Chapter 20

Thursday afternoon – Ellie

After talking to Mary, the event coordinator at the hospital, and ensuring everything was on track without me there, I did an online video call with Mindy. She was still bald from undergoing her latest round of chemo, but she had an adorable little boho scarf on her head and her spirits were high as usual. I was supposed to be Mindy's "Big Sister," a friend to help keep her spirits up and her mind off treatments, but the truth was the kid always did me the bigger favor.

She was a fourteen-year-old with leukemia and she never complained. At least I'd never heard her complain. She laughed often and usually delivered an endless stream of news about the Children's Oncology Unit at the hospital. There was actually a lot going on in the Oncology Unit of the hospital. I mean, whole dramas were played out daily, and I always enjoyed hearing Mindy's take on everything. She made me laugh while simultaneously keeping me up on some solid goss.

Talking to Mindy always reminded me of what was important in life, and it sure wasn't stressing about a few kisses that would soon be a forgotten memory when I returned to my real life. Okay, well, maybe not forgotten—because honestly, I already knew I wasn't gonna be able to forget any of it—but the kissing would be in the past soon enough.

"So, you're hanging out with Luke Knightley?" Mindy asked in a tone I could only describe as incredulous.

"Um, yep." Shit. I hadn't thought twice about telling her where I was, but now I wondered if shouldn't have. I mean, it wasn't in any of the paperwork I'd signed, and normally I had the HIPAA laws so drilled into my brain that I would never mention a patient. But at the moment, it felt way more like staying with a friend than nursing a patient. With the kissing and everything.

"Do you know Luke?" I asked tentatively because Mindy had fully sounded as if she definitely knew him.

"I know of him. And he is soooo cute." She waggled her eyebrows.

Uh oh. She did know him. "Yeah, well, we've been friends for a while, so sometimes I forget he's famous." Crap. Had that sounded name-droppy? I hated it when people were name-droppy. Though admittedly, Luke was the only famous person I knew, so I'd kinda already dropped all the names I had.

"What's his house look like?" she asked next as she tossed some popcorn into her mouth. Thursdays were popcorn day in the unit. Mindy's favorite.

"I'll send you a link to an article with pictures," I promised. I may have had it saved as a favorite on my browser, but who didn't like to look at other people's houses? I mean…fun.

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Mindy asked next.

"Um." I pursed my lips to the side. Did he? I mean, he'd asked me if I was single, but I hadn't asked him. I assumed he didn't have one, what with all the kissing we'd been doing, but then I'd assumed my fiancé wasn't sleeping with other women also. Assumptions were bad when it came to relationship statuses. "I don't know," I answered honestly.

"Oh, my God, wouldn't it be cool if you and Luke Knightley started dating?" Mindy's voice was a high-pitched squeal.

Dating? Nope. Kissing. Yep. But I wasn't about to tell Mindy that. I didn't want to be tomorrow's hot gossip in the unit, and for some reason I wanted to keep the whole making-out-with-Luke thing a secret—except from Meg. There would be less questions and disappointment later if I made sure I nipped the notion of Luke and I being any sort of a thing in the bud right now where Mindy was concerned.

"Not gonna happen," I said, giving the camera on my laptop my most stern stare.

Mindy put her palms in the air face up. "Why not? I mean, you're single and he's single, so?—"

"Not gonna happen," I repeated. I wasn't about to explain to Mindy that Luke was a player on a scale of mass proportions. I mean, that would be invading his privacy to share all that, but I couldn't bear the thought of Mindy suggesting it anymore. I also didn't want to get her fourteen-year-old hopes up.

"You're no fun," Mindy said, fake pouting by sticking out her bottom lip.

Yeah, some people would say I have a stick up my ass. I had to give her something. Anything. "His bandmates are downstairs right now, and I think a couple of them are single."

"Ahem." I glanced toward the cracked-open door to my room to see Luke standing there. Had he been about to knock? Uh oh. Had he heard what I just—?Oh, yeah. He heard it. Definitely.

"Hey, Mindy. Hold on a sec, will ya?"

"Sure. I'm googling Luke's band right now to see which members are single. And hot."

Oof. I winced, positive he'd heard that too because I was using the speakers on my laptop instead of my ear pods. Terrific, Ellie. I quickly muted Mindy and turned to blink innocently at Luke.

"Sorry to bother you," he said, rocking back and forth on his heels. "But I thought I'd ask if you wanted to come down and hang out in the studio for a bit."

"Sounds great." I gave him a too-big smile. Forget the couch, this time I wanted the bed to swallow me whole. They really should make more furniture with body-swallowing switches.

"Don't rush your call on our account. We'll be there for a while," Luke hastened to add.

"Cool." My weird head bobbing was back.

Luke left and I unmuted Mindy.

"I'm back," I said.

"Okay, first, at least two of the guys are single. And sooo hot. And second, he just invited you down to hang out with them? OMG. Hang up and go. Now!"

I bit my lip. "Sorry I didn't ask if you wanted to meet him. I'll do that next time."

"Are you kidding me? Of course, I want to meet him, but you should probably tell him I know where you are first."

That was a solid point. Mindy was wise.

"Now get going. I want to hear all about it next week."

"Okay. Have a good week," I said, committed to ensuring that Mindy was the main character in this conversation, not me. Or Luke's band.

"I will. I will." She was shooing me with her hand.

"Text me if you need anything this week."

She rolled her eyes. "Go."

"Okay, okay." I began to lower the screen to close the laptop.

"Oh, wait, Ellie?"

I quickly pushed up the screen again. "Yes?"

More eyebrow waggling. "The singles ones are Liam Dashwood and Christopher Wentworth. I'll let you be the judge of who's hotter."