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. Melody stood and strolled to the door.At the threshold, she turned and gave Ellie anodd look. Something tells me you re not as far away as you think. Before Ellie could reply, the bell dinged from the waiting room, signaling the arrival ofthe next patient.She started to get up, but Melody stopped her. Eat.I ve got to get newinsurance information and take care of the co-pay.Don t worry, I ll get you out of here ontime. Have I mentioned a raise lately? Melody laughed as she walked away. Yeah, you have. Ellie bounced like a pinball between exam rooms all afternoon, seeing patients, writingprescriptions, updating charts& and yet somehow still found time to obsess over Tyler.Should she call him and try to explain herself, or stop by his place so they could speakface-to-face? What, exactly, should she say to him? When I asked you to teach me howto be wilder in bed, I wanted to turn myself into Roger s fantasy woman.I never dreamedI d end up falling in love with you.If the I love you part didn t send him running for the hills, the turn myself into Roger s fantasy woman would.God, Ellie, she scrubbed a handover her tired eyes and stifled a noise somewhere between a whimper and a groan.Whatthe hell were you thinking?Certainly not that spending time with Tyler would be so easy, so effortless, and soaddictive.She d been physically attracted to him from the start, but his sexy smile andeasy charm had distracted her from the strength of his character and the capacity of hisheart.She hadn t expected to find a friend, a confidant, a soul mate.She hadn t expectedto find love.The half hour spent driving to Lexington to check on Frank brought her no closer tofiguring out how to explain herself.Their visit offered no chance to sort through hermuddled thoughts because Frank spent the entire time complaining about lousy hospitalfood and bloodsucking nurses.But hey, at least they were talking.While she was there, Sharon stopped by with a get well soon gift a diabetic cookbook.Sharon and Frank sat together on the bed, leafing through the book.Frank insisted everyentrée looked like crap, but Sharon kept at him, and before long, had him talked himinto trying one with her as soon as his hospital stay ended.Ellie said goodbye andheaded out.Her dad was in good hands, and she had her own issues to tackle, startingwith the screwed-up mess of her love life.She rehearsed what to say to Tyler on the drive home.First off, she owed him anexplanation as to why she d been kissing Roger yesterday evening.That was a relativelyeasy conversation, compared to the thornier things she had to confess.Maybe Tyler didn tcare they never discussed exclusivity, after all but it mattered to her.She wanted himto know the whole truth.He deserved to know the truth, including her real motive forseeking sexual experience, no matter how sadly misguided she d been.Hand-in-handwith the explanation about Roger, she owed him an apology for manipulating him intohelping her with such a crass, calculated pursuit.Once she got all that out on the table,the chance he d believe she d developed genuine feelings for him, or was even capable ofgenuine feelings, seemed remote.Hi, I spent the last few weeks using you to help mewin another man s heart, but now I realize I don t love him I love you.He d probablycrack a rib laughing at her.She parked her car in the driveway and headed to her front door, still deep in thought,and drew up short when she saw Tyler sitting on her porch steps.For a second, shesimply drank in the sight of him while her heart skipped around in her chest.Belatedly,she noticed his truck parked in her driveway, between the house and the garage. Tyler& what are you doing here? He slowly got to his feet, eyes never leaving her face. How s your dad? How did you know ? It s a small town.Word travels. Clearly, it did.Was that why he d come? To ask about Frank? She approached theporch, trying without much success to get a read on his mood.As usual he exuded calmand his expression gave nothing away. Frank s okay.Mismanaging his diabetes landed him in the ER, but if there s a brightside to a night in the hospital, he seems to be taking his disease seriously.Also, he joinedAA. Her voice held steady, but her heartbeat refused to normalize.The weight ofeverything she wanted to say threatened to crush her. Good.I hope he follows through. Me, too. Holding his clear, steady gaze, she found herself diving clumsily into anunrehearsed topic. He told me about the options you gave him. Those green eyes flashed. I m not going to apologize for stepping in. I m not asking you to.I ve been trying to convince him to stop drinking for years andnever made any headway.You succeeded in getting him to meetings with a singleconversation.Obviously She swallowed and concentrated on unlocking her doorbecause tears stung her eyes. Obviously, I should have asked for help a long time ago. He placed a hand on her arm. I had the right hammer at the right time, that s all, andI don t mean threatening to have him arrested.What really shook him was thinking Imight actually convince you to cut him loose if he didn t get himself together.He wantsyou in his life, even if his pride won t allow him to say the words. Twenty-four hours ago, she would have argued to the contrary, but after her father sapology last night, and his statements about making amends, she had to admit heseemed to be trying to repair their relationship.Not sure she could speak to say thank-you, she nodded and motioned for him to come inside.He picked up his computer bagfrom the porch step and followed her. Speaking of asking for help, you could have called me to drive to Lexington with youlast night.I guess I haven t made this clear, but I m here for you as more than just somesex tutor.You don t have to do everything by yourself. She nodded and turned to face him.This side of him no longer surprised her.He stoodup for people, supported his friends
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