Page 24 of If Tomorrow Never Comes

Jamie relaxed a little, and Hank jerked forward to lick her face, pushing her into the grass.

“Hank!” Jamie tugged him back. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” Elliott held her hand out as if to say she wanted him back, laughing. “I love dogs. I miss having one around.”

Jamie relented, loosening the leash several inches. Hank tucked himself right next to Elliott and rolled onto his back.

“You want a belly rub, huh?”

Jamie registered a feeling of contentment at the revelation she liked Hank and immediately dismissed the thought. He didn’t care if she liked dogs or not. He stood beside them for a minute, felt awkward being the only one standing, then sat a few feet away.

As she slid her hand along Hank’s soft fur, she glanced up at Jamie. Her gray eyes moved back and forth between his, waiting.

“I just wanted you to know I wasn’t with Carly that night.” The words tumbled out in a rush, and his neck prickled with heat. “When we first met.”

Something flickered in her expression, and he couldn’t decipher its meaning. She kept her attention on him as she steadily swept her hands across Hank’s fur, listening.

“I’ve known her a long time and we’d dated before, back in college. But we were one hundred percent not together that night.” He gripped the back of his neck. “I guess ... I needed you to know that.”

Her eyes searched his for another moment, then her shoulders seemed to relax, and she nodded. “Thank you for telling me. That possibility crossed my mind, and I couldn’t bear the thought of doing that to the one person who gave me a chance at life ...” Her voice shook and she trailed off.

He could say more. Tell her that he’d looked for her, thought about her for months. But that moment was gone—they were different people and had moved on, and their situation was different now.

What good would it do?

A quiet question drifted to him. “Why didn’t you tell her we’d met?”

He’d asked himself the same question. “I don’t know. I panicked, I guess. I wasn’t expecting to see you, so it was a shock on its own ... But seeing you with Carly there? I wasn’t prepared to handle that. I’m sorry.”

“Do you think it would upset her to know the truth?”

“I don’t think it would make her happy.”

Elliott nodded, accepting the nonanswer. It wasn’t ideal, but at this point, it seemed best just to move forward.

Silence hovered between them while the sounds of the outdoors and dog park continued around them. After a moment, he said, “So you got a bone marrow transplant. That’s what you were doing last year.”

She dropped her gaze to her hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. And that I gave you my middle name and ... disappeared like that. I was admitted the next day, and if I survived, I knew I’d be in the hospital for months. It’s a pretty risky procedure. I didn’t know how it would turn out, and it just seemed easier not to say anything.”

“What exactly happens, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t mind. The cancer was in my blood, so they gave me really high doses of chemo that killed all the blood cells in my bone marrow. So much that my body never would have been able to make new ones.But that’s the whole point, because left to its own devices, my body keeps turning it into leukemia. After they wipe my cells out, they give me fresh, healthy ones from someone else.”

“Wow.” Even after he’d learned Carly had donated, he hadn’t really known what it meant. “So it’s literally Carly’s blood running through your veins right now?”

“Yeah, I guess you can think about it like that.”

“That’s so cool.” He winced. “I mean, not cool that you had to do that, but it’s ... interesting, I guess.”Stop talking.

“I know what you mean.” He couldn’t tell if she meant it or was just taking pity on him, but he appreciated it all the same. “I think so, too.”

“And ... it went well? It, uh, worked, I guess? You’re okay now?”

Her gray eyes were gentle and focused. “So far, so good.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said softly.

“How long have you lived here?” she asked, changing the subject. “In this complex, I mean.”

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