Page 62 of Aiden & Lily

“Well, I couldn’t exactly bring you with me, now could I?” The words came out a little sharper than she intended.

There was a brief pause.

Lily brought her thumb to her mouth and chewed on it. If he had gotten off early, she’d leave right this second.

“How long is your break?”

“I have to head back to it in about five. But I don’t want to talk about work. I want to hear about your day. Anything interesting?”

She laughed. “Not really, but Jasmine and Reese just had an interesting conversation about dating.”

“Ooh, do tell.”

Lily explained the conversation she’d had with Reese and her sister, detailing their reasoning. “I never would have pegged Jasmine as being okay with dating my ex, but until we pointed everything out, she seemed to realize it would be a bad idea. Maybe it’s because we never got too serious.”

Aiden grew quiet. So quiet, Lily pulled the phone from her ear and checked the screen to see if he was still on. The call was still going.

“Aiden?”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, angel. I… do you… is that how you really feel?”

“About what?”

“The whole dating someone like that being messy…”

“Oh.” Lily frowned. “One hundred percent. Don’t you?”

More awkward silence followed.

This time, she didn’t rush to fill it.

“I don’t,” he said at last.

“Really? Why?”

“I don’t know. I guess if it feels right, there’s nothing you can do to stop those feelings. The heart wants what it wants, and all that.”

She frowned. That was a good point, too, but it wasn’t enough.

“The heart wanting something doesn’t mean no one gets hurt,” she said carefully. “I guess I would hope the two people involved would be smart enough not to cross that line before feelings got in the way. Or at least honest enough to talk to the people who might be affected.”

Lily waited for him to agree, but it never came. The silence stretched, and something small and uneasy took root in her chest.

“Aiden?”

“Look, a patient just got admitted, and I need to take their vitals. Talk to you tomorrow?”

The answer came too quickly.

“Yeah…” she murmured. “Sure.”

“Okay, good. Love you.”

“Love you, too,” she whispered.

But he had already hung up.

Lily kept the phone pressed to her ear for another second before lowering it. Maybe he really had needed to get back to work. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d brushed against something he didn’t want her to see.