Page 8 of Don't Regret Me
Booker accepted their coffees from Marianna, and they chose one of the many empty tables.
Elizabeth sighed as she took a sip. She hadn’t been much of a coffee drinker before the accident, despite working in a coffee shop. Now, it was the only thing that kept her going some days.
“What time do you need to go to work today?” she asked Booker.
“Night shift.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’ll probably go sleep after this. I have to be at the hospital at seven.”
“Sounds rough.”
He shrugged. Booker worked hard, but she’d never known him to complain. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about this morning.”
She lifted a brow. “Ominous, but okay.” She was still reeling from Corey being here, from thoughts of Nick returning. Anything more and…
“I want to take you on a date.”
Her hand froze with the coffee mug halfway to her mouth. “You… what?” It wasn’t the first time he’d asked, only the first time since the accident.
“You and me. Dinner. I want us to go this weekend.”
Setting the mug on the table, she tried to calm her nerves, to get something out that was coherent and nice. As opposed to all the angry things running through her mind. The anger won out. “And you thought this morning was the best time to bring this up?”
His eyes narrowed, his own irritation rising. “When else am I supposed to ask? When you’re mooning over some movie star, or when you’re working yourself to the bone at a job that isn’t going anywhere?”
“Excuse me?”
He knew what he’d said was wrong. She could see it in his eyes. “I just meant?—”
“I know what you meant, Book.” She stood, looking down at him. “Let me make this clear. I don’t care who believes me about Nick. It doesn’t matter where my job is going as long as I love where it’s at. And you have no right to judge my life. I asked you to come today because I thought you supported me.”
“I do. I?—”
“I don’t owe you anything just because you think you have feelings for me.”
“I’m in love with you.”
“No, you’re not. If you loved me, it wouldn’t matter if I said no to your date. You wouldn’t pressure me into something you know I don’t want. You’d be a friend regardless of my feelings for you.”
Just like Nick. She’d given up on helping him just because he didn’t remember her. That wasn’t love.
“It’s still him, isn’t it?” He stood so they were eye to eye. “Always him. I don’t care what kind of dream you had after your accident. It wasn’t real, Lizzy. No matter how much it felt like it was.”
“It was real to me.” She turned on her heel, ready to leave him and this conversation behind.
“He doesn’t even know you,” Booker called after her.
“That doesn’t stop me from caring about him.” Her words were so quiet she wasn’t sure if he heard them before she pushed through the door.
But it didn’t matter. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number of possibly the only true friend she had left.
Jasmine answered right away. “Liz, hey.”
“I’m ready.”
She didn’t need to explain herself, because Jasmine knew. She was ready to fight. For Nick, for his reputation, for his life. It would never include her, but she’d make sure it was worth living.
The Nick Jacobs she knew was not a man who’d willingly put others at risk.
And she’d clear his name.
