Cold Marriage, Burning Regret novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: The Box

Marcella carries her lab box through the hospital lobby in front of everyone. Dillon catches her at the curb, kind, and says Eleanor wants her at Sunday dinner.

The director of research at St. Brendan's was waiting for me at the staff entrance with a cardboard box.

He had a kind face and a bad habit of apologizing before he spoke.

"Dr. Sherman, I'm so sorry. The order came at six this morning, from the CEO's office."

"The lab is mine," I said. "I built it."

"The funding is theirs. Without it, we can't keep the space, the grad students or the animal facility. I fought it. I lost."

I looked past him into the lobby.

It was seven forty, and the whole morning shift was crossing the marble in scrubs and white coats.

"Where is my equipment?" I asked.

"Staying. The lab is sealed until the Foundation reviews the grant." He held out the box. "Your personal things are in there. I packed them myself."

My mug was on top.

Under it were my pager, a framed photo of my first heart transplant team and a half-eaten bag of pretzels.

Every person in the lobby slowed down to look.

I knew them all.

Three of them I had trained.

A cardiology fellow I had once covered a night shift for stared at his shoes.

I took the box.

"Thank you for packing it," I said.

I walked the length of the lobby with the box on my hip and my head up.

Behind me, someone whispered, "That's Ellery's wife."

Someone else said, "Not anymore, I heard."

The revolving door was the slowest door I had ever pushed.

Outside, the air was cold and smelled like rain.

I stood on the curb and tried to work out where to take a cardboard box and a ruined career.

"Marcella."

A man was coming down the steps behind me.

Sandy hair, navy suit, the open face of someone who has never had to knock twice.

"Dillon Ellery," he said. "Scott's cousin. We've met at about four Christmases, but you were always on call."

"I remember."

I did, vaguely. He was the one who had brought me coffee in Eleanor's room that first week.

"I saw the photos from last night," Dillon said. "I'm ashamed to share a name with him. I mean that."

His voice was warm and low.

I had not realized how badly I needed someone to say it.

"Thank you," I said.

"Let me carry that."

"I'm fine."

"You're standing on a curb with your life in a box, Marcella. Let me carry it."

He took it from me before I could argue.

He walked me to the corner and hailed a cab with one raised hand.

"Where are you headed?"

"A friend's."

"Good." He opened the door for me. "Scott is an idiot. He's been a cold, frightened one since he was a kid. Eleanor knows it. She's sick over what he did."

"Is she?"

"She cried this morning. I've never seen her do that." Dillon set my box on the seat. "She wants to see you. Properly, away from the family and the cameras."

I thought of Eleanor's hand pressing mine at table one.

Humor him tonight, dear.

"She told me to wait," I said.

"She was wrong. She knows it now."

"I don't want any more favors from this family."

"It isn't a favor. It's an apology, and she'd like to make it in person." He stepped back from the cab. "Come to her townhouse. Not today, you should rest. Sunday, the family dinner. She'll ask you herself."

"Dillon."

"I know. I'm part of the problem, being an Ellery. I'm only the one who'll admit it." He tapped the roof twice. "Think about it."

The cab pulled away.

I looked through the back window.

Dillon stood on the curb with his hands in his pockets, and he was smiling.

My phone buzzed against my leg.

It was the research director.

I'm sorry to bother you again, Dr. Sherman. I forgot to say. Mr. Ellery's assistant called ten minutes ago.

Then, a second message right behind it.

She said the Foundation will not review your lab at all unless you attend that dinner on Sunday.

I read it twice.

The cab turned onto Lake Shore Drive, and the lake went by gray and flat on my right.

Dillon had told me about Sunday only minutes ago.

Scott's assistant had already known I would be asked.

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend