Page 60 of Rogue

She texts back almost immediately with.

So, you’ve come to your senses. I understand.

Just two short sentences, but they feel like a knife to my chest.

There’s no such as thing as coming to my senses. I’m crazy about you!I text back.

It doesn’t seem enough. Doesn’t convey all I want her to know. But it’ll have to do.

I stare at the phone for a good two minutes, waiting, but she doesn’t reply.

That’s OK. Once tonight’s work is done, I’ll show her just how serious I am. And just how true my words were.

28

Melody

Figures Rogue would come to his senses less than an hour after I told him my big secret. He just needed some time for it to sink in and then he couldn’t begin cancelling me out of his life fast enough. Whatever. Good thing it only took him an hour. Not nearly enough time for me to start thinking about how great spending the rest of our lives together will be.

Only problem is, I had already started fantasizing about all that. Hard. In vivid detail. Complete with imagining three kids for us. And a dog. And a couple of cats. And huge BBQs attended by the MC and his large family.

Since I got his final text, I’ve just been sitting on the leather sofa in the doctor’s lounge, clutching my phone so hard my palm turned sweaty.

But there’s nothing to write back. No point playing along with this downward spiral of texts and missed dates that will inevitably lead to a quiet end for us.

I know what ending things sounds like. Even over text. Maybe we’d even get together a couple more times for sex while it winds down. But that’s not what I want.

Jamal pops his head in to inform me that we got multiple traffic accident casualties rolling in. And I’ll never say I’m happy to hear it, but I am happy to get out of my own head and off to work.

I stick my phone in my pocket and rush out. And as soon as I start assessing my patient, my training kicks in and for the next hour, nothing but trying to save the teenager’s life matters to me. I’d probably say, “Rogue who?” if someone asked me about him.

A bold-faced lie.

That much become evident beyond doubt as I spot him by the admit desk, hiding behind a huge bouquet of red roses.

“Melody!” he calls out.

I can’t actually speak, even if I could find the words.

He’s grinning widely as I approach, walking towards him on very unsteady legs.

“You didn’t text back, so here I am,” he announces.

I still have no idea what to say.

“These are for you,” he adds and hands me the flowers. “I didn’t want you think that…”

His voice trails off and he seems unable to find the words to finish his sentence. Not something that’s characteristic of him.

“That you changed your mind about me?” I ask.

He grins wider. “Yeah, something like that.”

We have quite an audience out here. Not just the nurses and doctors, but the patients too. But I take the flowers anyway, breathing in their scent deeply.

“Thank you,” I say. “They’re beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you,” he says and I swear I hear more than one sigh from our audience.

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