Bella

Sometimes two minutes turns into two hours. I told Evan I would be right back earlier, but life in the ER is insane. When I walk into Evan’s room, he’s on the phone. He glances at me and his expression turns a bit sour. “I’ll call you back later,” he says and quickly disconnects, flashing a brilliant smile. “For the record,” he teases, “when you say, ‘right back,’ that typically implies you will in fact return quickly. Not hours later.”

“The rule doesn’t apply when you’re a nurse.”

His phone rings again. He sighs a bit. “It just never stops.”

He lets it trill four more times.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“Nope.”

I perch on the edge of his bed. “You can answer it. I can come back.”

Evan raises a brow. “Not believing that one again.” He laughs. “Can I get a sponge bath?”

“Excuse me?” I ask, putting my stethoscope in my ears to check his vitals.

“Sponge bath. I’m really dirty.”

“Evan, I’m engaged. To a doctor here, who can enter this room at any time.”

He shrugs best as he can with a banged-up arm. “I’m sure you all have those fru fru flavors, don’t you?”

“I’m not giving you a sponge bath.”

“Like sunny raindrop, or mountain pebble or something like that.”

“Evan…”

“I think a sunny raindrop would smell good.”

“No, I’m not giving you…”

“I wonder what a mountain pebble would smell like.” He rubs his chin with his good arm’s hand. “I think I got a mountain pebble stuck in my shoe once.”

He’s no longer listening to me, and I place the stethoscope against his chest.

“Ah, that’s cold.”

“You’ll be discharged soon. You can shower at your house.”

He doesn’t say anything for a while, just stares at me, then finally says, “You look so pretty...” I raise a brow, listening to his heart that beats so strongly inside his chest. “...like a sunny raindrop.”

I laugh a little. “You left,” I whisper.

“I know,” he says back. And then I notice his eyes are growing dazed from the morphine pumping through his veins.

“I’m engaged,” I remind him.

“He seems a little overly possessive,” Evan says quietly, staring at me. “The way he looks at you.”

“How does he look at me?” I catch eyes with him, and he pauses in thought, searching with his crystal blues like he’s trying to find the right words.

“Not the right way,” he says, finally.

“What would be the right way, Evan?”

“I’d say, a little less like you’re property and a lot more like you’re … you.”

“Who am I?” I challenge.

“Bella Hattie,” he says, softly. “the girl who likes the ‘Po House better than the Lake House.”

“You’d be the only one who knows that these days,” I put my stethoscope back around my neck, “unless you forgot.”

He puts his hand on mine, to still my strokes. “I haven’t forgotten, and I don’t want you to either. It takes a lot of courage to start something new. I’m proud of you, Bella.”

I fall into his gaze, and wish I could press myself against him for a moment. His phone rings again. Evan quickly denies the call, but it rings once more. He clicks it off and tosses it under a pillow.

“Someone really wants you,” I laugh.

“Yeah, not the right person though, huh?”

I smile at him. “Yeah.”

I finish up and leave him, because I do have a job to do and other patients to see. Of course, when I’m done, that doesn’t mean I don’t go back. I linger outside Evan’s door, waiting for courage to push the door open. When I finally do, he’s wide awake watching TV.

“Got that pizza? Extra pepperoni’s?”

I laugh. “Very funny.”

“I’ll pay you one million dollars,” he jokes, although he might not be.

“Can’t let you have any.”

“Five million?”

I laugh. “No.”

He raises a brow. “Ten million dollars.”

I stare at him hard before making my way to check his chart. “You don’t have that kind of money.”

“You sure about that?”

I smile, but I cut it short. Evan will be discharged soon, and then he’ll go back to his life, and I’ll go back to mine. And I’d be a liar to say I haven’t thought about Evan every minute since he’s been here.