“Responsible. Never giving up. That kind of thing. Most of us are like that.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Those aren’t bad traits.”
“No, but maybe sometimes it’s okay to let other people take care of things. After what you’ve been through, some might say it’s okay to take a few days off.”
“Wait.” She flicked her gaze up at me. “Did you sayus?”
“I’m an ER doc.”
“Oh.” She took that in. “Well, thank you for checking on me. But I’m absolutely fine.”
“You look much better than yesterday,” I said. She looked amazing,period.
“In appearance maybe.” She tapped her head. “But in here, it’s still pretty wild.”
I laughed. I liked her self-deprecating humor. And the fact that she was able to joke after all she’d been through. It spoke of resilience, something I always respected in anyone because of my own situation. “Hey, you’re dressed, and your hair looks really nice. I mean, not like a bottle of glue got stuck in it.”
She almost laughed at that. But not quite. Instead, she smoothed down her curls and said, “Well…guess I’d better go pack up.” But she didn’t move.
Before I could think about what I was doing, I seized the moment. “Did you—did you have breakfast yet?” I could feel myself turning red, but I kept rambling. “Because I haven’t. You should have breakfast—with me. I mean, so that you don’t eat alone.” I couldn’t believe what I’d done. But something in me just couldn’t let her go.
Again, I heard that warning voice in my head.What the hell are you doing, Adam?
I didn’t really know. But before I could beat myself up more, she said, “I am a little hungry, now that you mention it.”
We walked toward an outdoor restaurant surrounded by palm trees and took a seat overlooking a sparkling aquamarine ocean. The water was calm, the breeze gentle, and the warm sun felt wonderful on my skin. I told myself I was doing this for her, but who was I kidding? Even knowing her such a brief time, I felt captivated, wanting to know more about her, not wanting to say goodbye forever.
Someone filled our cups with coffee. I looked over the menu but saw that Ani was staring off into the distance.
I shut I and set it down. “Not hungry?”
She smiled a little, but I could tell from her eyes that she was doing that on my behalf. “Coffee’s okay. Breakfast might be wasted on me.”
“Did you have dinner last night?”
“No.”
“Okay, I’m going to order us some things. And you can eat or not eat.”
“Honestly, I hope you don’t feel responsible for me—your basket-case seatmate on the plane.” She flicked her wrist dismissively. “I’m fine, really.”
I studied her carefully. “My guess is that you don’t like being fussed over.”
“Normally, I don’tneedanyone to fuss over me.”
Independent. Strong. Those traits were coming out despite her crisis. But I needed her to understand something. “Look, I—I feel a little lost here. Helping you is giving me a little bit of purpose.” Or I’d be headed straight back on that plane today too. “So I’m just going to go for it, okay?”
She flashed a real smile this time, and it was a stunner. “Go for it.”
I went ham on breakfast and ordered crepes, eggs, fruit, yogurt, and a banana protein smoothie that she took a couple of sips of. I distracted her by telling her random stories about how I chose medicine, how my mom raised me as a single mom, and how all I wanted was to see her retire and enjoy herself.
Ani looked at her watch. “Almost time to go.”
I didn’t know what to say. I’d just met her—who was I to want her to stay? But I did.
“I see it both ways,” she said.
I frowned. “See what?”
