Page 79 of Lose You to Find Me

There’s no way I’m talking about Emma given how our conversation about her last time ended. “How are you feeling?”

Her eyes drop to her lap. “A little better since they gave me pain meds.” She rubs her arm and fidgets with the heart rate monitor attached to her finger. “I called my mom. Or…I meant to.”

But she didn’t. She called me. Whether subconsciously or on accident. “She wasn’t home.”

Raine shakes her head. “She’s out a lot.”

We’re quiet, save for the machine beeping between us.

My ex breaks the silence. “I’m sorry you’re here.”

One of my brows arches. “I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be my line in this scenario.”

Her lips quiver at the corners. “Still…”

More silence.

We sit like that for a few minutes, staring at the curtains as if we’re both willing the doctor to come. When another minute or two goes by and nobody saves either of us from the awkwardness, I shift my body toward her.

“Who was it?”

Her eyes shoot to me. “Who was—”

“Who did you sleep with?”

I see her throat work with a nervous swallow. “You don’t know him, Caleb. Does his name really matter?”

It does to me.

I don’t know why, but it does.

“His name is Cody,” she tells me, taking me by surprise. I guess I thought she would bullshit me. Lie. Tell me it didn’t matter. “I met him in Radcliff.”

Of course. That’s the only place she could have met somebody without me knowing.

Sitting back in the chair, I cross my arms on my chest and process this.Cody.Guess she has a thing for C names.

“And no,” she adds, causing me to look back over at her. “To answer your question from the other day in the hospital. It wasn’t worth it. None of it was.”

I’m about to ask what she means when the doctor finally walks in. “Ms. Copelin? I’m Dr. Matthews. I’m on call tonight.”

When Raine glances nervously at me, I don’t know what she’s going to say. But it doesn’t surprise me when she asks, “Can you go get me something to drink from the vending machine?”

She doesn’t need any more fluids, but I stand anyway with a dip of my chin. Being a dick to her wouldn’t get me anywhere right now, so I’ll comply. “I’ll come back in a bit.”

Her smile is tight, but I know there’s appreciation in her eyes when they meet mine.

The entire way out of the room, I can only think of the name she gave me, wondering if she ever brought it up in the past without me realizing its significance.

“Fuck,” I groan, scrubbing my tired eyes.

I really need to stop asking questions that I don’t want the answers to.

*

A few dayslater, I walk up to Anders Hardware to see DJ waiting for me to unlock the front door, with two cups of coffee in his hands. “I had to sweet-talk Bea for these bad boys. She was cranky this morning because of something Elena did. Don’t ask me what. I could barely hear anything besides her grumbling under her breath. Something about a dented car. I even tried my famous smile that Skylar says gets me everything. Apparently, it doesn’t work on Bea.”

Helping me turn on the lights, he sets one of the drinks down on the counter while I get the computer started. “I’m pretty sure Aiden is the only one who could get a reaction from her with a single smile.”

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