She laughs. “We’ll argue about that later. But something for the fans…”
“Okay, I’m listening. Tell me.”
We float and we talk, and then when we have a couple of very good ideas, I pluck at the strings of her bathing suit bottoms.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting us refocused on the honeymoon part of this getaway.”
Her laugh pulls at the knot of tension I’ve been carrying since game seven.
I bury my face in her neck. Her skin is warm and salty, and I never want to let her go.
June
FRANKIE
Before we get into our alphabetical queue to enter the auditorium, Liz and Sloane and I take awe fucking did itgroup selfie. Then I find my spot in line. G for Granger.
The processional inside is surreal. Way more emotional for me than my undergraduate commencement. I find Logan, or he finds me. He stands half a head above everyone around him, andhis gaze is piercing in its single-focused intensity. Everything about his grinning expression and puffed chest posture screams,that’s my wife.
I sure am.
The dean of the medical school gives some welcoming remarks, and then that’s followed by an invocation and a keynote address by a former Olympian that is really meaningful. She talks about sacrifice and determination, and it makes me more emotional than I expected. Four years of early mornings and late nights, of labs and lectures and clinical practice, all to get us to this point—which is just the start of the next stage of our training.
But we’re all doctors now.
When they call my name for the hooding ceremony, I stand on legs that aren’t quite steady. As I walk up to the stage, my brief bio is read out loud.
“Francesca Granger is staying at UCLA for her residency in emergency medicine, an area she has focused on throughout her medical degree.”
I catch Logan’s eye as I cross the stage.
One of my favorite professors drapes the hood over my shoulders, then I shake hands with the Dean before floating back to my seat.
The rest of the ceremony passes in a blur. When it’s finally over, we spin outside as a class, our friends and family following behind.
It takes no time at all for Logan to make his way to me.
“Dr. Granger,” he says, and there’s so much emotion in those two words that I nearly lose it.
“Mr. Granger,” I reply, walking into his open arms.
He lifts me off my feet, spinning me around. When he sets me down, he cups my face in his hands.
“I am so fucking proud of you,” he whispers. “You’re such a good girl.”
Around us, cameras flash and my classmates cheer. Sloane wolf-whistles.
He kisses my temple and keeps his voice low. “Later, I will show my incredibly smart, sexy, accomplished wife exactly how proud I am.”
“Yes, please.”
“We have dinner guests first.”
“Whose terrible idea was that?” I make a face at him.
He kisses my nose. “If we rush, I can go down on you before they follow us?”
