Her hands drop away from my shoulders and her face crumples. “Are you serious?”
“You literally turned up with no warning. I have to work and I’m on call. I can’t just drop everything.”
Hurt flashes in Thea’s eyes as she sighs. “Right.”
“I’m sorry. It’s nice to see you, it really is, but if you’d just called ahead…”
“Xander, that defeats the point of a surprise visit. I get it, my hotshot doctor brother can’t spare time to eat Thanksgiving dinner with me.”
That’s not strictly true. I do have Thanksgiving plans, but they involve shitty cafeteria sandwiches snatched in the fifteen minutes my break lines up with Snow’s.
“Thea.” I gently clutch her arms. “Meet me in the cafeteria in” —checking my watch, I run a quick calculation— “forty minutes. We can have a Thanksgiving meal then.”
Her brow lifts but whatever apprehension she has at eating hospital food fades at the prospect of dinner together and she nods with a grin. “Alright, don’t be late!”
Famous last words in a hospital.
A sudden trauma from a bus collision takes up every second of those forty minutes and an hour has passed by the time I make it to the cafeteria.
Thea sits at a table near the window, her chin resting on her upturned palm, gazing out at the light snowfall drifting through the air and transforming the parking lot into a blanket of white.
As I approach, a soft touch to my elbow draws my attention.
Snow stands beside me with a warm smile on her face and several packets of pre-made sandwiches in her arms. “I didn’t know what you liked,” she says as she gazes down at her arms. “So I got ham and cheese, turkey and stuffing, smoked salmon and cream cheese, seasoned ham and cranberry and…” Shesquints, trying to read the last label. “Egg and cress. Any of these good?”
When she looks back up at me, my heart flutters just like it does every time I pass her in the hall or catch a few notes of her talking nearby in the hospital.
My request to calm things a little so Snow can give herself time to process everything until her test results has only increased my yearning for her.
A desire that pulses hot every second our eyes meet.
“Ham and cranberry sounds like a combination I never would have pictured in a sandwich, but I’m willing.”
“Excellent!”
“Although there has been a slight change of plans.”
“Do you have to go already?” Despite the smile on her face, she doesn’t fully manage to hide the disappointment in her eyes.
“No, but my?—”
“Xander!” Thea bounds up to us with a grin and shoves at my shoulder, tucking her dark hair behind one ear. “Forty minutes, you said. It’s been over an hour! Do you have any idea how uncomfortable those seats are? Who’s this?” Her curious gaze lands on Snow, who switches her smile from warm to polite.
“Thea, this is Snow. My colleague.” Such a term is a disservice to her. “Snow, this is Thea. My sister. She’s surprise visiting from Canada and arrived an hour ago.”
Snow’s brows lift to her hairline and she glances at me. In the split second our eyes meet, we have an entire conversation.
She expresses her surprise that I have a sister, who’s here in the hospital, and then acknowledges that our previously sneaky, slightly romantic dinner has just turned into a regular meal between strictly platonic friends.
“Snow?” Thea glances her over. “That’s such a cool name.”
“It’s a nickname,” Snow explains with a smile. “My name is Noelle. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Noelle. How festive. Your parents must love Christmas, huh?”
“Not exactly. I’m named after a song.” Snow chuckles softly. “It’s a long story.”
“Are you joining us for dinner?” Thea asks.
