She rounds the corner, nearly bumping into me, before I can walk away and pretend I wasn’t listening in. Startled, she drops her phone in her hand and it lands on the floor with a crash.

“I’m so sorry!” I quickly reach down to grab it the same time she does and we bump heads. Jesus.

“Oh, are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. Again. Geez. I hadn’t meant to run into you.”

“Oh, it’s not your fault. I was distracted and not paying attention.” I raise my brow, shocked that she’s taking the blame when it was clearly my own fault.

“Oh? Is everything okay?” I ask, hoping she’ll tell me what the phone call was all about.

“Natalia fell from the monkey bars at school and they think she broke her ankle. They’re at the hospital now waiting on x-rays.”

“Oh no,” I shriek. “If you need to leave, I can stay late.”

“No, it’s okay, dear, but thank you. Morgan’s going to call me as soon as he knows.”

“She must be so scared,” I mutter, mostly to myself. And he must be freaking out right now.

She pats me on the shoulder, her eyes soft and genuine. “She’ll be okay.” I nod. “Your shift over?”

“Yeah, I was just going to go clock out.”

“Well, have a great night.” I watch as she walks away.

As I’m driving back home, I can’t get Natalia out of my head. She’s a lot like me, and I think that’s why we bonded so well. She’s felt loss and has had trouble grieving, expressing her feelings through anger instead of processing it.

And if I’m totally honest, I really miss her.

I’ve missed Morgan every single day, but I hadn’t realized how much of us I missed. Just hanging out at his place, eating and watching movies. Natalia was a little stiff at first, but she easily came around. She accepted me, and I hadn’t realized how attached I got in such a short amount of time.

I drive past my apartment building and head to the hospital instead. Morgan may be off-limits, but checking up on Natalia isn’t. I want to see her even if he hates my guts right now. I’m sure she doesn’t understand why I suddenly just stopped coming around either.

I walk into the emergency room entrance and stop at the registration desk to ask about her. They tell me she’s in a room and waiting on x-rays still.

“Can I see her?” I ask, eagerness in my voice.

“Are you a relative?”

“Yeah, I’m her aunt.”

“Oh, okay. Her uncle’s in there already with her. She’s in bed seven.” She points me in the direction. “Right down that hallway.”

“Thank you,” I say in a rush, already walking down the hallway before she figures out I’m lying.

My heart races as I think about seeing Morgan face to face. He’s avoided eye contact with me as much as possible, but this time would be unavoidable.

I stand in front of her door, inhale deeply, and knock. “Come in,” his rough voice demands.

I push the door open and immediately see his intense green eyes widen as he realizes it’s me.

“Aspen!” Natalia’s voice directs me to her where she’s laying on the hospital bed, her leg covered in blankets and ice packs as she chews on an orange popsicle.

“Hi,” I say hesitantly. “I hope it’s okay I came.” I direct my attention back to Morgan, but he stays silent as he stares at me. “I heard what happened and wanted to make sure she was okay.”

“Hell, yes, it’s okay you’re here,” Natalia answers for him and he scolds her for her language.

“Dude, they have Xbox here!” she shouts enthusiastically and once Morgan gives me his nod of approval, I step to the side of her bed.

“Well, that’s exciting.” I flash her a sympathetic look. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, but the school called Morgan and he rushed me here like an overbearing mama lion.”

“You’re not fine,” Morgan interrupts with a firm tone. “Your ankle swelled up to the size of a watermelon.”

My body shudders at the image. “Are you in a lot of pain?”

“I was until they gave me some meds.”

“Ahh…” I smile. “Explains why you’d feel fine now.”

She shrugs and cracks an unapologetic smile, finishing up her popsicle that’s turned her lips orange.

A nurse comes in and instructs us that she’s taking Natalia to x-ray now. Morgan kisses her forehead, and I squeeze her hand. “Good luck.” I wink at her and she winks back.

The nurse rolls her bed out of the room, leaving the two of us behind in awkward silence. We haven’t spoken since the breakup and now there were no students or easels to buffer between us.

“How are—”

“You look—”

We both blurt out at the same time, nerves fluttering through my body. We both laugh, mine more awkward because I feel him staring intensely at me. I can barely take my eyes off the floor, but at the sound of his amused laugh, I peek up at him.

God, he looks good.

He always looks good. But I see the pain in his eyes at me being here.

“Thanks for not kicking me out. I just really wanted to see Natalia.”

“She’s been asking about you. I knew she’d be happy to see you.”

I nod with a smile. “I should get going. I hope everything turns out okay.” I lower my head and begin walking back out the door when he stops me.

“Aspen, wait.” His words come out frantic. I stop but don’t turn around. He pauses shortly before speaking. “Thanks for coming,” he finally says, and I hear the agony in his voice as it cracks. It nearly cripples me.

Painfully, I silently nod and continue walking out of the room. Every step I take is another wound to my heart that I’m not sure will ever heal.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

MORGAN

Natalia was sent home in a cast and restricted to using crutches four weeks ago and has another four weeks left. Thank God, because her hormonal mood swings are driving me insane.

She’s not happy about it at all since school is ending for her soon and she’ll have to spend part of her summer on the couch, but once I bribed her with her own Amazon account to buy books and magazines, she perked right up.

I’ve seen Aspen in class twice a week for the past month and it’s been the worst few weeks of my life. Nothing compares to seeing her at the hospital after that first week, only inches away from me, and not being able to touch her. I so desperately wanted to wrap my arms around her, kiss her lips, and beg her to say we can work this out.

On top of that, Claire’s been glued to my hip more than usual. Always ‘popping’ into my office to say hello or invite me out to lunch or coffee. I’ve turned her down every time, saying I was too busy with grades or was bowing out early to run errands. She smiles and says ‘Okay, maybe next time’ and I always agree, but I have no intention of ever being alone with that woman again if I can help it.

After my brief and pathetic lunch break, I head back into my office and notice a note left on top of my desk. For a split second, I anticipate seeing Aspen’s handwriting but know she’d either call or text me if she had something to say.

I flip it open and sigh when I see it’s from Claire. Another invite I have to decline.

Why can’t this woman just get the damn point?

Instead of calling and rejecting her, I head down to her office to put an end to this once and for all.

Her office is just down the hall from mine, but when I reach it, I hear her voice on the other side of the door speaking loudly on the phone.

I can’t hear what the person on the line is saying, but her voice is so nasally, it echoes through the door with each loud syllable.

“Oh yeah, she totally bought it. Stupid undergraduate twit.” She starts laughing as the other person speaks. “Well, no, not yet. But he’s coming around. In fact, I’m pretty sure we’ll be hooking up by summer. It only gives me a couple more weeks, but hell, look at me. He won’t be able to resist for long. He’ll be over that Aspen girl the moment I get him alone.” My blood boils at the sound of her name. She’s talking about me and Aspen…and something she did.