“Brett, why all the questions? What do you want to know?”

He waited so long she thought he was going to stand her up for an answer again. “I want to know you’re happy, El.”

She believed him. And said, “I’m on my way there—to being happy.”

Because she wasn’t going to live the rest of her life without joy.

Even if she had to live it without Brett.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ONE GOOD THING came of Brett’s disastrous stop at the Bistro Saturday night. He was able to tell Jeff that progress was being made. That Chloe was in daily counseling and doing much better. He’d had to tell Jeff that, no, he hadn’t spoken to Chloe personally, and no, no one had said whether Chloe had asked about him.

They’d all agreed that Chloe would have this time to herself without contact with Jeff. And Jeff agreed that it should be left at that.

He and his college roommate had scheduled a golf game near Anaheim for the following weekend, and by the time Brett hung up Sunday evening, he was convinced that Jeff was doing better.

Work awaited him in his hotel room Sunday night. With a 6:00 a.m. flight out of LAX to New York, he didn’t have time to waste. Flipping open his laptop, he turned it on. Turned on his tablet, too.

And picked up his cell phone.

Ella might be out. He just needed to know.

So he’d quit thinking about her.

“Hello?”

“It’s me.”

“I know.”

The lights blazed brightly in his luxurious hotel room. He closed his eyes against the glare and was back on a boat, in the dark...

“I just wanted to apologize. If I made you feel awkward, I had no right...”

“You’re right, you didn’t.”

Okay, good. “So...you’re having a good weekend?”

“Yes.”

“Are you with Chloe?” It was a reasonable question. To know if, when she answered his questions, she had an audience.

“No. But I was going to call you tomorrow. Chloe would like to see Jeff, just for a visit, sometime in the next couple weeks.”

They arranged a meeting for a week from the coming Thursday—almost two weeks away. At Brett’s house. Jeff would expect Chloe to be coming in from LA. Chloe wanted the meeting to be someplace private, but also neutral.

And clearly, it couldn’t happen at Ella’s. Jeff would know instantly where Chloe was staying. He’d also know that his sister had been lying to him all this time.

So...fine. They’d had business to discuss. It was good he’d called. Now he could get to work.

“Why did you call, Brett?”

As he sat, bent over, elbows on his knees, staring at his shoes in the plush beige carpet, he measured his words. “Just to know that you’re okay.” He was sure about that.

“No, what do you really want? Clearly it bothered you to see me with Jason last night. You want to talk about it?”

The man had a name. It was Jason.

Not a bad name.

“It just...”

“Look, it’s okay to admit that you didn’t like seeing your ex-wife with another man. You’re human for God’s sake, Brett. You’re going to feel emotion every now and then.”

“I just...”

“Just tell me one thing.”

“If I can.”

“Did it change anything for you? Where we’re concerned? Seeing me with Jason. Are you interested in exploring any kind of a relationship with me at all?”

He was interested in having sex with her again. As soon as possible. And then again after that. And maybe for the rest of his life.

“The only reason we’ve been back in touch was for Jeff and Chloe. You didn’t even know until you called that Chloe was ready to see Jeff. Which means there was no reason for your call...unless something’s changed...”

She knew him well. And was calling him out in a way she never had in the past.

“No, El.” He heard the words he knew were true. “Nothing’s changed.”

He heard the click on the other end of the line and realized he didn’t even know where she’d been talking to him from.

Or if she’d have someone there to wipe away the tears he’d heard in her voice when she’d asked him that last question.

* * *

ELLA DIDN’T HEAR from Brett again during her day off and told herself that she was firmly over him as she dressed in yellow scrubs with kitty cats Tuesday morning. Brett hadn’t called, but Jason had. He invited her to lunch in the hospital cafeteria on Tuesday. A big step. They were going to be seen together in a nonworking moment in front of their peers. Some had already seen them together at the Bistro. It wasn’t like there was anything to hide.

Still, Ella hadn’t really been ready to broadcast their dating status to the entire hospital. It wasn’t as if they’d agreed to be exclusive or anything.

But she accepted the invitation. It was all well and good to talk about getting on with her life, but the words meant nothing if she turned her back on opportunities to do so.

Which was why she greeted Jason with a more intimate smile than she might have otherwise when he arrived to pick her up, ten minutes later than scheduled. He leaned forward, as though he might kiss her cheek, and her pager sounded. A 911.

From the emergency room.

Which meant that someone had asked for her specifically.

Jason went with her to see what was wrong.

Ella’s heart raced the entire time she stood in the elevator. Standing beside her, Jason waited for other staff members to exit the car when it stopped on the sixth floor, and then, when they were alone, held her hand the rest of the way down.

“The page was from a nurse,” she said.

“Someone you know?”

She shook her head.

There’d been no callback number given.

Just a 911 to emergency.

“Maybe it was a mistake.”

She’d already tried Chloe. Had been sent to voice mail. So she’d sent a text, just checking in, she’d said, not wanting to alarm her sister-in-law if she wasn’t involved.

She was in a children’s hospital. She didn’t know any other children but Cody.

A nurse was waiting for her when Ella got off the elevator. “We have an adult female. We tried to get her to the hospital,” the young woman said, referring to the Santa Raquel general hospital, as the children’s hospital couldn’t treat adults except in cases of severe emergency, “but she wouldn’t budge until she saw you. Dr. Johnson has her in triage, just until we get her out of here. She just walked in off the street, and she’s got a baby...”

Chloe?

At a run now, beside the other woman, Ella made it to the examining room first. She pushed inside.

Horror immediately followed relief. It wasn’t Chloe.

The woman was Nora Burbank. One eye swollen shut. Her mouth misshapen. Her nose obviously broken. But she clutched her son to her and wouldn’t let go.

“You need to take him to The Lemonade Stand.” The words were obviously difficult for Nora to speak, but clear for all to hear. “Please. I’m asking you to babysit him for me. Just for tonight.”

“What happened, Nora?” Ella took the baby, but didn’t break eye contact with his mother.

“Who did this to you?”

She wanted it on record. With Jason and the other hospital staff present as witnesses.

“Ted did. But I saved him,” she said, looking at her baby. “I saved Henry, Ella. Ted didn’t touch him.”

The baby put his finger in Ella’s mouth. And when she grinned at him, he grinned back.

“Okay,” she said, making an instant decision. “I’ll take him home with me. I’ll babysit him. But I’m also going to call the High Risk team, and you’re going to let these people get you in an ambulance and straight to the hospital.”

Nora nodded. “I’ll go. I just need you to keep Henry. I saved him. I’m a good mom. And I want to live at The Lemonade Stand until I can get us back on our feet.”

Ella had some phone calls to make. Detective Sanchez first, to get Ted Burbank in custody. Their child protective services delegate. Lila McDaniels. But first, she put an arm around Nora, kissed the woman’s head and told her that she was, indeed, a good mother.