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I remembered the dismissal. That’s cute.

I remembered this morning and the way he’d looked at me like I was beautiful.

I didn’t know which version was real. Maybe people were capable of care and self-sabotage in equal measure.

Pretty quick, I was going to have to decide if he was worth taking a risk.

I left at 6:30, tired in a bone-deep way that had nothing to do with how many patients I’d seen.

The parking lot was mostly empty, the sun starting to dip below the building’s edge, casting long shadows across the pavement.

I was halfway to my car when I heard footsteps behind me.

“Ellie.”

I turned.

Brashe stood a few feet away, dressed in gray sweatpants and a team hoodie, his hands shoved into his pockets, his expression unreadable.

“Hi,” I said, all I could think of, because my brain had given up on sophisticated vocabulary.

“I laminated it.”

I blinked. “What?”

He pulled the instruction sheet from his hoodie pocket, awkwardly folded. He’d sealed it in plastic, the creases permanent, the paper protected.

“You were right,” he said. “I needed to.”

“I was joking.”

“I wasn’t.”

A laugh bubbled up before I could stop it. “You actually laminated it?”

“I did.” He stepped closer. “And I did the pool work again this afternoon. It felt good. Different than the table work.”

“That’s the point. Buoyancy allows easier range of motion.”

“Very clinical, Dr. Lundrig.”

“I’m a clinical person.”

“Are you?”

I took in the way he was holding himself, careful but hopeful, like he was afraid to want this but couldn’t stop himself.

“I’m trying to be,” I said.

“That makes two of us.”

Silence stretched between us, the kind that felt full instead of empty.

“I’m not sorry about this morning.” His voice dropped lower. “I’m sorry if I made things harder for you. But I’m not sorry it happened.”

“Me neither.” The words came out barely above a whisper.

His face shifted, the careful mask he wore loosening enough that I could see what was underneath. Hope. Fear. The same wanting that had been burning in my chest since he’d touched my temple in the pool.