Page 63 of Estranged Heart
Shaking his head, he laughs. “Nah, just sort of sharing it with someone else.”
My breaths are shallow, my chest tightening. “I’m sorry, I’m making our morning weird. I know I was driving Stacey crazy with all this.”
“It’s fine. Makes for a more interesting camping trip. Like I said, this sort of stuff interests me. I’m guessing you have no idea who the donor is.”
“No. I was only told he was in some sort of accident.”
His brows rise. “How long ago did you have the transplant again?”
Panic tugs at my chest. “Three months ago I think. I don’t remember the exact date. Stacey’s better at dates than I am.”
“I see.” A muscle tics in his jaw and he sits up all the way, shoving at the blanket.
“What is it?” A sick feeling comes over me when he won’t meet my eyes.
“Nothing. Just my brain going places it shouldn’t.” He forces a smile. “Hungry for breakfast? I can make us some oatmeal before our hike.”
Are his thoughts lining up with mine? Is he thinking my surgery conveniently took place around the time of his husband’s death? “Yeah, sure.”
He searches through his bag, pulling out shorts and a shirt. “Apple cinnamon or blueberry?” he asks, still not meeting my eyes.
“Surprise me.” I push myself up, tugging the blanket with me as he looks around, pulling on his shirt, his eyes clouding over with worry. The sudden shift is palpable. His brows are furrowing and he can’t look at me directly. What’s going through that head of his? Do I want to know?
“Go ahead and rest some more. I’ll call you when it’s ready.” He swiftly exits the tent in nothing but a shirt and briefs, taking his shorts with him.
I lie back down, studying the way the branches leave shadows on the tent. They dance so freely and I wish I still felt how they look. Not able to relax, I dress and reach for my bottle of water to chase down my meds. I’m almost out. I clench my teeth, thinking about the new prescriptions Stacey picked up early for me, two days before I left, because I thought I’d lost the previous ones. I grabbed the wrong fucking set.
Stomach rumbling, I crawl between the opening and shield my eyes from the blazing sun.
“Right on time.” Elijah holds two bowls up, his smile coming more easily than before, and those caring eyes are back.
“You sure you still want to go hiking? We can always skip it?”
He nods curtly, stepping closer. “I’m sure. Not that we need the extra exercise.” He winks, handing me my food, steamfloating off the top. “Unless you’re too sore.” The worry is back in his eyes, but it’s a different kind. The kind that brings him closer, rather than making him pull away like when we were in the tent and he couldn’t wait to be away from me.
“No.” I grab a spoon from the box on the picnic table, hissing as I sit.
“Sure? I have some Tylenol if you need it.”
“That might not be a bad idea.”
He sets his food next to mine and rushes to his bag. Seconds later, he’s setting a bottle of pills on the table and lowering himself next to me, wincing a little.
I laugh, resting a hand on his leg and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “I guess we can be uncomfortable together during our walk.”
“I guess so.” He chuckles and I’m so glad to have all the tension fully gone. I do wish he’d talked to me about it, though, even if I don’t know any more about it than he does, because I have a feeling this won’t be the last time the topic comes up. Unless he got all weird on me because he knows more. Did he come to the flower shop I work at on purpose that day? Is he worried I might find out that he found out who I was? They don’t willingly give that info out, so he would have had to go through a lot of trouble for it.
Now I’m letting my mind go to all the wrong places. We eat our food without so much as a word between us. I try to reach for a Coke as we’re about to leave for our walk and Elijah shakes his head, handing me a water. “I don’t need you getting dehydrated on me like last time.”
“What, you don’t want to carry me back?” I wrap my fingers around the neck of the bottle.
“I’d rather carry you because I want to and not because I have to.” He shoots me a seductive look and I shiver. This man has too much power over me.
“I’ll remind you of that later. Not that it’ll stop me from fake fainting halfway just to give you a reason to do it sooner.”
His laughter drifts behind him as he walks ahead of me, heading through a group of trees. Large green signs guide us to where we need to go and we follow a dirt path, Elijah reaching for my hand. Birds chirp and the sky looks like it’s opening up with clouds surrounding a large pool of blue. Heat tickles the back of my neck and my clothes cling to my skin by the time we make it back to camp. We didn’t say much on our walk with how much I had to focus on my breathing and take breaks to rest against a tree.
“Maybe that was too much too soon?”
