Page 32 of The Candle Palace (Jamison Valley 6)
My heart fluttered. “You’re not?”
“No.” He placed his hand over mine. “I’m not very good at this.”
“At what?”
He swallowed twice, his eyes blinking too fast. I’d never seen Milo like this. Was he nervous?
“I, uh . . .” He let out a long breath. “You should know I’m not the guy in town everyone congregates around. I’m not flashy or whatever. You get what I’m saying? I’m just me. I try to be friendly and do a good job. But I screw up sometimes. I’m awkward and was never the popular kid. So I didn’t have a lot of girlfriends. Or any. I don’t really know how to act.”
I nodded, knowing exactly what he was saying.
“If I had met you in Prescott, I would have asked you out. You probably would have said no.”
“I would have said yes.”
The corners of his lips turned up. “If you had said no, I would have kept asking. For a guy who’s been shot down more than once, I’m pretty gun-shy. But for you, I would have tried a million times. I’ve got a hell of a crush on you, Sara Foster.”
“I have a crush on you too.” The smile I was trying to hold back pinched my cheeks, so I let it go. “But I can’t be your nurse anymore.”
“No, you can’t.”
I slipped my hand free of his and picked up the syringe to uncap it and position it in his IV line. As I pushed the plunger, sending the medication through the clear tubes, I searched for something to say.
I couldn’t be his nurse, so where did that leave us? I wanted to spend time with him before he left and went home to Montana, but it would be a risk.
Was I willing to take it?
Yes.
No one, not Amber or Dr. Vernon or anyone, was going to keep me away, not anymore.
I took the syringe to the disposal container on the wall marked SHARPS. Then I went back to his bedside. Milo’s eyes were closed. The drugs didn’t take long to work their way into a person’s system when pumped right into an IV.
And though I didn’t have any answers, for now, just knowing he was getting some relief from the pain was enough.
“Sara?” he murmured.
“Yes?”
His hand patted around the bed, searching for mine. When he found it, he held it tight. “What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?”
I smiled. “Sneaking into your room.”
Six
MILO
“Mom, I’m good. Even though I look like Frankenstein.”
“I should have come out there,” she muttered. I knew, on the other side of the phone, she was shaking her head.
“To sit around the hospital? There’s nothing you could have done.”
“I could come out now.”
“There’s no need. I’m okay. The grafts are done. Now we just wait and see if they take.”
“Are you sure?”
