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“Honestly, I don’t. I miss you. Please, can’t we just talk about this?
“No, we can’t.” Cora chewed her lip. She knew she shouldn’t say anything more, but Agnes was looking at her with wide, confused, pleading blue eyes, and she was too damn beautiful to resist.
“It’s too risky,” Cora added reluctantly. “You’ve already hurt me once, Agnes. My resistance is far too shaky when it comes to you. If I let you, you will talk me into being friends again, and you will hurt me again.”
“No, I won’t.” Agnes sounded so sure of herself that it gave Cora pause. When she didn’t immediately argue, Agnes continued, “I have learned my lesson the hard way, Cora. I fucked up, badly. You are right to be furious with me. You deserve better.”
“If you acknowledge that, then what are you trying to achieve here?”
“People make mistakes, Cora. The world would never get anywhere if mistakes were never forgiven. That’s what I’m asking for—another chance. You know we have a connection—we both feel it. I am so sorry for the way I treated you, Cora. I know I can’t be what you want, but we can be something, if we give it another chance. Isn’t friendship better than nothing?”
“If I can trust you not to hurt me again.”
“I’m not going to. I swear it, Cora. You mean too much to me to allow myself to repeat that mistake.”
Despite her every intention not to, Cora found herself believing Agnes. Not for the first time, she allowed herself to consider a future in which she forgave Agnes and they fell back into their easy friendship.
It felt like taking a breath of fresh air after being underwater for weeks. Cora closed her eyes, trying to go through the list of very logical reasons she had for telling Agnes to stay the hell away from her, but her heart was swelling with longing, overriding anything her brain was trying to tell her.
“Okay. I’m still hesitant about this, but let’s give it a try.”
Agnes beamed at her, and Cora felt like a giant weight had been lifted off her chest. If this was the wrong decision, it certainly didn’t feel like it.
“But you need to do one thing—answer me something honestly.”
“Anything.”
“Did you rig the elevator to break?”
Agnes blushed. “Yes. I know it wasn’t exactly by the rules, but I couldn’t figure out any other way to get you to talk to me.”
Cora knew she should be mad, but she couldn’t help being grudgingly impressed. “How in the world did you get everyone to stay away from the elevator at the right time?”
“The nurses are in on it.”
Well, that explained everything. Nurses were the glue that held this place together. They knew everything that went on here, and once you had them on your side… Well, Cora wasn’t surprised it had all worked out.
“Do they still think we’re secretly dating?”
“They seem to be under the impression that we’re in the middle of a lovers’ spat.”
Cora rolled her eyes. “They’re in for a rude awakening.”
“Only if you can convince them of the truth—and people can be curiously dense when it comes to truths they don’t want to hear.”
“Why would it not be a truth they want to hear? Honestly, why would they be so invested in the idea of us dating.”
“It’s my fault, really. If it was you with someone else, there would still be gossip, but I imagine people would be a lot less invested in it. Most of the people here seem to think it would be healthy for me to date again. They don’t really understand…”
“Have you told them you’re just not ready yet?”
Agnes shook her head. “I don’t like to talk about it.”
“You talk about it with me.”
“Yeah, but you’re different.”
Cora liked the sound of that. “You can always talk to me, Agnes. I want to be here for you. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a wife, but I can still listen. I’m here for you, even when we’re fighting.”
