“Do you think I could convince you or my brother to let me go with you? I’ve never been to Italy.”I give my sweetest smile.
“I’d love to take you, but it wouldn’t be safe.”
“Then it wouldn’t be safe for you either,” I tease.
“Oh really?” He smirks. “And how would you argue that?”
“I have a few ideas, but that’s a conversation for another time.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m enjoying having you here, and I don’t want to think about you being gone,” I say.
He silences me with a kiss, desperate and deep, like he’s already afraid of leaving.
Arrivingfor my shift a few hours later, I can’t stop thinking about Mateo being gone for weeks. I can feel it in my gut that it’s going to be longer than either of us wants.
When I walk into the ER, Lauren is at the desk with her usual bright smile, but the second she sees me, it fades.
“Hey, Vanessa, you good?” she asks when I get closer. Lauren is one of those friends I can tell anything to. I have for the last two years, and she’s given me some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I say, nodding, trying to smile even though it doesn’t quite work.
“No, you’re not.” She freezes mid-note, her pen hovering. “Is something going on with you and the new husband?”
“Everything’s fine,” I say. “He just has to go on a business trip that wasn’t planned, and they don’t know how long he’ll be gone.”
“Well that’s bullshit,” she mutters. “If Jordan had to take some surprise trip, I’d be annoyed.” She gives me a sympathetic smile.
Jordan, her husband, is one of the physiatrists here, and she’s shared more than enough about how hard their relationship has been at times.
“Yeah.”
“It’ll be okay,” she says gently. Right on cue, Jordan walks by, and they exchange one of those looks. I adore her, but the two of them act like teenagers whenever they’re in the same room.
“I’m probably just hormonal,” I joke weakly.
“Maybe,” she says, “but you two just got married. I doubt either of you planned on being apart this soon.”
“You’re right. Have a good night.”
“You too. And hey, if you need to talk, you know whereto find me, okay?”
“Okay.” I smile softly as I take the charts from her.
The rest of my shift feels like autopilot. I can’t stop thinking about Mateo leaving, or about how fast I’ve fallen for a man I’ve barely known for two months. Loving someone who isn’t family is still so new to me that sometimes it feels overwhelming. Every time I see him, it’s like the world slows down. The way he looks at me, even when he’s busy, like I’m the only thing that matters. He’s changed his entire routine for me, staying up while I work, filling the house with my favorite things, remembering how I like my steak and which trashy reality shows I secretly love.
When my shift finally ends, I walk outside to meet him at the car. One look at his face tells me something’s wrong. His hair is a mess, like he’s been running his hands through it all night, and his jacket is gone.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He leans down and presses a soft kiss on my lips.
“I was talking to your brother, and I’m going to need to leave tonight.”
“Tonight?” I shriek.
“Yeah. I know the timing is awful. I tried to push it to next week so we could go to the game together, but they’re pulling more shit over there. They’re asking for more, and we’re not giving it to them. They’re trying to squeeze everything they can out of us.”
