I kind of had a hard time going to sleep after Mike left. It was always tricky getting myself to nap on my switchover day, but my mind was whirling with thoughts and hopes and fears and, well… some very naughty thoughts.

Not that I was going to act on them. Not for a while.

But I did eventually sleep and if I dreamed, I didn’t remember them. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, or if it just was—if this had been one of Maddie’s movies, it would have been obvious whether this was foreshadowing or not.

Real life didn’t play nice like that. Unfortunately.

Residents were starting to head to bed when I got to work. I stowed my jacket in the staff room and checked my assignments for the night. Overnight shifts, when there wasn’t a lot of direct care going on, got the bulk of the grunt work and the chores that never seemed to get done during the day. But it was good, mindless physical labor—something to keep my hands busy while I thought about Mike and the afternoon we’d just spent.

There’d been echoes of the old Mike in there today, but he was different now too. I wasn’t sure grown-up was the right word for it, but he seemed a little more focused maybe? Or like he’d figured out what he wanted in life and was building his plan to get it. It was like high school Mike, without the blurry lens of high school.

But was this permanent?

I took a turn through the common room where a few of the residents were still watching television. Medication time was going to be soon, but that was the nurse’s job to take care of. I checked the stock of drinks in the little refrigerator in the corner and picked up the empty cookie platter off the counter beside it.

Mrs. Costner was in the corner, ignoring the television in favor of the book she’d been reading yesterday.

“How are you?” I asked and pulled a chair up beside her.

“Oh, I’m good.” She threw me an arch glance. “How are you? I heard your old beau was seen roaming your neighborhood.”

I made a face—of course the gossip mills were grinding.

She laughed and tapped me with her novel. “Don’t be so coy. Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?”

I sighed and shook my head. “No, I guess not.”

“You can help me back to my room and then I want to hear everything.” She held out an imperious hand and, as frustrated as I was with the world’s apparent interest in my personal life, I had to laugh as I helped her to her feet and let her lean on me as we walked back to her room.

Once there, I helped her into her nightgown and steadied her while she washed up. And when I had her settled into bed, I underwent my interrogation.

“I have work to do!” I protested.

“You’re doing it right now,” she assured me. “Seeing to the well-being of one of your favorite patients.”

I gave her a look but she was too pleased with herself to be put off. And I did need someone to talk to about this who wasn’t my parents. “All right.” I pulled a chair up beside her bed and slumped into it. “Mike and I are talking. But that’s all. I still don’t know if I can trust him.”

“What do you want to do?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.” No, actually, I did. And that was my problem, because I didn’t trust that I could have what I wanted. “I think he’s trying. I just don’t know if he has it in him to be the kind of alpha I can trust.” I laughed shortly. “I went to see him this morning. He proposed again.”

Her eyebrows went up. “That sounds serious.”

“He did it with the same stupid ring he gave me after graduation.”

“Oh dear. That wasn’t very well considered of him, now, was it?”

I laughed and rubbed my hands over my face. “No. And I did what I usually do, which is blow up.”

“Good. That’s exactly what you needed to do. And what did he do afterward?”

“He brought me chicken. And bread pudding,” I said sheepishly.

“Well, he’s not a complete idiot then. So all is not lost.”

That made me laugh again. “Bringing me my favorite foods is a sign that there’s a future for us?”

“It’s a sign that you can get through to him. And that he wants to be gotten through to.”

“You think so?”

“Eighty-six years of experience as an omega, my dear. Mr. Costner was a good man, but he was also an alpha. An exceptional one in my opinion, but they all have their quirks.”

“I didn’t realize you were an omega.” It wasn’t noted on her chart.

“Well, at my age, it hardly matters, does it? Now, back to your alpha. Do you want him? Want him enough to do the work for it?”

“I don’t want him to spend all his time with me acting. It needs to be real. Natural.” It wasn’t going to last if it wasn’t, and I didn’t think I could stand it if we had three or four good years, only for me to lose him after because it had all been pretend for him.

She waved that away. “Of course not. But if you think he has it in him already, you can make it possible for him to find those parts of himself and make them stronger. We all grow and change as we age. The parts we find more useful in our daily lives are the ones that get stronger. And the ones that don’t get us what we want, usually, start to fade away. His problem is that being alpha has always worked well for him. You have to help him find the alpha parts that work well for you.”

“Huh.” I’d never thought of it that way. “Thank you, Mrs. Costner. That’s…very useful.” I didn’t exactly know what to do with it, but it seemed more like life advice than a how-to manual. I’d always found that life advice took a little more effort to use, but it was usually more handy than the how-to in the long run. “I’d better stop slacking in here. Is there anything else I can get you tonight before I get bogged down in other work?”

“Well, there is one thing,” she said coyly. She picked up the novel she’d been reading the other day. The bookmark had moved a lot farther toward the back. “Do you think you could find me some more like this one?”

I laughed and took a picture of the cover with my phone. “I’ll do my best.” I gave her back the book and made sure she was comfortable, then let myself out to help with settling some of the other residents in for the night before I got started on the overnight chores.