling really is.
It’s terrifying and exhilarating all at once.
I pause by the door for a moment before he pats the bed beside him.
“Come here.”
I walk toward him and start to sit down on the edge of the bed, but he lifts his arm slightly, inviting me closer, so I climb carefully onto the bed beside him, curling up against his side with my face resting against his neck while my arm wraps loosely around him.
He exhales slowly.
“The doctor said I have to stay warm,” he murmurs. “So I suppose it’s your job now to make sure that happens at all times.”
A quiet laugh slips out of me.
“You really scared me today.”
His hand moves slowly along my back.
“I know,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
I stay close to him, committing the moment to memory.
After a few seconds, he speaks again. “Captain Brewer told me it was Finn who rescued me.”
I lift my head, my eyes widening.
“You didn’t know?”
He shakes his head.
