Chapter 30

Later Monday morning - Ellie

Istrode into Luke's bathroom with my head held high. I was trying to strike the perfect balance between "last night was no big deal" and "I'm a complete and total professional." After all, I had no business acting hurt or wronged. We'd both agreed to a little kissing. I'd gotten carried away. He'd rightly corrected my error. Of course, after last night, I had no intention of continuing the kissing. I couldn't imagine he would want to either. But I refused to let him think he'd hurt me in any significant way. My ego was just slightly bruised. I was a grown woman. I could handle it. We were going to remain friends after this. Just friends.

No. Big. Deal.

We didn't speak as I changed the dressing on his shoulder. He winced a little when I ripped off the tape, but I definitely did not do that because I was pissed. I was merely in a hurry. I had a phone call with Mary from the hospital in fifteen minutes.

"Look, Ellie, I'm sorr?—"

"Nope." I shook my head, dabbing at the wound only a little too hard with the alcohol-filled cotton balls. The wound was looking really good, actually. It had healed into a healthy pink. No signs of infection at all.

"What do you mean nope?" Luke asked, frowning. "You're not going to let me apologize?"

"No, I'm not." I pulled a new piece of gauze from the stack and picked up the medical tape.

"I didn't mean to?—"

"Luke, really, no apology is necessary." I gave him the most convincing smile I could muster.

"I still want to say?—"

"Please. This is no big deal. You were right to stop us from going any further last night. Thank you." Okay, those last two words were a little bitter on my tongue.

"I still feel like a big jerk."

I wasn't going to argue with him. But I was also insanely proud of myself for how well I'd been handling all of this. "Look. I think it's pretty obvious that we never should have started kissing. It was a bad idea. Tequila was involved. That doesn't mean we can't still be friends."

The look of relief on his face kinda made me want to kick him.

"So, we can still be friends after this?" he asked, bowing his head a little to capture my gaze.

"Of course." I finished taping up the gauze and patted the top of his shoulder. His big, strong, muscled shoulder that I would not think about ever again.

He let out a long breath. "That's a relief because I would hate it if this cost us our friendship."

"Me too," I said, another smile plastered to my face. "Now, I'm going back to my room. I have a call in a few minutes." I turned on my heel and marched toward the door. See? No. Big. Deal.

"Wait. Ellie. There's something else I wanted to tell you."

I froze and closed my eyes temporarily. It had better not be more attempts at an apology. I couldn't take any more. And if he uttered any sentence about how much he "respected" me, I would seriously lose it. I slowly turned back to face him, crossing my arms over my chest. "What's that?"

Luke was shrugging his shirt back on. "I'm going to make things right. I know I guilted you into staying here. I know you wanted to spend your summer in Milwaukee. So the plane is all filled with gas, and the pilot will be there tonight at six."

I tilted my head to the side and narrowed my gaze on him. "What do you mean?" But a sick feeling had already begun to spread through my middle.

Luke was shaking his head. "I already called the insurance company, and they're going to send out a new nurse. I'll just have to trust them. It's my own fault I'm in this predicament. I didn't mean to be such an ass to you."

"They're sending out a new nurse?" He was firing me? Okay, now I was pissed.

"Yep. I know you need to get back to Milwaukee to plan the charity event. It was selfish of me to try to keep you here. And I hope it goes without saying that the donation is still happening. It's yours." He then had the nerve to step toward me and put his right hand on my shoulder while he gave me a patronizing smile.

I wanted to knee him in the crotch. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell him he could go to hell. But the Ellie who'd been to a lot of therapy wasn't gonna do any of that. Instead, post-therapy Ellie said, "Great. I'll go pack." Then I turned on my heel and left.

On the way to my room, I let fly a silent string of curse words in my head. Then I took a deep breath. I needed to get it together. This is what I'd wanted, wasn't it? To go back to normal? To pretend none of this had ever happened? So why was there a painful lump in my throat? And why did I feel like crying?