Chapter 3

Odette stood at the ER entrance, her face pale. She had clearly heard the nurses' gossip too, but she said nothing and just stared at Ezra, as if waiting for him to get jealous and make a scene.

But Ezra only looked at her calmly and didn't say a word.

He seemed completely detached from the whole thing, and the panic on Odette's face gradually settled into something heavier. "Don't you have anything you want to ask me?"

Ezra was quiet for a moment before he answered. "No."

"It's not what you think between Rafe and me," Odette explained. "The pressure inside the cyst built up and caused a spontaneous rupture, and he just happened to give me a ride to the hospital.

"Besides, people here don't know Rafe and I are divorced, which is why they got the wrong idea. This weekend, I'm taking my coworkers out to dinner, and I'll bring you along to meet them."

Odette had only transferred to her current hospital on a promotion after their divorce. When they remarried, they simply signed the paperwork without holding a reception, so nobody at the hospital knew who Ezra was.

But he didn't need anyone's acknowledgement. After all, before long, he and Odette would have nothing to do with each other anymore.

Ezra opened his mouth to tell her not to bother, but a doctor walked over and cut in before he could. "Dr. Fairbanks, your husband's looking for you. You'd better go see him."

Odette said she would, but she didn't correct him. Before she left, she turned to Ezra. "Honey, head back to the room for now. I'll come see Mom when I get a chance."

Unsurprisingly, Odette never showed up. Fortunately, Ezra was no longer the man who would sit there like a fool, waiting for her with his hopes up.

That weekend, Ezra stayed at the hospital with Maureen as usual, but for once, Odette actually came by the room. She asked about Maureen's health as she always did, then made the excuse that work kept her too busy to visit often.

To be fair, Odette really was busy. But no matter how busy she was, she wasn't completely without free time, especially when her office was just upstairs. If she'd really wanted to, she could have found time to stop by. Yet apart from scheduled checkups, she hadn't come by even once.

Meanwhile, she made a point of playing chess and going grocery shopping with Rafe's parents, and she even sat through romance movies with Rafe, the kind she considered "a waste of time and life." It wasn't that she had no time. She simply gave all her free time to Rafe and his family.

Ezra had long since stopped caring, though, and he certainly had no use for her fake concern.

"Mom, if you're not feeling well, call me anytime," Odette said suddenly. "Ezra and I have a dinner to get to, so I'll take him with me now."

Being put on the spot like that made Ezra frown without meaning to. He was about to refuse when Maureen pushed him out of the room. "Yes, yes, go! You young people should get out more instead of always being stuck in the hospital."

With no other choice, Ezra followed Odette to the dinner.

The moment they walked in, the lively crowd fell silent all at once.

"Dr. Fairbanks, didn't you say you were bringing your husband?" someone asked, puzzled. "Who's this?"

Odette took the opening. "I wanted to use tonight's dinner to formally introduce—"

Before she could finish, the door to the private dining room swung open, and a crisp voice came from the doorway. "Oh, everyone's here. Perfect, why don't we do the introductions together?"