Page 115 of Save Me

Ivy stormed out the front doors of the hospital as her heart beat madly in her chest.

Seven years ago, Connor Easton had turned her world upside down, and here he was doing it again. It was one thing to hate him for being a selfish jerk, but how could she continue to hate him when he’d done something so utterly selfless to help his family?

He could have told me…

She paced along the sidewalk with every kind of pent-up frustration. People walked by and looked at her like she was crazy, but she didn’t care. Hell, maybe she was crazy because the longer she paced, the more she realized it wouldn't have changed anything even if he had told her the truth all those years ago.

Other than her heart being broken due to rejection, it would have been broken because he was gone.

Tomato-tomahto…

So, where did that leave her now? Did this really change anything? The past was the past, and maybe Connor was just here to finally clear his conscience and then he was going to move on.

“Probably should have asked before storming out,” she mumbled. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and when she looked at the screen, she saw a text from Ryleigh.

Ryleigh: Hey! Any updates?

Ivy: Still waiting on CT results but he seems fine

Ryleigh: Whew! You doing okay?

Ugh…am I?

It was too complicated to get into in a text message, so she did the only thing she could.

She lied.

Ivy: I’m fine. We’re just chatting and waiting for the doctor to come back in

Ryleigh: I’m glad you’re there with him. Let me know when he gets the results. Jamie didn’t want to bother him and I told him I’d keep him informed

Ivy: Will do

It would have been easy to stay outside and stew on Connor’s revelation, but she didn’t believe in running away from her problems. Plus, she truly was concerned about his health. So she’d go back inside and wait for the results with him and—no doubt—finish talking about the past so they could move on.

There was a part of her that knew it wouldn’t entirely be possible. She’d dated a lot of guys over the years, but none of them ever made her feel the way Connor had. And if she were truly honest with herself, she’d admit that just the sight of him tonight brought all those feelings back.

She’d moved on because she didn’t have a choice.

But maybe she had one now…

Feeling a little more in control of her emotions, Ivy walked back into the hospital and back to his triage room, where she found him lying in bed with his eyes closed. Her first instinct was to go over, hold his hand, and rake her hand through his hair to comfort him. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do. Instead, she went and sat back down in the chair she had vacated only minutes ago.

“I wasn’t sure you would come back,” he said quietly, his eyes still closed.

“I wasn’t sure either,” she admitted. Letting out a long breath, she figured she’d say what was on her mind and then they could finally move on. “Connor, you pretty much destroyed me when you left.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“And it took me a long time to get over it. To get over you. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and while I understand why you did it, it doesn’t change anything. I’m sorry you felt like you didn’t have any options or that you didn’t think you could share with me what you were going through, but…I appreciate you finally telling me the truth. I think that’s the closure I needed, so…thank you.”

Now he did open his eyes and he looked furious.

“You think I did this for closure?”

“Um…”

Slowly, he pushed himself up until he was sitting up straight. “This wasn’t about closure, Ivy. I wanted to come back and see you to make things right.”

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