“Everything okay, then? That’s it?”
Jasmine and Alexis exchanged a look.
“What’s that mean?” Noah demanded.
Alexis used her placate an angry customer voice again. “We have a surgery date.”
Noah tried to control his expression, schooling it into something less than holy fucking shit. “When?”
They did it again—shared a look. Alexis was even more cautious this time. “Soon.”
“How soon?”
“Two weeks.”
Gravity failed beneath his feet, and he swayed. He propped his hand against the wall.
Jasmine’s face softened into the sort of practiced patience they probably taught in medical school. “The sooner the better. Since everyone is ready now, there’s no reason to wait longer than necessary.”
Alexis came to stand by his side. “It’ll be okay,” she said, resting her free hand on his stomach. “We have plenty of time to prepare, and once the surgery is over, I’ll have more than enough time to recover before Liv and Mack’s wedding.”
Like he gave a shit about the wedding. Noah bent and brushed his lips across hers.
“Call me if you have any questions or concerns,” Jasmine said. “Make sure you study all the pre-op information I gave you, because it’s really important that you follow all the instructions prior to surgery.”
Alexis thanked the woman and then slipped her hand in Noah’s as they walked down the hallway. They stopped briefly at the nurse’s station so Alexis could sign a few papers, and while they stood there, the elevator opposite the desk dinged. The doors opened, and out walked Elliott, Candi, and a woman who was an older version of the bride in the wedding announcement.
“Lexa,” Noah said, his hand instinctively coming to rest on Alexis’s back.
She looked up at him and then immediately followed the direction of his gaze.
“Oh,” she said, and the word managed to sound both bewildered and pleased. “Hi.”
“Good, we caught you,” Elliott said, slightly out of breath as they closed the distance to the counter. “We tried to text you that we were here, but you didn’t respond, so we were afraid you’d already left.”
Alexis dug her phone from her pocket and let out a quiet shoot. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear my phone. I was in Jasmine’s office.”
Noah splayed his fingers across the width of Alexis’s back. “What are you doing here?”
Elliott smiled. “Just checking on our patient.”
The word our sent heat racing up Noah’s neck.
Candi walked to Alexis and embraced her. And the only thing more surprising than that show of familiarity was that Alexis returned the hug with equal ease. There was a warmth between them that made him both suspicious and jealous, which also made him feel like a total shit. He should be happy that Alexis and Candi had apparently reached some kind of peace.
When Candi stepped back, Elliott set his hand on his wife’s back. “This is my wife, Lauren.”
The woman looked brittle, like a hostage in a proof-of-life photo. He couldn’t really blame her. Talk about shitty. She had to stand here and be polite in front of the living, breathing reminder that her husband had cheated on her before they got married.
Noah decided to take the high road with her. He extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Her smile was as tight as her fingers were loose. “Likewise.”
Candi nudged her father with an elbow.
Elliott nodded. “Right. I know it’s last minute, but we were hoping that we could maybe take you out to lunch.” Elliott’s eyes darted to Noah. “Both of you, of course.”
Noah flared his nostrils. Lunch? “We were planning to head back—”
“Of course,” Alexis said, her hand once again gripping his.
“Great,” Elliott breathed, relief lifting both his voice and his smile. “That’s great. There’s a restaurant off I-565 called Bilbo’s. It’s an Italian place. Want to meet us there? Cayden and his wife are going to join us too.”
Noah felt the subtle squeeze of Alexis’s fingers around his. It managed to feel both reassuring and scolding. “That sounds nice,” she said. “We’ll meet you there.”
They followed the Vanderpools out to the parking lot and parted ways to their separate cars. Noah opened Alexis’s door for her and then went around to the driver’s side. When he got in, she was on her phone looking up directions to the restaurant.
“It’s about a fifteen-minute drive,” she said, plugging her phone into the car’s radio. The friendly GPS lady told him to head east out of the parking lot.
“You sure about this?” he asked casually, backing out of the parking spot.
“It’s just lunch.”
“With Elliott and his wife. That’s not just lunch.”
“The surgery is in two weeks. We need to get used to spending time with them. I’d rather get this awkward stuff out of the way now, wouldn’t you?”
Which seemed as good a segue as he was going to get to tell her about last night. He pulled onto the ramp for the freeway and tried to keep his voice casual. “Elliott came to see me at the hotel last night.”
Alexis whipped her gaze to his. “Why?”
“He said he looked into my father’s death.”
Alexis twisted in her seat. “Why would he do that? His company wasn’t involved, was it?”
“No. I think he . . . I think he’s trying to make amends, just in case.”
“In case of what?” She swallowed. “In case the surgery doesn’t work?”
“I don’t know.” Noah reached over to grip her hand. Then he brought her fingertips to his lips. “I think maybe he just wants to get my approval or something.”
“What did you say to him?”
What do you want? A gold star? “I told him all I care about is that you’re okay.”
* * *
The restaurant Elliott had suggested was a chain Italian place, the kind that served everything family-style. Noah saw no small amount of irony in that but kept it to himself. Judging by the parking lot, it was popular. Noah found a parking spot in the back between a Subaru and a rusty pickup truck with a bumper sticker informing other drivers that his other car was just as much of a piece of shit.
A hostess
