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“Hi.”

“You look tired.”

“I am,” she said simply.

“Go home and get some sleep.”

“I wanted to see you,” she admitted. “See how you are.”

“I’m better now.”

“Still a charmer.”

I smiled. “Especially for you.”

“I hear you walked today. Sat up for a little while. Gilda said you were a model patient.”

“I told you I’d behave. You didn’t come see me during your shift.”

“I peeked in. You were with your dad, and you were talking on your phone. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

I grimaced. “Proof of life for the family. I had to talk to all my siblings. Then the aunts and uncles, but luckily it was a group Zoom.” I squeezed her hand. “Aiden says hello.”

“He’s great. He was very kind to me.”

“I told them all to stay away, Maddy.”

“What?”

“I told them to leave you alone. Not to bother you. Aiden wanted to keep checking on you. My parents as well. I said no. I didn’t want you upset or distracted.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “We don’t need to talk about that right now, Matthew. I want you to get well.”

“I am. I will. But we have to talk about it in order to move forward.”

Her gaze skittered away, then met mine before dropping. “Are we?” she asked. “Moving forward?”

“Hey.” I waited until her eyes met mine. “I still love you. I told you so. I want to try. If you do as well.”

“I thought maybe you were just reacting. I mean, you were ill, scared⁠—”

I shook my head, tugging her hand gently so she moved closer. “No. I meant it.” I swallowed, feeling my nerves kick in. “I heard you.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“Before I went under. I heard you tell me you loved me too.”

“Matthew, we have so much to talk about. So much time has passed, so much has changed⁠—”

“We weren’t right then. You needed to be free to concentrate. You were thousands of miles away.” I stared at her. “I didn’t want to walk away from you. It killed me. Do you know how often I had to stop myself from calling you? I wrote you a hundred emails and texts I never sent. I was so proud of you on graduation day. You looked so beautiful, and I⁠—”

She cut me off. “You were there?”

“Of course I was. I wasn’t going to miss your graduation. I flew in and out the same day. Back up north where I was volunteering. But I had to see you finish your dream.”

“The flowers you sent were incredible.”

“That was the only concession I allowed myself. You were done, so I thought it would be okay to remind you I was out there.”