Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,108

was a stack of ones, it was still too much. He would have added some to it himself, but since the envelope had been sealed, that hadn’t been possible.

“If it helps to ease any of the stress you’re under, it’s a good thing,” Ryker said. “You need to be able to just concentrate on Bryson.”

She nodded, still staring at the money, then looked up at him. “I really do appreciate it. Please don’t think I’m ungrateful. It’s just so…much.”

“No one forced them to give you the money. They did it because they wanted to, so accept it knowing that.” He gave her a smile. “Now, you eat, and I’ll tell you why I’m not practicing medicine anymore.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she said as she set the card and money aside, then picked up her fork. “You said you were going to tell me when Bryson was home from the hospital, and that hasn’t happened yet.”

It wasn’t a story that he was excited to tell, but Ryker wanted to take her mind off the card and its contents. Plus, he found that he wanted Sophia to know, and if his willingness to open up helped her divulge parts of her own story to him, then that would just be an added bonus.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Sophia felt so choked with emotion, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to eat any of the delicious smelling food that Ryker had set in front of her. She honestly had as much trouble believing that his mom had made her food as she did that Michael and his friends had given her a card with money.

If she had opened it in private, she probably would have broken down in tears. But since Ryker was there, she hadn’t wanted to take the chance that once she started crying, she wouldn’t be able to stop. She’d been teetering on the brink of tears ever since her parents had left, and Bryson’s meltdown over the blood draw hadn’t helped.

And since the day had already been on a downward trajectory, she’d managed to convince herself that Ryker wouldn’t show. At the end of their call the night before, he’d said he would see her, but he hadn’t told her exactly when he’d show up. It was super, super concerning to her that she was becoming so dependent on him.

But she’d think about that more when he wasn’t around. Right then, she had some food to eat—if she could get her emotions to settle down—and a story to listen to.

Ryker worked the lid off his container then picked up his fork. She saw him hesitate a moment before closing his eyes, and she wondered if he was praying. They hadn’t touched much on spiritual things in any conversations they’d had.

“So I need to go back a few years,” he began after he’d finished a bite of his food. “I had made the decision to spend a month on a medical mission after I finished my residency and before moving on to the next stage of my life, which was supposed to be joining a pediatric practice. My fiancée and I went with a group of nurses and doctors, each who had different specialties, to work in a refugee camp in Syria.”

He’d had a fiancée?

The bite Sophia had just swallowed settled heavily in her stomach. She didn’t say anything, though, because it wasn’t her place to react to that. Earlier in their acquaintance, she’d wondered about his relationship status, but given the time he’d spent with them, she’d come to the conclusion that he wasn’t married or in a relationship.

She hoped that she wasn’t wrong because the idea that she had feelings for a man who was already in a relationship made her feel positively ill. It would also be an indication that she’d completely misjudged the man because she’d assumed he wouldn’t spend that kind of time with her and Bryson if he had a girlfriend or wife. And he’d certainly never mentioned having a significant other in any of their conversations.

Sophia hoped that whatever he shared with her would clear it all up because she couldn’t handle the uncertainty. And it would change so much if he was involved with someone.

“We spent the first three weeks at the camp doing our best to treat the people there under conditions that were less than ideal.” He paused, staring down at his food. “You know, we never truly understand how even the worst of conditions in this