Elliott pulled out the stool next to Noah and sat down. The bartender scooted over and placed a napkin in front of him. “What can I get you?”

“Just ice water, please.” He swiveled to look at Noah. “Can I get you anything?”

“No.”

“I didn’t know Candi was going to visit Alexis tonight.”

“Well, she did.”

“I’m glad. This has been really difficult for Candi.”

Noah made an ugly noise and tipped his bottle back. “Forgive me if I find it hard to generate much sympathy for any member of your family.”

“I understand your anger, but Candi is innocent in all of this.”

“So is Alexis, yet it seems they’re the two people hurting most of all because of you.”

The bartender set a glass of water in front of Elliott, and he immediately downed a long drink. “I deserve that,” he said, turning the glass round and round on the bar.

“If you’re expecting me to argue that point, you’ll be waiting a long time.”

“That’s fair.”

Noah’s anger got the best of him. He whipped his gaze to Elliott’s. “Let’s make one thing absolutely clear. Alexis is only doing this because it would never occur to her to say no. Because that’s who she is. She takes care of people often to her own detriment, and it would haunt her the rest of her life if she didn’t do this for you. So you can play the contrite patriarch all you want, but I hope you spend every day knowing that you don’t deserve this gift she’s giving you.”

Noah stood, dug out his wallet, and dropped a twenty-dollar bill on the counter. Without so much as a glance at Elliott, he stormed off.

But Elliott’s voice quickly stopped him. “I looked into your father’s death.”

Noah froze. He barely remembered turning around much less walking back, but somehow he stood next to Elliott’s stool again. “What did you say?”

“You were right. His death was entirely preventable and should not have happened.”

Noah’s hands balled into fists. “How do you have access to information about my father’s death?”

Elliott smirked, but it was more sad than arrogant. “I have a pretty high security clearance.” He paused, and the sad smirk became remorseful chagrin. “Your father was sent to war with insufficient protection, and even though it wasn’t my company, it was a company like mine that failed. And it failed for the exact same reasons that my company was under federal investigation. Greed. Pure and simple.”

“That would make an excellent opening statement to Congress, but I don’t buy a word of it.”

“I just want you to know that I understand why you would question my motives.”

Noah braced a hand on the bar and leaned down, seething and shaking. “What do you want? A gold star for stating the obvious?”

Elliott stood. Slowly. Bracing a hand on the edge of the bar to steady himself. “Mortality has a way of bringing things into focus. It makes you realize what really matters and what doesn’t. I just want you to know how sorry I am for your loss.”

For the first time, Noah saw him as he was—a man staring death in the face and desperately wanting to make up for his mistakes. The flare of empathy that would have softened Alexis simply hardened Noah’s anger. “And you think sorry is enough? It’s not. Where was this remorse when your company was under investigation? If you want redemption, don’t just apologize. Do something.”

Elliott’s smile was sad as he stepped away from the stool. He lightly patted Noah’s arm. “I’m trying.” He paused as if wanting to say more, but then shook his head as if deciding against it. Instead, he squeezed Noah’s arm. “You’re braver than I could ever dream of being. Your father would be proud.”

He shuffled away, leaving Noah standing with his mouth agape and a single question racing through his brain. What the fuck was that all about?

CHAPTER TWENY-FIVE

Alexis was done with all her tests by noon. Noah spent most of that time pacing in the hallway and trying to figure out how to tell her about his bizarre run-in with Elliott. Now he waited outside Jasmine’s office, where she and Alexis had disappeared more than fifteen minutes ago. He’d killed a few minutes by running her overnight bag out to the car, but now he was back to pacing.

He finally gave up and leaned against the wall opposite Jasmine’s office door so he could will it to open. A few minutes later, Alexis walked out, smiling, laughing, and clutching a black binder to her chest. Jasmine followed.

“We’re all set,” Jasmine said. Her eyes locked with Noah’s. “Thank you for supporting her through this. This can be a very emotional process for everyone involved.”

“Everything okay, then? That’s it?”

Jasmine and Alexis exchanged a look.

“What’s that mean?” Noah demanded.

Alexis used her placate an angry customer voice again. “We have a surgery date.”

Noah tried to control his expression, schooling it into something less than holy fucking shit. “When?”

They did it again—shared a look. Alexis was even more cautious this time. “Soon.”

“How soon?”

“Two weeks.”

Gravity failed beneath his feet, and he swayed. He propped his hand against the wall.

Jasmine’s face softened into the sort of practiced patience they probably taught in medical school. “The sooner the better. Since everyone is ready now, there’s no reason to wait longer than necessary.”

Alexis came to stand by his side. “It’ll be okay,” she said, resting her free hand on his stomach. “We have plenty of time to prepare, and once the surgery is over, I’ll have more than enough time to recover before Liv and Mack’s wedding.”

Like he gave a shit about the wedding. Noah bent and brushed his lips across hers.

“Call me if you have any questions or concerns,” Jasmine said. “Make sure you study all the pre-op information I gave you, because it’s really important that you follow all the instructions prior to surgery.”

Alexis thanked the woman and then slipped her hand in Noah’s as they walked down the hallway. They stopped briefly at the nurse’s station so Alexis could sign a few papers, and while they stood there, the elevator opposite the desk dinged. The doors opened, and out walked Elliott, Candi, and a woman who was an older version of the bride in the wedding announcement.

“Lexa,” Noah said, his hand instinctively coming to rest on Alexis’s back.

She looked up at him and then immediately followed the direction of his gaze.

“Oh,” she said, and the word managed to sound both bewildered and pleased. “Hi.”

“Good, we caught you,” Elliott said, slightly out of breath as they closed the distance to the counter. “We tried to text you that we were here, but you didn’t respond, so we were afraid you’d already left.”

Alexis dug her phone from her pocket and let out a quiet shoot. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear my phone. I was in Jasmine’s office.”

Noah splayed his fingers across the width of Alexis’s back. “What are you doing here?”

Elliott smiled. “Just checking on our patient.”

The word our sent heat racing up Noah’s neck.

Candi walked to Alexis and embraced her. And the only thing more surprising than that show of familiarity was that Alexis returned the hug with equal ease. There was a warmth between them that made him both suspicious and jealous, which also made him feel like a total shit. He should be happy that Alexis and Candi had apparently reached some kind of peace.

When Candi stepped back, Elliott set his hand on his wife’s back. “This is my wife, Lauren.”

The woman looked brittle, like a hostage in a proof-of-life photo. He couldn’t really blame her. Talk about shitty. She had to stand here and be polite in front of the living, breathing reminder that her husband had cheated on her before they got married.

Noah decided to take the high road with her. He extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Her smile was as tight as her fingers were loose. “Likewise.”

Candi nudged her father with an elbow.

Elliott nodded. “Right. I know it’s last minute, but we were hoping that we could maybe take you out to lunch.” Elliott’s eyes darted to Noah. “Both of you, of course.”

Noah flared his nostrils. Lunch? “We were planning to head back—”

“Of course,” Alexis said, her hand once again gripping his.

“Great,” Elliott breathed, relief lifting both his voice and his smile. “That’s great. There’s a restaurant off I-565 called Bilbo’s. It’s an Italian place. Want to meet us there? Cayden and his wife are going to join us too.”

Noah felt the subtle squeeze of Alexis’s fingers around his. It managed to feel both reassuring and scolding. “That sounds nice,” she said. “We’ll meet you there.”

They followed the Vanderpools out to the parking lot and parted ways to their separate cars. Noah opened Alexis’s door for her and then went around to the driver’s side. When he got in, she was on her phone looking up directions to the restaurant.

“It’s about a fifteen-minute drive,” she said, plugging her phone into the car’s radio. The friendly GPS lady told him to head east out of the parking lot.

“You sure about this?” he asked casually, backing out of the parking spot.

“It’s just lunch.”

“With Elliott and his wife. That’s not just lunch.”

“The surgery is in two weeks. We need to get used to spending time with them. I’d rather get this awkward stuff out of the way now, wouldn’t you?”

Which seemed as good a segue as he was going to get to tell her about last night. He pulled onto the ramp for the freeway and tried to keep his voice casual. “Elliott came to see me at the hotel last night.”