“Better now that I know you’re really here and I’m not just hallucinating.”
His eyes pinched at the corners. “I’m so sorry, Lexa. I tried to get here. I had a big grand gesture planned to swoop in just in time and tell you how sorry I was before you went in, but I was too late.” His throat worked against a swallow. “I didn’t know . . . I didn’t think you were going through with the surgery. I should have been here with you.”
“You’re here now.”
His lips thinned. “That’s not good enough.”
Alexis turned her face into his hand and kissed the tip of his thumb. “It is.”
“You’re interrupting my groveling.”
She met his eyes. “You don’t need to grovel, and I don’t want you to grovel. I want you to kiss me.”
Noah lowered the arm of the bed and gingerly sat down next to her. He reached one arm across her body and pressed his hand into the mattress. “I have to say this first.”
Alexis sighed and settled into the pillow beneath her head. “You really don’t.”
“The things I said to you were cruel and inexcusable.”
“Are you forgetting what I said before that?”
“It doesn’t matter. You tried to apologize, and I threw it back in your face. And when I did that, I not only betrayed you, I betrayed our friendship.”
His words were a skewer through the thin membrane that remained around her emotional stability. Tears turned his face into a shimmery blur.
His jaw jutted sideways. “I let my own anger blind me to the fact that you were hurting and you needed me. And so I hurt you worse.”
She cupped a hand along his smooth, clean jaw. “Okay, what do I have to say to get you to shut up and kiss me?”
He blinked. “I’m being serious, Lexa.”
“So am I. You’re obviously not going to stop all this unnecessary apologizing unless I say something in response—”
He managed to look offended. “Unnecessary? I practically threw you out of my house!”
“Because I accused you of doing something you didn’t do.”
“But you had every reason to think I’d do that!”
“Are you seriously going to argue with me right now? I just had an entire organ sucked out of me through a hole smaller than my belly button.”
His skin turned ashen.
“If you want something to be upset about, consider the fact that we can’t have makeup sex for, like, six weeks. So you’d better kiss me before the nurse gives me more pain meds and I pass out again.”
The smooth contours of his face softened. “God, I love you.”
“I know. And I love you too. I’ve loved you since the day I met you, and I will love you until the day I die. You are my best friend, Noah Logan. Forever.”
He gave up the fight, bent his head, and covered her lips with his. Gently at first. Wet and soft against her dry and scratchy mouth. But then a groan emerged from deep within his chest, and she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck to hold him, cradle him, forgive him.
He pulled back and hovered atop her mouth. “I’m sorry, Lexa. I’m so sorry.”
“Shhh.” She tucked his face against her neck. He arched over her, careful not to press on her tender abdomen. “Everything is okay now. The surgery is over, and you’re here, and that’s all that matters.”
A knock at the door brought him upright, but Noah remained on the bed, one arm draped across her. “Come in,” he responded, voice suspiciously thick.
Tentative shoes squeaked on the linoleum. Candi appeared a moment later. She hovered a few feet from the bed, smiling as she looked back and forth between Alexis and Noah. “I told you he loves you.”
“How’s Elliott?” Alexis asked.
“So far so good. He’s asking about you too.”
“Tell him I’ll come see him tomorrow.”
Candi nodded and got that hesitant, shy look on her face that Alexis now recognized. “What is it?” she asked.
“My, um, my mom wants to come see you. Is that okay?”
“Sure, um . . . yeah.” Alexis looked at Noah. “Can you help me raise the bed a little?”
Noah found the remote attached to the bed and pressed the button that lifted her top half into a semi-sitting position. A moment later, Lauren walked in looking as undone and disheveled as Alexis had ever seen her. Her makeup-free face bore the traces of too little sleep and too much worry. Her hair, normally a perfect bob along her shoulders, was now twisted atop her head in a messy bun.
Her smile was forced, but not in the way Alexis had come to expect. This was from pure weariness, not insincerity. “How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad. Tired.”
Her footsteps inched closer, and that’s when Alexis noticed that she held something in her hand. A small red box. “I have a present for you.”
Alexis traded a surprised look with Noah before returning her gaze to Lauren. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Lauren extended the box, and Alexis accepted it with trembling fingers. As Noah hovered at her side, she lifted the lid. And then blinked, holding her breath. Nestled in the velvet cradle was a ring—a deep emerald surrounded by a spray of tiny, sparkling diamonds.
“Lauren, this . . .” Alexis looked up. “I don’t know what to say. This is too much. I can’t accept this.”
“It belonged to Elliott’s mother. Your grandmother.” Lauren glanced at Candi. “We want you to have it.”
Alexis shook her head. “I appreciate the gesture, but this is a family heirloom. It should go to Candi.”
“It should go to family,” Candi said. “You’re family.”
Tears pricked her eyes again, and Alexis sought the comfort of Noah’s hand. He wrapped her fingers in his and squeezed. “I—thank you.”
Lauren hugged her own torso. “Nothing I say will ever be enough to tell you how sorry I am for everything and how grateful I am
