come face-to-face again. He’d thought he was ready.
But he wasn’t. He had to admit the truth. There was no way that he could have been prepared.
His racing thoughts froze. Why should her remembering the past give him pause?
Hours ago he would have vehemently denied the possibility that he needed confirmation that they mattered to her. Yet, there it was; an unspoken need deep inside him for Anne to at least acknowledge their history and the fact that she had walked away from what they’d had, shattering his life into ragged pieces.
He hadn’t expected the victory to be quite so hollow.
All these years.
Once they were in love and now they were strangers. He’d torn their pages from his past and thrown them away long ago.
Yet here he was in Paradise, Colorado, with his memories and the reality of today slamming together.
He couldn’t deny his confusion.
The wall of anger around his heart trembled and Matt swallowed, afraid. Until this moment he’d been certain that he was finally on the road the Lord had laid out for him. Finally, he had gotten his life together. Now he wasn’t sure of anything.
Lord, I can’t open myself up for that pain again. Protect me from myself.
“He’s your husband.” Marta’s words were a statement and not a question. Clearly her friend was shocked.
Anne’s pen jerked, leaving a long line of ink on her paperwork. “Okay, who told you?” She quickly turned from the counter to glance around. The staff had thinned now that the crisis was over. Even the waiting room had emptied of patients waiting to be seen.
“Who do you think?”
“Luke Nelson.”
“Of course.” Marta shook her head. “The real question here is why am I the last to find out about this?”
Anne raised her hand into the air and helplessly gestured. There was no good answer except that she’d never told anyone about what had happened ten years ago. How could she?
“I’ve known you since you graduated from nursing school, Anne. Here I thought you were married to the job. So when did you have time to get married and divorced? And do not tell me you forgot. No one forgets a man who looks like that.”
A giggling young nursing assistant moved past them, pushing Matt in a wheelchair, his left leg elevated. A wide grin lit up the young woman’s face and infatuation sparked in her eyes.
“The nursing assistants did rock-paper-scissors to see who got to wheel him to X-ray.”
“Oh, brother,” Anne muttered, with a shake of her head.
“I heard the Paradise ladies auxiliary is already arguing over who gets to bring casseroles to his house.”
“He’s only been here an hour, how can they possibly work that fast? You’re kidding, right?”
Marta lifted a brow. “Am I?”
Across from them laughter rang out as Juanita Villas, the plump, middle-aged unit clerk joined the conversation. “I signed up. Twice.”
Anne’s mouth dropped open.
“Don’t look so shocked. Me encanta.”
“And that means?” Anne asked.
“I like him. I like him a lot. He’s quite charming,” Juanita translated. “You’ve got good taste in ex-husbands.”
“I’ll say. Ruggedly handsome and tall. What is he, six-three? Four?” Marta mused, her gaze following to where the wheelchair was parked outside the elevator doors.
“Six-three.”
Anne snapped her fingers in front of Marta when she didn’t respond.
“Hmm?”
“Earth to Nurse Howard.”
“Oh, sorry.” Marta grinned. “I’ve apparently been married for way too long. All I can think is why would anyone ever divorce a man like that?”
“Annulment. Not divorce. I was eighteen years old. A baby for goodness’ sake. And we were married for all of five hours before Aunt Lily put an end to my childish plan.”
“F-five hours?” Juanita sputtered, her eyes round.
“That was what? Ten? Eleven years ago? I remember Lily back then.”
“Back then?” Juanita commented.
“Oh, you’re new to the valley. But I can tell you that Lily Gray was an important name around this area for years. A prominent real-estate developer and a very intimidating woman, as well,” Marta said. “When Lily Gray said jump, people jumped.”
“That was her public persona. She’s always been a marshmallow to me,” Anne said.
“Still, I can’t imagine having her as your guardian,” the older nurse continued. “It certainly explains a lot.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Juanita and Marta exchanged knowing glances.
“Stop that, you two. Aunt Lil always did what she thought was best for me. I ran away to get married. She stopped me from making a huge mistake. How can I fault her for that?”
Marta shook her head. “Yet in all this time you’ve never mentioned your marriage. It must still be a sensitive subject.”
“No. That’s not it,” Anne quickly denied. “I’m simply a private person. You know that.”
Marta gave her a slow appraisal as she shook her head. “Hmm. I thought I knew you. But now I’m guessing maybe I don’t. Never in a million years would I have pegged you for an impulsive act like running away to get married.”
“Why not?”
Juanita snorted and wagged her index finger in the air. “Honey, I may only have arrived in town a few years ago, but even I know that Anne Matson doesn’t do impulsive.”
Though she searched for a response, Anne found none. Fine. Juanita was right. No matter how you looked at it, the facts were unchanged. She didn’t do impulsive.
Indignation at the assessment had her narrowing her eyes at her coworkers and friends. “Look, I’d appreciate it if we could please keep this out of the Paradise grapevine.”
“Of course,” Marta said with her hand on her heart and a nod to Juanita. “We know the rules. What happens in the ER...”
“Stays in the ER,”
