Evie noticed.
Of course she did.
Maggie ordered without asking. Evie watched her do it—decisive, efficient, already slipping back into familiar habits now that they were out of scrubs and fluorescent light.
Two coffees arrived. Maggie slid one across the table.
“This is off the clock,” Maggie said. “Which means we’re not discussing patients.”
Evie wrapped her hands around the mug, grateful for the warmth. “Does that include the one who dragged us here?”
Maggie’s mouth twitched despite herself. “Especially that one.”
Evie smiled—not teasing, not deferential. Just present.
They sat in silence for a moment. Not awkward. Weighted.
Maggie broke it first. “You didn’t flinch in there.”
Evie tilted her head. “With Daisy?”
“Yes.”
Evie considered that. “I wanted to. But she deserved steadiness, not my fear.”
Maggie studied her over the rim of her mug. “That’s not something most people learn early.”
Evie shrugged. “I learned it the hard way.”
Maggie didn’t ask how. That restraint alone felt intimate.
“Why internal medicine?” Maggie asked instead.
Evie blinked. “That’s… not a small question.”
Maggie’s gaze stayed steady. “I didn’t ask it lightly.”
Evie exhaled, then smiled faintly. “Because it’s messy. Because it’s human. Because no one gets to hide behind a single diagnosis.”
Maggie nodded slowly. “You could’ve chosen something cleaner.”
“I don’t like clean,” Evie said. “I like honest.”
The word hung between them.
Maggie set her mug down carefully. “My wife used to say the same thing.”
The words came out before she could stop them. Evie’s expression shifted—not pity, but attention. Real attention.
“Used to?” Evie asked gently.
Maggie looked out the window, jaw tight. “Sarah. She died. Six years ago.” She paused, then added quietly, “Pancreatic cancer. Fast. Brutal. All the things we couldn’t control.”
Evie didn’t rush to fill the silence. She just waited.
“She was honest too,” Maggie continued, voice softer now. “Even when it hurt. Especially when it hurt. She’d have liked you.”
The words hung between them—intimate, vulnerable, dangerous.
