"Avery Jane, I told you before, I don't want any promises from you, I just want you to be well. I want to take good care of you." The hospital was crowded and noisy, but his voice was like a warm light shining on her. She couldn't give him anything in return; back then with Wenyard, it might have been admiration and attachment, or maybe something more indefinable like affection. But with Joshua Hughes, it was true love—a love that seemed to have merged into her bloodstream, an indelible mark. Yet she couldn't love him; his actions made it impossible for her to face him again, nor could she forgive him. And today, today he hadn't cared how she was doing at all.
