I incline my head. “Damian, then.”
She hasn’t released my hand, and I’m inclined to keep hers. Jason shifts beside us, clearly unsure whether this is amusing or threatening. He’s always been territorial about things he doesn’t value properly.
“I didn’t know you two had met,” Faith says cheerfully.
“We hadn’t,” Perry answers smoothly as she finally releases me. “Notsocially.”
I’ll never say where I know her from. HIPAA prevents such a thing, and I wouldn’t anyway. I sit again, studying her without appearing to. She looks composed. Unbothered, she takes the seat across from me.
Jason launches into a story about wedding caterers. I tune him out.
Instead, I focus on her.
She laughs at something my mother says, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She sips her mimosa slowly. She doesn’t look tired, though she should. The first month postpartum is not forgiving.
No sign of the children, of course. They’re not here. Smart to keep them out of this.
“So,” I say quietly when the conversation fractures into smaller clusters, “how are you?”
She glances at me sidelong. “Recovering.”
“That’s expected. Medically speaking.”
“And you?”
I sigh and nod toward the other guests. “Another day, another brunch.”
She smiles wistfully, and there’s something magical in it. “What a life that must be.”
Jason excuses himself to take a call—timing impeccable as always. Faith is pulled toward the kitchen by my mother. For the first time since she entered, it feels like Perry and I are briefly alone at the table. Or we would be, save for the other guests. A wedding planner who’s hoping to get the job, a few cousins I don’t keep up with, an aunt who visits occasionally from the West Coast, and Mrs. Clancy, a socialite who wants desperately to be in my mother’s inner circle.
“Small town,” Perry says.
“Very.”
“Feels…inevitable that we’d run across each other,” she adds.
“I suppose so.”
There aren’t many physicians here. Not many social circles that don’t overlap. Dating a patient is technically discouraged. In practice, in a town like this, it’s nearly unavoidable. Provided care is no longer ongoing and boundaries are respected.
Her case was resolved. Clean. No complications. No reason not to try.
She meets my gaze directly. “You look surprised.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
She tilts her head. “You didn’t expect me to exist outside a hospital bed?”
“I didn’t expect the connection. You and Faith, I mean.”You and Jason.
She studies me for a second longer than necessary. “And now that you know it?”
“Now,” I continue, holding her gaze, “I’m not especially concerned. Unless you’re worried about propriety or some such.”
