Elizabeth was caught off guard by the sound of someone knocking on her front door. It was rare for anyone to show up unannounced. She ran from the laundry room and stubbed her toe on a basket in her hurry. All she could think was that someone had come to tell her something had happened to her mother.

She threw open the door, out of breath from hurrying, and was shocked to see Nathan standing there, his hand raised in mid-knock. He looked anxious, his face torn and his eyes worried.

“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth demanded, without even saying hello.

“What? No, it’s nothing like that.” Nathan shook his head, understanding Elizabeth’s concern about her mother’s health. But he was saddened by the fact that, after so much time spent in this house, his arrival was now associated only with his role as Diane’s doctor.

“Were we expecting you? Was something wrong with mom’s blood work?”

“No. No. It isn’t that. Aren’t she and Kate here?” He looked over her shoulder.

“No, they went for a little walk. Mom was feeling a little stir crazy trapped in the house.”

“Really?”

“Is everything okay? You look worried,” she noted as she took a step closer to him.

“We need to talk.”

“Okay, come on in then.” She stepped back inside and motioned for him to follow her into the living room.

“I’m not here about your mom, Liz,” he said, taking a seat in the old rocking chair Elizabeth’s mother loved so much. He rubbed his forehead as if he were trying to draw the strength to tell her something.

“I’m confused.”

“I get that.”

“Care to tell me why you’re here?”

“I’m getting to that.”

“Or maybe why you ran out of here on the day mom came home from the hospital?” She decided to throw caution to the wind and get an answer to the question that had been plaguing her since that night.

“Actually, that’s why I’m here.” Nathan sighed, locking his eyes with hers.

“Really?” Elizabeth couldn’t hide the surprised tone of her voice.

Nathan was relieved to see confusion in her eyes rather than anger. He was sure that William would have run right to her and told her everything they had argued about.

“I’ve been doing it all wrong since the second you got back.” Ever since his fight with William, Nathan had been lost in his thoughts. He had to agree with his friend. He was in no place to offer Elizabeth and Kate any kind of emotional support. As a doctor, that was not something he usually worried about with his patients’ families. He worked to keep his emotions from entering those relationships because they only provided a distraction as he treated their loved ones for cancer.

Kate and Elizabeth were not just the daughters of a patient, though. They were people who meant the world to him, people that he loved. He needed to connect emotionally so that they would know he was there for them as more than just their mother’s doctor. Nathan needed to open up so that they would know that he was there as a friend as well.

Elizabeth remained silent, her gaze wandering across his handsome face.

“Like I said the other day, I don’t know how to act around you.”

The same feelings echoed within her heart as she watched him struggle to explain himself to her. “I know what you mean.”

“It’s like my mind knows that it’s been years since we were together but being around you makes me feel like it was yesterday.”

Elizabeth needed him to know that he was not alone in his struggle. “It’s not any easier for me.”

“I meant it when I said I want to be friends.”

“So did I,” Elizabeth agreed, hesitating before she continued. “I’m not sure it’s possible but I would like it.”

“I think it’s possible.”

“It might be, but there’s a lot of history between us.”

“I believe we should try.”

“Okay. After everything you’re doing for my mom, trying is the least I can do.” In her heart, she knew that it would be a struggle, but it dawned on her that settling into a friendship with Nathan might be just what she needed to find closure and put their romantic past truly behind her.

“You won’t regret it.” He grinned, relief flooding his eyes.

“Let’s hope,” she said, trying not to sound too skeptical.

“There’s something else I wanted to tell you.”

“Sure.”

“I never had a chance to apologize for the way I ended things between us. I kept thinking about that day…”

Elizabeth didn’t let him finish his thought, though.

“No,” she said bluntly.

“What?” He was shocked. Nathan had assumed that he would need to make amends for their past to move toward the future.

“We’re not having that conversation.”

“I just want you to know.”

“I don’t want to know,” she whispered, her eyes swimming with old sadness.

“How can we be friends if you haven’t forgiven me?”

“I forgave you a long time ago.”

“We need to talk about this.” Nathan couldn’t see that it was not Elizabeth who needed forgiveness between them. It was him. He had craved it since the moment he watched her turn and walk away from him after he broke her heart.

“No, we don’t.” Elizabeth frowned, shaking her head in frustration.

“Ellie….”

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, disrupting his train of thought.

“Don’t friends have nicknames for each other?” It bothered him that she still wasn’t comfortable with him calling her his old nickname for her.

“Not that nickname, not with you,” she said as tears threatened to fall.

“See, you don’t forgive me.” He hadn’t seen her cry when he broke off their engagement. She had made it out of the room without letting them fall. This was the first time that he had fully witnessed the pain he had caused her.

“Forgiving and forgetting are two different things.” She wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I want us to start over and be friends, real friends. I’ve missed you.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“I’m glad you’ve missed me. I’ve missed you too. You were the most important person in my life once,” she said, forcing the tears back as she gave him the best smile she could manage.

“You have to let me apologize.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t have to listen to you apologize for something that you aren’t really sorry for.”

“I am sorry.”

“No, you made your choice then. You have everything you wanted now. It worked out the way you planned. You don’t regret it,” she snapped, frustrated that he wouldn’t let it go.

“You don’t know…” he began.

“Stop.”

“I need to tell…”

“Look, you want to start over and be friends.”

“I want us to be friends but I don’t think we need to start over,” he said, disliking the sound of that. What he wanted in his heart was to have back the Elizabeth who had been his best friend in the world, who knew him better than anybody else ever had.

“Well, we can’t go back.”

“Yes, we can.”

“No, if we’re going to be friends, we have to start over and move forward.”

“That’s really what you think?”

“I’m willing to try, but only if we leave the past behind us. Dwelling on it is going to keep us both from moving on,” she insisted.

“Okay, we’ll move forward. But don’t friends talk about their past relationships?” he asked, still longing for her forgiveness and understanding.

“I don’t talk about our past with anyone.” It was true. She kept that story locked away in her heart.

“Nobody?”

“Nobody but Kate. Very rarely, though.”

“And William,” he added matter-of-factly with a frown on his face.

“Why are you so on edge about Bill?” She suddenly realized that there must be more to their tension than she had first realized. They were always bickering about something, but this was something more.

“We had a disagreement.”

Elizabeth noticed his reluctance to discuss the details of his problems with William so she decided not to inquire any further.

“Well, you should get past it quickly. He’s your best friend and you guys need each other.”

“Maybe.” He doubted that he could ever look at his friend the same way after William’s confession that he had always been in love with Elizabeth.

“That’s just my friendly advice.”

“See, we’re already making progress.” He grinned at her as he spoke, shifting the conversation.

“I guess we are,” she said with a laugh, still not exactly sure how it could really work.