“No way. She won’t go for it. I don’t want it to be about her fighting me or me dragging her into a plan. I want toshowher.”
He leans back in his chair, lips twitching. “You’re leaving your fancy hospital, your life here, for a woman?”
“Forthewoman,” I correct. “The only one who’s ever made me feel like I had something worth holding on to.”
There’s a long pause.
Then Aksel exhales. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“So, not punching me again?” I tease.
He laughs. “I want to. But Ember won’t like it. I know for damn sure that Latika won’t like it. So, you’re safe from my mighty fist.”
“Like hell I’d let you get away with it this time,” I trash talk.
Aksel traces a finger over the condensation of his beer mug, and then looks at me, thoughtful. “You love her. Like…really fucking love her.” He’s not questioning me. He’s not doubting. He’s my best friend. He knows me.
“I do.”
He nods once, smiles wide. “Ember is special, and she deserves to be loved like this. I’m assuming you’re already talking to people in Boston?”
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“Mass Gen. Harvard. There are options.”
“But you won’t be the head.”
“No. That takes time in a new hospital…. But I don’t give two shits. I’ll haveherwith me.”
Then, without overthinking it—because if I spend too long wondering about it, I might talk myself out of this—I reach into my coat pocket and pull out the small blue box I bought this morning.
Impulse? Nah. Not really.
I was walking past Tiffany’s at the Stanford Shopping Center, headed for coffee, when I saw it in the window. A ring with a diamond shaped like a star, brilliant and singular, set in a band so delicate it looked like it could float.
And I knew.
It was hers.
Ember’s.
She who maps galaxies and reaches for the sky.
Who makes me believe in second chances and real love.
Who’s always been light-years ahead of every other woman I’ve known.
So I walked in and bought it. Because even if the timing is off, even if the world isn’t perfect, I know thatshe’s it. And I’m not going to let the best thing that’s ever happened to me slip away.
I show the ring to Aksel, who whistles. “Wow! Youarevery serious.”
“You think she’ll say yes?” I’m nervous. It’s too soon. I know she thinks that, but I’ve been waiting for her my whole life.
Aksel’s expression softens with compassion. “She already said yes, Ransom. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
It takes a couple of months to make it all happen.
