Subject: Here's an idea
Yeah, overachiever much?
*I'm not letting you blow off your boards for me. That's insane. More insane than any of this already is, and I won't be the one responsible for you fucking up this fellowship. Put on your big boy undies and deal with it.
**Guess what? When you pass, you won't be able to give me shit about getting another doctorate anymore. We'll be even.
* * *
To: Erin Walsh
From: Nick Acevedo
Date: July 14
Subject: Say more about those underwear
I'll be out of surgery by 7 or 8 tonight, and then you can get on video chat and tell me all about these underwear you speak of. Maybe you can show me this process.
*That wasn't just one footnote-styled asterisk but TWO. Are you okay over there, Skip?
* * *
To: Nick Acevedo
From: Erin Walsh
Date: July 14
Subject: Maybe this?
What about immediately after your boards? I can fly in for a weekend, and then go straight to Oxford. It'll be tight, but it's something. Or…maybe late December? I'm not sure I can handle any traditional Christmas at home, but maybe we could meet somewhere? Or something? Anything?
*Did you see that? It's me, trying.
* * *
To: Erin Walsh
From: Nick Acevedo
Date: July 14
Subject: I saw
We can talk about it tonight, while we have that lesson on underwear.
Chapter Twelve
Erin
I drummedmy fingers against my laptop, waiting, none too patiently, for Nick to answer my video call. He'd been in surgery all day, all week, all fucking month as he raced down the clock to meet the practical requirements for an additional board certification. And before that, I'd been locked up in full-day sessions at Oxford through August and September. That's how it was with us, one jam-packed day after another, and squeezing in time for video chats often required heroic efforts. The four-hour time difference between Boston and Iceland didn't help matters.
The screen blinked to life, and Nick said, "Hey, lovely. What's your news? I have some, too."
He was walking down a dark hallway in his apartment, and it wasn't until he came to a stop in the kitchen that I got a good look at him. He was wearing an unzipped hoodie and nothing underneath. I shifted my head from side to side, trying to get a better look at him.
"Erin?"
