Page 64 of From Rivals to I Do

“Let him try to remember that part on his own,” Noah replies.

“Mitch told you about this dating app, and y’all started talking,” Zack says. “Then you guys went out on some dates, and the day of the accident you made it official.”

“The ranch hand told me about it?” I ask.

“Mm-hmm,” Noah agrees.

“Wow. . . me, on a dating app?” I say with a laugh. “That’s so weird.”

“A bit,” Noah says with a nod. “But whatever makes you happy is fine with us.”

I’m absolutely blown away. I have a girlfriend, of all things, I think to myself, and then I suddenly feel a gnawing at the pit of my stomach.

Guilt.

It’s no wonder why that poor woman is on the verge of tears half the time she’s around me, I think to myself. I mean, honestly, that has to be so hard, being with someone who doesn’t remember you. It’s even worse because she seems so nice, on top of being a total babe.

My brain really needs to kick into gear. Losing a woman like her would be tragic.

I ran into the bathroom after leaving Eli’s room, closed myself into the stall, and started to cry. It’s hard hearing him flirt with me when I feel so deeply for him, and he doesn’t even recall what we have. As if what we had wasn’t ever real, only my imagination.

However, I don’t have time to sit around and mope, I have work to do. Both with my other patients and snooping on the hospital computer.

Oddly enough, my friend in the IT department at the hospital back home had taught me how to hack into the systems to look at things if I needed to. Mostly because I’d had a sneaking suspicion before I found the beast and the harlot together that something may have been amiss. However, it helped with other things too—like seeing schedules or peeking at patient records. It wasn’t something I would normally do, but I needed to know what was going on with the Eli debacle. Because the more I thought about it, the more it just didn’t make sense.

I’m not sure if my little skillset will work at Thistleberry Medical, but they use the same system as back home. So, it’s safe to assume that it will. And when I finally get a free moment and the other girls are busy, I pounce at the chance to dig up some information.

I steal a cautionary glance around the ward before I sink my teeth into it, tinkering around with the computer. At first, I was unsure if I could get the access I needed, but then I entered the repair tech’s login that I remembered.

Bingo.

We are in baby.

Okay, Elijah Garcia. . . edited two days ago, deceased. Editing was done by. . . Doctor Trachner. That tracks. But there’s no trail leading back to the prior edit.

Strange, there should be.

I switch to Eli’s record, and I root around like a pig looking for truffles in the dirt. Once again, I can see the edit from Doctor Trachner, this time approved by the head of the hospital, Doctor Joseph Harrison. . . and then my eyes pop open when I see it.

Doctor Joseph Harrison was the one to override the edit and switch Eli and Elijah.

But why? Why would the head of the hospital do such a thing, and intentionally? I need to speak to Doctor Harrison and see what the deal is.

“Hey, Rosita?” I call out as she passes by.

“Yes?”

“I need like half an hour, I have to talk to HR about an issue,” I say. “Are you and Heather okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she replies. “Just try to be back before rounds. Ms. Keenan is really testy and demanding.”

“Sure, of course,” I say as I log out of the computer and hurry to the elevator. Something about this stinks like a scared polecat, and I want to know why.

As the metal box lurches to a halt at the top floor, every muscle in my body feels so tense it’s like I’m on fire. The door slowly slides open, and I exit. Even though I know this is the only way to figure this thing out, I’m scared to death of taking it head-on.

As much as I love Eli, I really need this job. It’s what’s keeping my house afloat and food on my table. So, as I walk to the receptionist’s desk, I’m already trying to come up with a scheme as to how I can be both sweet and direct at the same time. One false move that the director doesn’t like, and that could mean the unemployment line.

“Can I help you?” the young lady at the desk asks.

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