Henry ran out of the car and got into the elevator . He straightened his jacket and checked himself in the elevator mirror . He felt strangely excited such that his whole body was vibrating . The door opened with a soft ding behind him and he hurried down the corridor to her room .

Advertis.e.m.e.ntHe took a minute to calm himself before knocking softly . It was unmanly to skip or show any expression other than what was appropriate, his father's voice reminded him . It was a lesson his father had always taken pride to instill in him that happiness was just endorphins, nothing more . It felt strange that he was knocking on a door in his own house . Her voice was stronger when he heard her soft laugh before she said, "Come on in, Henry . "

Henry was surprised to find several of Ellie's friends had come by and had an intense game of Monopoly in session . From his quick a.s.sessment, Henry guessed that these were her sorority type friends . They are cooed in delight when he entered the room and whispered excited among themselves . Only Ellie was calm when his eyes met hers . All the ladies collectively turned to Ellie who shooed them all back to the game . Ellie was seated in his mother's favorite chair looking regal and strangely incredibly delicate like a china doll out of its case . She looked just as uncomfortable as he did at her friends reactions to him . Although she did look brighter, Henry would have preferred if she had stayed in her bed .

Taking a look around at her friends, Henry could see their concern and attempts at distracting her from her true misery . He felt bad to break their time but he knew it was time, "I thought Ellie would need to head back to the emergency room . But instead my girl threw a house party and forgot to invite me . I spend all the day in the office and I thought all the while Ellie would need to go out to escape her boredom . "

The girls collectively t.i.ttered . One with an enormous bun on her head spoke up, "We're sorry for intruding on what should be newlywed honeymoon bliss . But I couldn't help but see how my friend is doing . It's been so long since we last seen her . She's been dead on social media and has been avoiding our calls so we just kidnapped Nolan's phone and found the address . You know this needed to be done . "

Henry laughed with her . "It's all right . I know Ellie needs some good company now that she is back on her feet again . It's a treasure to have good friends and good people around . I'm glad she has some nice ones . "

The woman spoke with continued grace, "Hey we're here to make sure that you're treating our queen well . We brought Bridal Monopoly here to teach our prude here how to get it on . But you know our Ellie is such a lady that she insisted on the NASCAR version that our friend Olga brought . "

Olga smiled sheepishly . "I like to think that Ellie wants to get back to the track . She loved it so much that I know she wants to remember . "