Page 21 of In Your Wildest Dreams
I glare at him. If he tells Liza the whole story like he did the nurses upstairs, I’ll duct tape his mouth closed. As if he can see my thoughts, Ash’s upper body shakes with quiet laughter. He turns his attention back to Liza. “I might need to see some of these videos.”
“I’m out of screen time until tomorrow,” she says with a frown.
Thank goodness.
“Good thing I have mine.” Ash’s voice is saccharin sweet as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.
“Knock, knock,” Mindy says as she stands in the doorway of Liza’s room. “Sorry to interrupt, but I need to check your blood sugar.”
“Now?” Liza asks with a whine.
“We should get back anyway,” I tell her. “Ash needs to sleep, and my lunch break is almost over.”
“All right.” The disappointment in her voice always tugs at my heart.
“I’ll stop by tomorrow,” I promise.
“Nice to meet you,” Ash says to her. “Thanks for keeping me company.”
When he tries to hand her back the book of Sudoku puzzles, she shakes her head. “Keep it. I have a stack of them.”
We say our goodbyes and Ash and I head out.
He doesn’t say anything until we get on the elevator.
“Is she going to be okay?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I nod. “She’s a brittle diabetic, which means her blood glucose is harder to control. She’s had to stay in the hospital quite a bit since her diagnosis.”
He nods thoughtfully as he leans back against the elevator wall.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m all right.”
“Liar. Your head hurts, doesn’t it? You keep clenching your jaw.”
A small smile tugs up one side of his mouth. “It kills.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dragged you down here.”
“No,” he says quickly. “I’m glad you did. Liza was cool and I got to learn more about you. A tennis player, huh?”
“I was, yeah. I quit the team last year.”
“I’d love to watch you play sometime.”
“Youwant to watch a college tennis match?”
“I want to watchyouplay.”
I don’t even try to resist rolling my eyes at him.
“I play a little. My uncle owns a country club. I spent every summer working there until I graduated college. I could take you to dinner and then we could hit the ball back and forth a bit.”
The doors open on the orthopedic floor and we step out and slowly walk back toward his room.
“With one arm?” I ask.
