Time-Limited Love: A Contract Expired, Not Renewed novel Chapter 42

Back at the hospital, Zinnia dropped the medicine she’d brought back onto her office desk, then headed down to the cafeteria for dinner.

She ate quickly, not really caring what was on her plate, and afterward wandered out to the wide lawn in front of the surgical wing for a short walk. The evening was cool, the grass freshly mown.

She ran into a few familiar patients, out for a stroll with the help of their families. They exchanged small talk—Zinnia asked after their health, listened with a doctor’s practiced patience, and reminded them of a few precautions to keep in mind. By the time she finished, more than an hour had slipped by.

As she stepped out of the elevator and turned the corner toward her office, she spotted a familiar figure leaning against the wall outside her door—Landon. His head was bowed, lost in thought.

Zinnia hesitated for a moment, then walked over.

At the sound of her footsteps, Landon looked up, meeting her puzzled gaze.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, unlocking her office door and stepping inside.

Landon followed, his expression unreadable, eyes locked on her face. He shut the door behind them and, in a low voice edged with frustration, demanded, “Why haven’t you answered your phone?”

Zinnia shot him a surprised look. She’d been wondering herself why he was here—hadn’t he gone to take Noelle home?

“I called you several times. I’ve been waiting here for an hour,” Landon said. There was a faint, barely detectable note of hurt in his voice.

“Oh? Did you need something urgent?” Zinnia asked, confusion deepening. She rummaged through her desk drawer for her phone, then held it up. “Sorry, I didn’t have my phone on me.”

Her apology was distant, almost offhand. Landon stared at her, silent, his dark eyes searching her face. Whatever annoyance and disappointment he’d felt waiting for her seemed to crash against the wall of her indifference, unable to find release.

“So you forgot our plans?”

His tone was even colder now.

She didn’t want to admit it. “I thought you’d be eating with Noelle, maybe your plans changed. So I just ate by myself,” she said, shrugging. After all, she’d been stood up plenty of times before—if she’d waited again tonight and he’d canceled, she’d have gone hungry.

She heard Landon let out a long, slow breath, as if trying to push down a surge of anger.

“If I made plans with you, why would I break them?” he said quietly.

He met her gaze, but Zinnia’s look was inscrutable—a flicker of irony hovering at the edge. Landon’s expression faltered. Maybe, in that moment, he remembered just how many times he’d canceled on her for Noelle, and all the words he might have said died in his throat.