“Is this the friend you met for dinner?” Nick pointed at Mia like a leper, like the enemy.
“No.” Hannah paused. “That was Stephen.”
Nick pulled at his hair, turned, paced a few steps away, then stalked back. “Am I the only sane person in the room?” Nick’s hot gaze was back on Mia now, his eyes full of accusation. “Did you know she went out with this guy? I looked him up. He’s got a violent documented temper, for God’s sake!”
Luke leaned coolly against the wall, brows raised, assessing his brother. “A temper? Really? Hey, Mia.”
Zach smiled, crossed to her, and pulled her in for a hard hug. “Good to see you.”
“You, too. I need to talk to Hannah.” She looked at Nick. “Alone.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Nick’s hard voice shot over hers and through her already-bruised heart. The same voice that had whispered “I love you” so many years ago. She had no defenses against him. She didn’t want to fight with him. She wouldn’t.
He stood at Hannah’s side, as though he needed to protect his sister from her. That hurt, too. It all hurt, especially him looking at her the way he had ten years ago. Like he wanted her gone. His expression the same as he’d worn that night when she’d finally given in and given up.
Ten years. Ten years and then to suddenly be this close, with him angry and her feeling guilty and Hannah hurt, not like last time, but still…it was too much the same, and she had to get out of here before she broke into a million pieces. “I’ll see if I can find the doctor and send him this way.” She squeezed Hannah’s hand. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Thanks, Mia.”
“Sure.” She chanced a quick look at Nick in case it was another ten years before she saw him again. Then she rushed past Luke and Zach and into the hall for some much-needed air. The hallway wasn’t nearly far enough, and her only thought was to get outside. Get to her car, blast some air conditioning, and cry where no one would hear her. She barely made it five steps.
“Mia.”
Her name on his lips stopped her so suddenly, she knew a part of her didn’t want to get away from him. The bland white and gray tiles at her feet stared back at her until they went blurry. She made herself face him, seeing the man he was now and the man he’d been. She’d spent so much time wishing for the way things used to be, when just Nick’s presence made everything all right.
Her eyes burned with unshed tears as they roamed over his face. He looked the same. Maybe a few more lines around the eyes, his hair a little shorter. He wore khakis and a wrinkled dress shirt, sleeves rolled up the muscled forearms she used to trace her fingers over when he held her at night.
She’d thought she’d gotten over him, that if she felt any pain when she thought of him, it was merely lingering ghosts from the past. But here he was right now, and she hurt right now. But she hadn’t cried over Nick Walker in a very long time, wouldn’t let herself now.
He stared at her, not speaking. Funny how he could find the words to destroy her but none to put her back together.
A nurse walked swiftly past. A call for a doctor repeated on the PA. The irony was not lost on her. What did it mean that they would see each other for the first time in a place they both hated, a place that held so many dark memories?
Once, she’d been able to read every thought in his eyes. Once, he’d hidden nothing from her. Now his chiseled features and set jaw, brown eyes, and the dark brows drawn over them gave up nothing.
She’d loved this man with every cell in her body, had believed nothing could ever tear them apart. But a deadly storm had come, and they hadn’t weathered it. There were still times she felt she was drowning. And Nick stood here, calm and remote, as he’d been the last time she’d seen him. Like a lighthouse off in the distance, tall and strong, completely unaffected by the rolling sea or the ship’s peril. Like he didn’t even remember what they’d had. Didn’t even miss it, or her.
He took a step forward, lifted his hand just slightly, and she held her breath for what he might say. She hated herself for even thinking that after all this time it would matter. She didn’t still love him. Of course there were memories and feelings, but she didn’t love him. She wouldn’t.
“Are you Mr. Walker?” A young man in a white coat stopped beside Nick, interrupting the moment.
“Yes. That’s my sister.”
“Great. I’ll just speak with her, then we’ll get you out of here.”
Nick nodded, and the doctor moved past him. He turned his attention back to her, and they shared one last look before she walked away.