I shot a glance at his forearms. “What a shame.”
“There are times when you’re about as readable as a stone wall and other times when I can see straight into your filthymind, Dr. Aldritch.” He ran a hand up my arm. “Not that I’m complaining.”
Smiling to myself, I opened the text from Brie.
Brie:Hi! Ok! So! Everything is fine! I am going on a little journey to the Berkshires with some friends to recharge and reset. Don’t sweat it if you don’t hear from me because everyone says the cell service is terrible out there. I’ll be back in a few days and I promise I won’t lift anything heavy or eat/drink anything I shouldn’t! Have a gorgeous weekend!
There was no point in pretending this wasn’t an enormous relief. Brie and I needed a break from each other and from the looming storm cloud of our father’s visit.
I handed the phone to Henry. He nodded slowly as he scanned the message. Then, he leaned around me, one hand planted on the wall beside my head, and reached under my white coat to slip the phone into my trouser pocket.
And this was why we had to stay away from each other. Because he wouldn’t stop doing things like that and I had the resistance of an over-ripe banana.
He leaned in, his lips grazing my ear. “Your place, then.”
I managed a nod as he stared down at me. “Cami told me all about your costume for tonight.”
“Fuck.I forgot about that.” He trailed a finger down the side of my neck. “Do you think I can take a bite out of you in the spirit of Halloween?”
“You can, but questions will be asked if you don’t bite everyone.”
“I guess I’m scrapping that plan because you’re the only one I want to bite.” He returned to his position beside me, his fingers brushing against mine. “I might be a little late. I have a procedure with Hirano in an hour.”
The elevator bounced as we arrived at our stop. I stepped forward. My whole body tingled from the heat of his stare.
“Enjoy it,” I said. “It’s the last time you’ll ever scrub in on transplant.”
The doors opened. “You’re damn right it is.”
“I forgot how feral residency is,”Meri said over the music when we arrived at the vintage arcade. “It’s all a little savage, no?”
I was prepared to disagree with her until I spotted Cami bounding toward us in her teddy bear onesie, a tray of shots clutched between both paws. Reza followed in a white sequined baseball cap and hissaltyshirt that I knew many nephrologists would love.
“You’re here!” she yelled.
Beside her, Reza nodded in greeting. I barely recognized him without a bow tie. “Good evening.”
Cami held out the tray, saying, “You have to try this. We call it Life Support.”
Meri, never one to run from danger, reached for a glass. “Because that’s where you’ll end up? Or that’s how it feels?”
“We’ve never figured that out,” Cami said, bouncing on her toes. “It’s vodka, dark rum, triple sec, and orange and pineapple juices. Hazlette came up with it.”
Of course he did.
Meri knocked back the shot. “Whew. All right. There’s some fire power in there.” She dug her phone out of her bag and handed it to me. “Take this before I write page-long texts to people who can’t be bothered to respond in the first place and just don’t deserve my time.”
I pocketed the phone. “And who might that be?”
She held up a hand like we could hide from Cami and Reza. “Not in front of the children.”
“Hazlette’s finishing up a procedure and Tori is playing on her phone and being antisocial,” Cami said, “but we’ve reserved that booth over there. The pinball games are super fun and we’re all signing up for karaoke, which you definitely should do?—”
“And we definitely will,” Meri said, selecting another shot.
“The best part,” Cami went on, “is that there’s a tarot reader here tonight! I was so happy when I saw her setting up. We haven’t been able to get up to Salem yet so this makes my witchy heart happy.”
Meri set the empty glass on Cami’s tray. “Love it. Point me toward her. Maybe it’s time for some mystical direction in my life. Hell, any direction would be nice at this point.”
