Page 8 of Silver Fox's Secret Baby

We hadn't seen each other in almost five full years and the spark was still there. I felt it when she touched my hand. I saw it in her eyes, and I believed she felt it too. There were hundreds of hospitals just in this state, thousands across the US, and she gave up a job at Princeton to come here? This had to be fate.

She scurried into the hallway with a hand over her mouth, and I was on her heels, stopping her before she managed to get into the bathroom. I grabbed her by the elbow and guided her around the corner where we were just out of sight, and she stoodlooking at me with a deer in the headlights expression splattered on her face.

"Lily, my God, it's been almost five years. How are you? Where have you been?" I was breathless, not from the chase, but from her. She stole the air from my lungs and I didn't want it back. I wanted her back.

"Ethan, I…" She moved to sidestep me and walk away, but I moved with her.

"You look amazing. You grew your hair out, and my God, you haven't changed a bit… Was your residency good? I assume it was Princeton-Plainsboro?" My heart craved her, yearning to know every detail I had missed. It was like the puzzle piece I'd been missing for half a decade was finally here and I felt whole again.

My fingers itched to touch her, to tangle in her hair and pull her in for a kiss. But she looked down and away, as if trying to avoid me. She'd been avoiding me for years successfully, and judging by her actions, this came as a shock to her too.

"Thank you," she muttered sheepishly. "But I should go."

"Can we catch up? Maybe have dinner sometime? I miss you so much." I searched her expression, which was pained. I knew she could never say no to me, at least before I hurt her. I hadn't meant to hurt her. It was the situation that ruined us, not by my choice. I'd resolved myself to the fact that it was over the minute we were walked in on. But now, seeing her again made hope come alive.

"Ethan… I don't know."

"Lily, please. Just one dinner. Just a time to talk, to catch up. We don't have to speak about what happened…" I reached for her hand, but she tucked it against her body then wrung her hands together.

"I can't." Lily looked up at my face and grimaced. Whatever had happened in her life had changed her, strengthened her. Itwas a good look on her, the personal boundaries, but it was bad for my aching heart which needed to be satisfied. Even if only to have my questions answered.

"No dinner, then drinks… How about going for drinks?" I never heard the group coming because I was so fixated on convincing her to go out with me privately where we could become reacquainted, but Jacob and a few other colleagues rounded the corner and almost bumped into me.

"Hey, guys…" Jacob flashed his cheeky grin at Lily and glanced at me. When I looked back at her, she was collected and had her professional plastic smile on her face. "What's going on?"

"I was just asking Dr. Carter if she would join me for drinks and an introduction to Mountain View." I knew just in saying that, Jacob would get my point. He knew me too well to ever get a lie past him.

"Dr. Fun planning a night at the pub? I'm in." He nudged the man next to him whom I didn't know very well and nodded at Lily. "You coming, Dr. Carter? It's always a good time."

She looked ready to reject the invitation, but Jacob's friend joined in, telling her how all the doctors hung out at the pub down the street from the hospital and that everyone would be going. It only aided my case because the Lily I knew and loved came out. She shrugged and sighed and finally relented.

"Fine, I can come for one drink. Thank you for inviting me." Then she winced and said, "I'll meet you there. I really do have to use the restroom." Then she graciously excused herself and slipped away.

"You owe me," Jacob snickered, and he and his friend walked away.

How on earth was this happening? How was this my life? To run into the only woman in the world whose heart had stolenmine after so many years. Fate was giving me a second chance, and I didn't want to mess it up. Not for anything in the world.

7

LILY

When Ethan and the others brow beat me into coming out with them, I knew it was a bad idea. The welcome dinner was supposed to be a brief thing where I could meet my coworkers and then go home to tuck Noah into bed. He'd had the sniffles lately and hadn't been sleeping well. But Dr. Vance insisted and I never could say no to anyone.

So here I was, pulling up outside the old pub. Like St. Anne's, I hadn't been here since the day Ethan broke my heart and I decided it was time to move on. I put my car in park and stared at the marquee out front, lit to cast a glow on the door beneath it. There would be a lot of people in there I knew. Everyone in the city knew it was the place doctors from all over the city descended upon nightly for their sip of sin and relaxation.

When I phoned Mom to see if she could watch Noah, she even remembered the nights I'd stayed out late and had a few drinks with colleagues. She and Dad encouraged me to stay and enjoy myself. I'd been out of town for so long with no one to watch Noah and no friends to hang out with, this night probably seemed like a golden opportunity to them. But to me, it was anxiety inducing.

Dread weighed me down. I couldn’t get out of the car. I thought coming back to Denver would be hard, but I never thought I'd walk into my first day on the job and find myself face to face with him again. When I left, Ethan worked at St. Anne's. I accepted the position at Mountain View under the false assumption that he was still there. The shock still hadn't worn off. I didn't know if it ever would.

All my former friends would be in that bar having drinks. Some of his would be too. I knew he was there. I saw his car parked a block away, besides the fact that he was the one who had invited me. If I bailed on this, he'd know I was avoiding him and though there were a dozen excuses why I was, he wouldn't accept that as defeat and leave me alone. We would be under the same roof every day for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way, though. I was supposed to be able to settle in and find a routine. Get a new apartment and build my career. Then one day in the future when the fates aligned, I was supposed to run into him at the grocery or the movies. Not this, not at my workplace, not where I needed to be focused and alert.

Someone tapped on my window, and I jolted. I looked up to see Tina Wexler there with a big smile on her face. She stepped back as I opened the door and climbed out.

"Lily Carter, my God. I didn't think the rumors were true." She wrapped her arms around me, and while I should have been thrilled to see a friendly face again, I was sick to my stomach with dread.

"Yeah…" was all I could muster.

---