“If you two will excuse me…” Lilly stands and tosses her napkin on the table. She turns her pleading please behave eyes on me once before leaving.

Ted leans over the table. “I’m glad you guys worked things out.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Are you?”

“Does it hinder my plans a little? Sure, but I want her to be happy.”

So many questions form in my mind. I don’t think I could get them all out before Lilly returns. Even if I could, my pride won’t let me. I don’t want to beg some other man for information about my woman.

“Lilly said she’s moving a couple hours south with you?” he asks.

“Yup.”

“That’s good.” His gaze shifts in the direction Lilly disappeared. “You’ll be there to watch out for her.”

My curiosity overrules my pride. “What kind of doctor are you, anyway, Ted?” Somehow the subject hadn’t come up all night.

“Emergency room.”

“That’s how you met Lilly?”

He hesitates and then nods.

“Was she in an accident?” The more I’ve thought about it the more unlikely it seems the woman I know could have tried to kill herself. So maybe it was an accident she caused and feels guilty about?

His eyes widen for the briefest second before his face settles into something more indifferent. “Not really.”

“Meaning?”

“Come on, Z. You know I can’t discuss stuff like that.” He’s not saying it to be a dick. The guy actually seems stressed he can’t share. I’d like to say I respect him for keeping Lilly’s confidences, upholding his doctor oath and all that bullshit, but at the moment it’s making my life difficult.

“She said she discovered she was pregnant out there.”

He leans forward and takes a sip of water and finally meets my eyes. “She loves her son more than anything.”

There’s a lump in my throat that makes it hard to respond. “I know she does.”

Both of us turn and notice Lilly approaching the table. She stops to talk to our waitress and Ted taps my hand. “She’d never give me details and I don’t know if she ever discussed it with her therapist…afterward. But something forced her to leave here.”

For a while I figured that something was me, but given everything Lilly’s said since she returned, that theory makes no sense.

“But she only came back because her dad was in the hospital.”

He snorts and shakes his head. “I doubt it.”

“Oh good, neither of you are bleeding.” Lilly’s cheerful voice interrupts us.

Time’s up. If I want more information, I’ll have to shake it straight out of the source.

Chapter Ten

Z

“Did you have to be so mean to Ted?” Lilly teases on the way home.

“Mean? I thought I was a delight.”