Page 31

Ha-joon

Ellie came back pretty late from Renee’s and looked older somehow. Not physically, but… I knew what I meant.

“How bad?” I asked, knowing we could put our issue on pause for a moment.

“Bad,” she rasped, wiping under her eyes.

Knowing Ellie, she stayed strong in front of her friend but broke down once she was alone.

“He was taking the kids to day care behind her back so he could be with his side chick. Renee is livid. Didn’t get to meet the teachers and staff before—they’ve been going for months. ”

“And she missed it,” I sighed.

“And she missed it. She would be the first to tell a patient they can’t see everything or it wasn’t their fault, but—I’ve never seen her so—she destroyed rooms of her house.”

“Like tossed it around or destroyed it?” I hedged.

“Both.” Ellie snorted as she rubbed her hands over her face. “There is no putting that dining room set back together. Magic can only do so much.” She gave me a tortured look. “It was the wedding present he bought her after they got the house and the first place they had sex when they moved in.”

I winced. Ouch. Yeah… Ouch . “It’s not her fault. Cheating is about the other person’s issues. Always.”

She studied me a moment, clearly understanding that was something I’d had to come to terms with. She nodded and gave me a kiss on the cheek as she set down the rest of her stuff.

“I’m sorry I let myself in but—”

“You texted asking if we could still have a quick chat and I said it was fine,” she forgave. “I realized something else on the way home that I want to address before I get into what Renee said. Basically, she said neither of us was wrong, but we both could have handled it better.”

“Okay,” I accepted, already having a feeling I was going to get called on that. I knew I sort of lashed out since my feelings had been hurt.

Plus, we could always, always do better. I would never be so full of myself to argue that assessment.

“It’s that you got me stockings and garters, which I don’t wear, don’t like , and—if you had gotten me lingerie like I wear , I wouldn’t have gotten so upset. A replacement to that nightgown you tore—even if not the same kind. Same with that lingerie set you ripped off of me.”

“More than one,” I mumbled, knowing I owed her some replacements for sure.

“Makes sense. What did Renee say?” I nodded as she told me, mentally wincing when she got to the part of what I’d done wrong.

“That’s fair. Yeah, I get sensitive to it, jealous.

” I moved my hand to her arm. “The shot about saying I love—no one wants to keep saying it and not hear it back.”

She blinked at me like she was disappointed. “I thought you stopped so I didn’t feel pressure to say it. No, your pride at now hearing it back was more important?”

I opened my mouth but then closed it. “Not pride.” I sighed and moved away, scrubbing my hands over my head.

“Pain, Ellie. I grew up giving love to my siblings and not one has ever said it back. Yes, not the same but—does that matter? Does pain have distinctions for this stuff? No, I wanted you to understand you were loved and…”

“You don’t think you said it at the right time?

” she offered, nodding when I did. “I understand that. It was just—it was like holding your hand out to me for a stronger step, and when I didn’t immediately respond the same with all I was going through…

You took your hand back and let me trip along. That’s what it felt like.”

“I didn’t mean it like that at all. Part of it was so I didn’t put pressure on you when you were doing things that showed progress and I was valued.” I realized I maybe talked myself in a circle and sighed.

“I know, it’s not easy,” she accepted. “I’m sorry you tried to do something nice and it didn’t pan out.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t more considerate.” I cleared my throat.

“Could I try again?” I clarified when she seemed hesitant.

“I would like to replace the nightgown. It’s a reminder on my phone.

I liked the idea of you getting me an Apple Watch strap.

Let’s just do something nice for each other. That’s what I want.”

“Okay.” She cleared her throat and went for the fridge. “Just send me the one you’re thinking of before you order. If you got me the wrong size it might…”

Be another issue when we weren’t on the best footing instead of helping.

I nodded, feeling a bit like I’d been kicked when I really just wanted to do something fun for us.

But she was right. I’d never gotten her real clothes or anything—I showed her in other ways that she wasn’t just sex to me, but this was a misstep when we both had baggage.

“Can you tell me what happened to make you react like that?” I asked a bit later when we were sitting down to our new nighttime snack. It was something Ellie loved and I’d kicked up a notch. It was semi-thawed frozen fruit mixed with yogurt and a squirt of flavored whipped cream on top.

Something about the consistency or match just made it feel like eating higher-calorie frozen yogurt. I wasn’t sure how… But it did.

The variety in America was amazing. I’d found the marshmallow whipped cream and we both agreed it was perfect.

Unless we were having blueberries and then we had the blueberry-flavored whipped cream.

I wanted to have a whole shelf in the door of my fridge just for flavored whipped cream just so we could have fun.

I listened to her explain about why the gift threw her into the past—made her think of past mistakes and gave her such a strong reaction. I didn’t focus on being jealous because it involved Tommy and heard her that it was because it was a situation that made her feel unseen and small.

I could accept that and did. I tried to even if I felt like I’d been spanked for trying to be nice.

“I’m going to be helping Renee after work,” she told me when we wrapped up and got ready for bed. “Not to avoid you.”

“Thanks for clarifying.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Let me know if I can help. I have poker Friday night—but otherwise.”

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate the support but probably will be anti-men for a while.”

Fair enough.

I blinked and it was Friday. The first poker night had gone really well. Five police officers like the friend I’d made and six of us attendings from the hospital… Plus, Alan who’d invited himself after hearing what was going on.

He brought good food at least.

I didn’t want to do it too much, and once a month seemed like a good amount. And if I reserved the party room more than that, I had to start paying to use it. I was too cheap to do that.

“You’re lucky I adore you, Nephew, because we’re too old to stay up this late,” my uncle said after he came out of the portal with Da and one of my cousins.

“Imagine how I feel when you tossers keep trying to get me to run Saturday mornings with you,” I grumbled. “It’s like two in the morning my time. Even my wolf wants to sleep.”

“Aye, we’ll adjust better,” Da said as he slapped me on the back. “We brought a bunch of food. Your mum was on point with this so we both could have a bit of fun.”

And things were still tense between us. Better but… Tense.

“She doesn’t seem the fancy tea sandwiches type, but I bet she made some to make us feel posh,” Alan said as he greeted my dad and introduced himself to the others. “I’m not the only crasher this time. I said it was a blast and not the normal ass-kissing we get outside of work.”

I snorted when I glanced over his shoulder and saw four other department heads… Including mine. “We just have to keep it under fifty, yeah? I’m not getting in trouble when my lover owns the damn building.”

“I have a unit here as well,” Dr. James—Sean reminded me.

Right, right.

He had already met Da, but introductions were still made with my uncle and cousin—plus the other department heads.

The police officer who I’d started this all with—a lieutenant—walked in with the others… And gave me a look not to be mad.

“More crashers?” I chuckled.

“It got around and a few captains asked for the address and time,” he mumbled. “Including mine.”

I pointed to Sean. “My department head crashed as well.”

“I’m a rude ass who needed a night off, but I’m a rude ass who brought pulled pork that I made myself,” he told me. “Smoked two butts overnight and it’s my mate’s barbeque sauce. Totally worth me crashing, I promise.”

“I love American barbeque,” Da said and clapped his hands together. “Alright, let’s meet the rest and get food set up so we can play. We snuck in some…” He swallowed down what he was going to say and gave me a worried glance.

The officer who must have been the highest ranking chuckled. “We’re off the clock as long as it’s nothing bad.”

“Just a couple bottles of good scotch and a box of cigars we didn’t claim through customs,” my uncle confessed. “And it’s not even about the damn tax. Last time I claimed anything like that, it was ‘lost’ and I got pennies on the dollar for the value. Such a con.”

“Yes, not everyone is noble,” the officer accepted.

“We’re sure it happens on our end too,” Da said firmly, making it clear that it wasn’t to pick on North America but corruption and hand greasing everywhere.

That eased the tension, and people were thrilled with the spread. A few of the guys from last time hadn’t brought anywhere near as much as the crashers but promised to help clean up after. It wasn’t a big deal, and captains made more than lieutenants and sergeants.

The doctors that had come definitely did. So yeah, all was fair.

Or within reason because of good intentions. One of the cops who didn’t bring much joked about fixing parking tickets or letting someone speed. He seemed to remember he was the lowest on the hierarchy there and looked nervous.

I hurried to jump in before things took a turn since I was the host. I laughed and clapped him on the back. “I cannot imagine what you lads get asked to handle or stupid favors from people you barely know. We get it all of the time.”