Page 25 of Where Are You Now
“Oh, I’m sorry. Dr. Watkins said you took a new job with your fiancée.”
“Dr. Watkins doesn’t know me or my situation,” he said, his shoulders tightening.
“I’m sure it was just an honest mistake.”
He was tense all of a sudden. Something had happened with his fiancée. Or was he stressed out about work? This didn’t seem to be a terribly taxing position from her point of view, and the younger him was never anxious about anything, so it could’ve been that he’d had a bad breakup. Had the move back to Tennessee been to flee from someone?
She leaned over the table to grab his attention.
“Want to come over to the lake house and go fishing with me? It might be fun to get out the old canoe.”
Fear swelled in his eyes. He pushed back from the table and stood up. “Sorry, I … I’ll be back.” He left the room.
She sat there, dumbfounded. What had just happened? Had she said something wrong? Certainly not. But she could’ve cut the tension with a knife.
When the door opened again, a nurse came in. “Hi there. Ms. St. John?”
“Yes.”
“Dr. Phillips has asked if I’d finish out the testing for him. He’s not feeling well.”
“He was feeling fine two seconds ago. He said he’d be back. Where is he?”
“He’s gone home.”
Ava rushed to the window that overlooked the parking lot. Lucas was on the sidewalk, stripping off his white coat and walking at a clip.
She couldn’t let things end like this. She wanted to see him again, keep in touch with him, and maybe even find out what was bothering him so badly. Ava didn’t even know what she’d said to upset him. And if he left now and didn’t come back, she might not see him again before she had to go home to New York. She had to stop him.
She also still wasn’t sure what, exactly, she needed to do other than find him. Had she done enough to save her life?
“I’ll have to reschedule.”
Ava tightened her core in an attempt to protect her sore ribs and ran out of the room. She pivoted in the hallway, locating the exit to the stairway, and then began her descent. With every bounce, her neck and torso ached, but she pressed on, rounding the end of each floor and jogging down the next set of stairs. Then, she threw open the door leading outside.
“Lucas!” she called, pushing herself to a near sprint through the parking lot to catch up to him. “Lucas!”
Her sides ripped with pain, and her head throbbed, but some unknown force propelled her forward. As she ran after him, it was as if she’d been given a second chance to do what she’d wanted to do at fifteen when that moving truck pulled out of his driveway.
“Lucas!”
She couldn’t go any further. Exhausted, she leaned on her knees and gasped for breath, the pain too much to bear. When her agony had subsided enough to look up, he was pacing toward her in measured steps.
“You shouldnotbe running. Jeez.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have dipped out of my therapy session without telling me what the hell is going on!”
“I didn’t feel well.”
She knew right away by the twitch in his lips that he was lying. She locked eyes with him. “I don’t believe you.”
His jaw clenched, and he looked away.
“Ava, is everything okay?” her mother said, striding across the parking lot. “The nurse told me you left. Where are you going?”
Still catching her breath, Ava said, “I was just inviting Lucas over to the cabinto go fishing.”
Her mother’s face lightened. “Oh, that’s nice.” She faced Lucas. “Hello, Lucas. It’s so good to see you.”
