Page 68 of Texting My Valentine

“Did you?” I counter.

She bites her lip. “In the moment, it felt true. But fate… Valentine’s… I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?” I demand, my voice growing fierce.

“It sounds like the sort of thing Mom would fall for.”

“Except you’re notfalling foranything,” I say. “I’m not lying to you. I’d never lie to yo?—”

My cell phone rings.

I sigh. “I need to get this. That’s the ringtone I use for Catelina. Elliot might need me.”

“Yes, yes. Get it,” she says quickly.

Her eyes register fear. I know what she’s thinking. Has Damien somehow got his hands on Elliot? I answer the call.

“Alex,” Cat says. “Elliot is home from his friend’s. He told me he took a tumble on his bike and said he wasn’t hurt. But now he’s having trouble closing his fist. I think maybe something is wrong?”

“Thanks for calling, Cat,” I say, relieved that Damien isn’t the problem. “Take him to the hospital. I’ll meet you there.”

“The hospital?” Tori says once I’ve hung up, sounding strangled with fear. “Oh, God. What’s happened? Is he going to be okay?”

Her concern touches me. “Hey, relax. He just fell off his bike, that’s all. It sounds like he might’ve fractured something.”

“Oh.” She lets out a trembling breath.

“It’s sweet, Tori,” I say, standing and offering my hand. “How much you care about him.”

CHAPTER 23

TORI

“Would you mind going and sitting with Elliot?” Alex asks when we arrive. “I’ll tell Cat she can head home for the evening… and go and see if any nurses are available.”

“Sure,” I say, walking to where Elliot and Cat sit. “Cat, I think Alex wants to talk with you.”

“Hey, Tori,” Elliot says, gently holding his injured arm.

“Hey, little man. What happened?”

He rolls his eyes, seeming older than ten for a moment, as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders. “I don’t even know. My bike is usually pretty solid. It’s a good bike. I got it for my birthday. Uncle Alex helped me choose it. But the front wheel got all wobbly out of nowhere, and then it buckled, and I went flying over the handlebars. Tori, it’s like, it didn’t even hurt before I got home. How weird is that?”

I look across the hospital’s waiting room at Alex, looking dashing in his suit. “Sometimes things take a while to sink in,” I mutter.

“Like you and Uncle Alex, you mean, huh? I’m not stupid.”

I laugh, ruffling his hair. He giggles, and it feels so normal. Alex looks over at us, a smile instantly reshaping his features. My body is still aching from what we did on the beach. My mind and heart alight by what we said, too.

“How would you feel about that?” I ask carefully.

“He smiles a lot more when you’re around,” Elliot says. “I think you and him are neat.”

“Neat,” I mutter.

I know he meansneat,as incool. But I can’t help but think of the other meaning. Orderly, logical, something that makes sense. I’m not so sure we qualify as that.

Soon, Alex joins us, leaning down and hugging Elliot. “What happened, little man?”

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