Chapter 26 Unforgivable
UNFORGIVABLE
NAVYA
Ifinally talk to Evan.
Like really.
Not just saying things to see if I can get a rise out of him.
As always, we find ourselves in an on-call room. It’s the most private place at ten at night.
The hospital hums around us—phones ringing, shoes squeaking, lives being saved in increments.
He stands, leaning against a wall while I sit on the narrow bed—one where we’d made love once.
“I spoke to my brother about you.”
He nods. Waits.
“He asked me what it would take for me to forgive you.”
I see the flare of hope in his eyes, and honestly, I’m ready right then and there to tell him, fine, he’s forgiven because what I see in him is raw and sincere.
It’s clear that Evan is in pain—just like I’d been when he hurt me.
Am I hurting him? I don’t want to do that. I love him. I want him happy.
“And what would it take?” Evan asks.
“Time,” I tell him. “And patience…you’ll have to be patient.”
He straightens. “Done.”
I lick my lips, nervous because this is me walking through a door where I’m not sure if I’ll find buttercups and daisies on the other side or more out-of-the-way restaurants.
“What if…I don’t know, your parents don’t like me?” I ask.
He looks amused. “They won’t.”
I roll my eyes.
“They won’t,” he assures me. “They don’t like anyone. Narcissists often don’t. But we don’t care about them. Nonno adores you.”
That’s honest.
“What if…we’re together and you meet someone you know? Will you be…ah….”
I can’t say it. I can’t say the words. They still hurt.
“If we see someone I know, I will proudly introduce you to them as the woman I love.” He comes to me then, crouches, and takes my hands in his. “I’m sorry for saying that bullshit…and it was bullshit, cara. I know an apology is not enough.”
I am so tired that I want to collapse into him. It’s not a physical tiredness; it’s emotional. This whole should I, shouldn’t I battle, waging in my head, is taking its toll.
“It isn’t.”
“I know,” he repeats. “I hurt you. I humiliated you. I made you feel like you were something I had to hide.”
My throat tightens despite my best efforts. “I won’t be a secret, Evan.”
“You’re not a secret,” he says, amused. “I think the residents have a poll going on when you’re going to give me the boot. There are a couple who are betting on us getting back together.”
People don’t know what happened between us, but there is plenty to guess.
Evan got engaged, and then he ended that—right after which he was asking me, publicly, to forgive him, be with him.
“You know the irony of it is that I’m Indian, we do arranged marriages—you’re Italian, you don’t…and….” I shake my head.
He smiles. “I want you. I want to be with you. In time, I want to marry you. Have children with you. I want us to be a family.”
Damn it. The man looks the way he does, which is gorgeous, and now he’s saying these absolutely wonderful things to me.
He gets up and sits next to me on the bed.
He puts his arm around me. I lean into him and rest my head on his shoulder.
“Give me a chance, cara. You won’t regret it,” he murmurs, his lips brushing against my forehead.
“You promise?”
“I love you, Navya. I’ll never hurt you on purpose, and if I do inadvertently, I will make up for it.”
“Okay,” I murmur in a low voice.
His arm tightens around me. “That’s my good girl.”
Hai Bhagvan! Here we go again.