Chapter 15: Every Day

I sat back down on the bed because my legs told me to.

Eli stood with the gray coat folded over his arm.

"Tell me," I said.

"Term two."

"What about it?"

"You said no questions about the past until you ask. Are you asking?"

"I'm asking."

"Then I'll tell you all of it."

"No." I put my hand up. "First I'm going to say something, and you're going to stand there."

"Yes."

"You stood in that corridor, and you let me thank the wrong man."

"Yes."

"You let me marry him."

"I didn't know you would."

"You knew it was possible. You had the coat. You could have sent it to my door with a note."

"I could have."

"Why didn't you?"

His jaw worked.

"Because I thought you had chosen him. He told me you called him first. He told me it was his name you said in the ambulance."

"I said it because I had dialed his number."

"I know that now."

"You stayed away seven years because a man told you a lie at a hospital door."

"Yes."

"You are a CEO, Eli. You've built a company. You can find out anything."

"I could," he said. "I watched you instead."

I stared at him.

"From where?"

"Your defense. The recruiter I sent to hand you my card. Your first grant. I never came closer than a conference hall."

"You sent the card."

"Yes."

"You watched me for five years and never called."

"I was waiting for you to call. I told myself that if you ever dialed that number, I'd know you wanted out."

My throat hurt.

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