Page 65 of Finding Our Reality

Despite herself, she smiles softly at our familiar game of words. “I had a hip replacement.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “A hip replacement. When?”

“The fall after I left town. November.”

“You had a hip replacement when you were eighteen? Why?”

“I was in a car accident. I was driving and someone hit me. My hip was basically crushed by the driver-side door.”

I can’t even wrap my head around the words coming from her mouth. I drag my hand across my face, scratching my facial hair. “Shit. But you’re okay? You don’t limp,” I say, stating the obvious. “You’re okay, right?”

Please say you’re okay. Please. Please. Please.

“I’m fine. I had an excellent surgeon. It was a long recovery, but I’m all good. My hip doesn’t hurt at all.”

My woman nearly died. My Lulu nearly died. No wonder Ridge said she was strong.

I should’ve been there. But I wasn’t.

Hudson was.

“It happened in Michigan? When you were with Hudson?”

She nods, holding out her hand for a fresh tissue. I pull one from the box on the coffee table and give it to her, waiting on her to blow her nose. “He wasn’t in the car with me, no. But the wreck did happen when we were married, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. You freaked out when I didn’t tell you about my injury. And then you keep something like this from me?”

“That’s different, and you know it. A car accident is just that—an accident. Someone wasn’t actively trying to kill me. I wasn’t laying my life on the line to protect someone else. My body has healed, Ry. You still have pieces of metal coming out of your body.”

It’s a moot point to argue with her about that. So I choose something else to argue about instead. “Wanna tell me why you let me think Ridge was some new boyfriend?”

Poking her stubborn little chin in the air, she squints her eyes. “To make you jealous. Is that what you wanna hear?”

“Is that the truth? Because if it is, your plan succeeded.”

She snorts, making herself cough. “Truth. That’s always been a scary word around us, hasn’t it?” She flops back against the couch pillow and flings her arm over her eyes. “And by the way, that’s a rhetorical question, Ry. I don’t have the energy for that fight tonight.”

I don’t think I have the energy for it, either. Even though I know damn well what the truth is.

I slap my hands against my thighs and stand up. “You need to eat. I’m fixing you some soup.” I grab her empty water cup and head over to the kitchen, smiling when she whines.

Just a few minutes later, I return with chicken noodle soup, crackers, and a fresh glass of ice water. It’s no use; she’s passed out. Breathing deeply, her chest heaves up and down in her sleep, and I’m glad to see the red fever in her cheeks has dimmed. Setting everything on the table, I sit on the end of the couch. Lifting her lower legs, I hold her feet in my lap, making sure to keep my hands on top of the blanket. The last thing I need tonight is another raging boner from the feel of her bare skin.

I study the curve of her body, the peaceful look on her face, the lines of her collarbone peeking out from the collar of my old T-shirt. Like I said, I know the truth. The truth is she’s the love of my life. Always has been, always will be.

I love her.

Tucking the blanket around her, I whisper into her dreams. “You’re mine, Lulu. All mine. Never before and never after. There’s only you. And now, I just have to make you realize it too.”

I chuckle. “Game on.”

Chapter 22

ELLA

Today is going to be a shitty day.

I knew it when I went to sleep last night, and I knew it the second I woke up. This date is always a shitty day. Trust me, more difficult anniversaries are coming up, but this day still sucks. And despite the good times, rekindling friendship, and building sexual tension between me and Ry over the past few months, there’s not going to be anything he can say or do to make this day any better.

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