“Danny.”
Boom, there it was. My nickname.
“You’re making this hard,” she stated.
“It doesn’t have to be. I messed up. Let me try to show you I mean that and won’t do it again. I had a lot of growing up to do the last few weeks. I was emotionally stunted, but I am a man in love and I’m willing to do what it takes.” As I laid my head back, my eyes closed and the phone tucked into my chin, I decided I’d beg if that was what it took to get back on Wren’s good side.
“I care about you a lot. More than anything or anyone. But what I said is true—we did this without thinking.”
“I want to come back. I agree we didn’t map anything out. We will find a new course. I wanted to make things easy for you, andI made them harder. Like an idjit. I need to make more of a life for myself there. Branch out, network, find more opportunities other than the club. And I will.”
Just as I finished my monologue, I heard Rourke bark in the background.
“See, even Rourke agrees,” I said, and to my surprise, I was awarded a laugh from Wren.
“Danny—” There she went with my nickname again and I was putty for whatever she asked.
“Birdie, whatever you want,” I whispered in return.
“I’m sorry. Come back,” was all she said.
“On my way…”
“Now?”
“Yeah, I’m sure there is a red-eye I can jump on.”
I hadn’t packed a thing when I left Wren’s…and I didn’t take a thing this time, hoping my stuff was still in one piece and not shredded or burned. On my way to the airport, I thought about needing some sort of organizer. A packer-type person to come and ship me the rest of my stuff.
As far as I was concerned, I wasn’t coming back to California. Not without Birdie.
Wren
“Everything okay?” Genie asked me as I came around the corner in the office in between patients.
I nodded, not sure what I should say. “All good.”
“I see you rounded super early, and you are marked out this afternoon as soon as your appointments are done.”
Another nod from me.
“Well, you only have two more patients waiting. I see Smyth picked up a couple of your late-day visits, anxious to grab some surgeries.”
“He’s just doing me a favor. I called Misty, his PA. I didn’t want to bother you…you do so much already.”
“I can handle it. Maybe you didn’t want me to know Daniel arrived on a commercial red-eye this morning. I heard he rode in coach.”
“Oh, shut it.” I tried to sound annoyed, but the smile across my face told a different story. “I’m guessing you spoke to Ryantoday. Who am I kidding? You talk to him every day. I should start interviewing for your replacement soon.”
“Are you firing me for real this time?”
“No way. I want to see you squirm when you tell me you are uprooting to Los Angeles and need a letter of reference.” I was leaning up against the wall.
“Go see your patients and get out of here. You have some making up to do at home.”
Daniel rang my doorbell at six this morning. He’d hopped on an eleven o’clock flight without anything but the clothes on his back. The Uber was still idling outside my house when I found him standing outside.
“Did you throw your key off the Hollywood sign?”
