“You don’t have to stay here for my sake.I’m a big boy; I can take care of myself.”
“I know.”
“I could stop by later, if you want.”
“And become the gossip of the day?Absolutely.”
I laugh.“Are you really ready to share your fantasies with everyone?”
His tone shifts, his gaze turning intense.“You’re not a fantasy anymore,” he says softly.He reaches for my hand.“You’re here with me.You’re real.”
“I am.”
He sighs and looks back down at his plate.
“You were my fantasy,” I confess.
“What?”He turns back to me.
“When I first saw you… It was at the hospital.Jamie had just been born.”
“I didn’t see you that day.”
“I was there.I was following this lad…”
“Who?”
“A doctor.I followed him around, studied his movements, the way he pushed his hair back, how he addressed people, how he wrote on his chart with those perfect fingers.How he smiled.How he spoke.I was fascinated, almost obsessed.”
Martin watches me carefully.
“Then I followed him out of a room.My sister’s room.It was you, Dr Kane.”
He blushes violently.
“When I realised who you were, I backed off.Then I saw you at the stadium, at Nick’s first game, and then again and again.”I shake my head, my voice trembling.“I listened to you talk about your son, watched the way your eyes lit up when you looked at him, heard the pride in every word.You were a man, a father, a doctor, someone real.And the more I saw you, the more I ached to have you for myself.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything.It’s embarrassing.”
“No, it’s sweet, although I suspect your intentions were not entirely noble.”
“They were not at all.”
“I didn’t think I could impress the Captain.”
“And yet you did, without even knowing it.Without looking for it.And I…”
He sets his plate on the table, stands up, takes mine and places it beside his own.
“Thank you for telling me.”
I shrug.
“And thank you for staying with me.Thank you for letting me in, and thank you for trusting me.”
I try to lighten the moment, feeling my face grow warm.“You really like saying thank you, don’t you?”
