Page 124 of Rastor

Right from the start, Chloe had beenthe one. She was still the one.

Chloe looked from Bishop to me. "I knew it!" she said. "So I was right. Itwasyou."

"That depends," I said. "Would that be good news, or bad news?"

She was still smiling. "I don't care."

Bishop was shaking his head. "Well that's nice."

She gave him a dirty look. "What Imeanto say," she continued, looking back at me, "is that, well, I love you either way."

"Yeah?" I said, reaching for her hand. "You wanna prove it?"

Bishop cleared his throat. "Do Ihaveto listen to this?"

Chloe turned to him and said, "Yes. You do, in fact."

"Oh yeah? Why?"

She smiled at him. "Because you have it coming, that's why."

To my surprise, he actually smiled back. "Eh, you might have a point there."

Bishop pulled up a chair next to Chloe's, and we spent the next half-hour reliving the Thanksgiving dinner from hell.

For Chloe's sake, I didn't mention what Lauren Jane had been doing under the table. Later, when we were alone, I'd be mentioning it, along with a few other things, like my ideas for having Josh move in with us,afterChloe moved in with me, that is.

By the time Bishop stood to leave, I was feeling as good as new, and eager to get the hell out of that bed. My grandma used to say that I had an iron stomach. I didn't know about that, but I did know that I didn't want to waste my night in some hospital bed, when the girl I loved was back in my life.

Bishop gave Chloe one final look. "Soyou'reHospital Girl," he said, as if the shock hadn't quite worn off. He glanced back at me. "You could've mentioned that."

"Why?" I said. "So you could spend another five years giving me a hard time? No thanks."

Chloe turned to smile at me. "Hospital Girl?"

I smiled back. "I didn't know your real name."

"Well, you could've mentioned it tome," she said. "I never gave you a hard time."

Bishop made a scoffing sound.

"Hey," she told him. "I didn't. Much." She turned back to me and said, "So why didn't you tell me?"

There were so many reasons, but I stuck with the simplest. "Maybe I wanted you to loveme, not that guy on the sidewalk."

"Because the guy on the sidewalk lost a fight?" She squeezed my hand. "Lawton, don't you get it? Win, lose, it doesn't matter. I don't love you because of what you do or what you have. I love you because of who you are."

I grinned over at her. "You wanna say that again?"

"That's it," Bishop said. "I'm gonna go get your car. See ya in a few days."

"Um, actually," Chloe said, "I think I lost his keys."

"Not a problem," Bishop said.

"So you've got a spare?" she asked.

He headed toward the door. "Something like that."