Page 78 of The Route to You

He turned around and scanned the parking lot, looking back up at the sign for the physical therapist’s office. “Here?”

“Yes—I mean, no. Not here, precisely.” She put a hand to her temple. “Can we talk?”

He crossed his arms. “What the hell do you call what we’re doing? Interpretive dance?”

Her lips pursed. “You know what I mean.”

All those months of wondering what had happened to her and now . . . she was here. Standing in the parking lot of his PT’s office, which made no sense at all.

When he didn’t answer, she gently tried again. “I heard you were in an accident.”

“Oh, did you?” Now he scowled, something about her words igniting an ire he didn’t quite understand. “Well, thanks for coming to check on me, sweetheart. But as you can see, I’m doing just fine.”

He unlocked his door and pulled the latch.

“No—I mean, I just heard you were in an accident.” She stepped off the curb and came closer. “As in, three days ago. I would have gotten here faster, but I was driving from San Francisco.”

Kyle blinked at her. What the hell? She’d driven from San Francisco?

. . . for what?

“Why the fuck would you drive from San Francisco?”

“I—” Sloan retreated a step, the hardness in his tone seeming to do the trick. Her voice went lower. “I-I wanted to see you.”

He laughed once, short. “Wow. I don’t even drive that far for people I like .”

The anger was cresting again. Irrational. Unpredictable.

This time, he stepped toward her, his eyes narrowing. “You mean to tell me that after all that happened back in January —you know, me coming to your aid, driving you, catering to your every whim, getting arrested for you —you just now remembered I exist and thought you should . . . I don’t know, what? Come by? Say hello? Do what? Grab coffee and talk? ” His anger was laced with bewilderment. “How the hell did you even find me here?”

She blanched, putting her hands up as though to hold him back. “This was clearly a bad idea.” She turned away, her pace quick as she started back down the sidewalk.

He clenched his jaw, the fleeting temptation to just let her go pulsing through his body. Every time Sloan came into his life, all she did was cause chaos and leave him in shambles. Learn your damn lesson, Kyle.

But call it morbid curiosity. Or maybe even ridiculous hope. He couldn’t stop himself as he started after her. “Hold on⁠—”

She whirled on her heels, her face red now as she strode back toward him. “You know, you didn’t make it easy to find you, Kyle! I heard nothing from you when you got out of jail. You didn’t call me once.”

Kyle’s brows lifted, keenly aware of the gaze of a woman nearby, walking to her car. The woman ducked her head down as he caught her eye, pretending she wasn’t listening. Great. Another stranger who now thinks I’m a criminal.

He exhaled slowly and gazed at Sloan. “You mean when you had no phone? Or when I was unconscious? Or—with what? The phone number I had stored at the phone at the bottom of the ocean?”

“I texted you my number,” she said, crossing her arms. “You ignored it.”

He shook his head. “Or didn’t see it.” He took one step closer. “Sweetheart, I had a lot of shit to deal with after what I went through with you. Between being unconscious, stitched together, and learning how to breathe without my lungs collapsing, I wasn’t prioritizing my social calendar. Not to mention, a whole long-ass hospital stay where I didn’t even have a phone. So, forgive me if your very best efforts to get in touch with me fell a little too far beneath my notice.”

Still, something about her words was . . . strangely comforting.

Was she just as hurt by the months of silence as he was?

Or is that wishful thinking? Because it had hurt him. He’d been arrested and put in jail because of this woman, and her radio silence had stung, especially in the long months during surgery and treatment. It was as if he’d briefly found some light in his life, and then it was just . . . gone. And now she was here, but why?

“Why the hell are you here?” he repeated, his voice softer now.

Sloan’s throat bobbed, and her eyes shone. She made a vague gesture with her hands, shrugging her shoulders.

He raised his brows and stepped closer. “That’s not an answer, and you know it.”