Page 65 of A Million Times, Yes

Me:I miss you.

But I was getting nothing.

I shoved the phone into my pocket and glanced out the back seat window of the SUV, wishing that I would spot her on the sidewalk, that I could yell for my driver to stop, that I could ask her every question that was haunting me. When I tried to drag my eyes away from the window, they wouldn’t move. They insisted on scanning each face I passed as though hers was waiting for me.

As large as Boston was, it was small at heart. And my fucking heart knew just how badly I wanted to see Maya.

It didn’t matter how much I buried myself in work.

If I spent the evenings at the Bears games, immersed in watching the sport that still owned me.

How hard I ran myself in the mornings or during my workouts in the gym.

Nothing made this ache die down.

I wanted her.

I fucking needed her.

The SUV suddenly came to a stop, and it took me a second to realize where I was even though I’d asked my driver to bring me here.

“Has Gavin already arrived?” I inquired.

My driver was in constant contact with Gavin’s driver, the two always coordinating schedules to make sure we arrived simultaneously.

“He’s not coming,” he said.

“He’s not ... coming? Did something happen?”

“I’m not sure, Mr. Worthington.”

What the hell?

Why didn’t my brother say anything to me?

I climbed out of the vehicle and went through the entrance of the building, checking in with reception before I headed down the hallway.The numbers by the door told me I still had a bit more to go, giving me plenty of time to take out my phone and shoot Gavin a text.

Me:Where are you?

I waited for the bubbles telling me he was typing to appear, and when I didn’t see them after a few steps, I returned my phone to my pocket. I paid attention to the numbers by the doors, and when I neared the one I was looking for, I began to slow.

But as I did, I heard a familiar voice coming from inside one of the rooms, and when I reached the right one, I halted. I gripped the doorframe and stayed off to the side, attempting to be invisible so I wouldn’t be seen as I glanced inside.

There was that fucking smile. That soft tone. That gorgeous body covered in hospital scrubs, not nearly as hot as the outfits she ran in every morning, but cute nevertheless.

Maya.

I’d been dying to see her for five days, and now she was standing right in front of me.

I didn’t believe in coincidences.

I believed everything happened for a reason.

What was today’s reason?

The goddamn universe knew how badly I wanted her and handed her right to me.

I didn’t want to bring any attention to myself. I wanted to go unnoticed for as long as I could, observing her in a mode I’d never seen her in before. And while I listened to her give instructions and dote on her patients, I took her in.