“Right,” he says quietly.“Everything’s… working out.”
Silence stretches between us.So I fill it with the only thing I can say.
“I just wanted to thank you.For mentoring me.Supporting me.Believing in me.”
I want to add…for holding me,for seeing me, and for not asking questions when I needed the distraction, the closeness, the silence between kisses.For making this feel like more, even when we never said it.
But I don’t.
I keep it professional.
His voice is low.“My pleasure.You’re an incredible doctor.New York’s lucky to have you.”
My throat tightens.“I’ll miss…”
I stop myself.I can’t fall apart, not here or in front of him.
“I’ll miss this place,” I finish, swallowing roughly.
“We’ll miss you too.”
I let his words sink in and offer him a smile as my reply, because if I say anything else, I might just break and beg him to ask me to stay.And I can’t do that, not when his dreams just came true, not when being here could put everything he’s worked for at risk.
He smiles back, but it’s not his real smile.There’s a sadness that I know is mirrored in mine.So instead, we stay silent, gaze locked on one another, like we both know this might be the last time.
“Well,” I say, standing and moving to the door.“I’d better go.I’ve got to tell Scarlet.She’s going to be devastated.And Dusty… I don’t know how to tell him I’m leaving.”
“I bet.But she’ll understand and so will Dusty,” he says.
“See you,” I say at the door.
“Yeah.See you.”
I walk away, my footsteps slow, heavy.I tell myself I’m fine.That this is fine.
That this is the right thing.We were just a fling.Why would I stay?He’s not asking me to.Then why doesn’t it sit right?
My emotions flip-flop between heartbreak and adrenaline as Scarlet opens her front door, eyes wide.“Hey!Nice surprise, but what’s with the face?”
“What face?”
She crosses her arms, head tilting, examining me.“That one.The sad one.What did you do?”
“I got a call from New York Hospital.They offered me my position early.”
“No,” she groans, grabbing me into a tight hug.“We still had so much time together.You’re killing me.”
My throat closes up as I hold on to her.“I’m sorry,” I murmur into her shoulder.
She pulls back.“You couldn’t have fallen in love and stayed here?You couldn’t have just… I don’t know… hung out with me forever?”
I laugh.“This is my dream, Scar.You know that.”
“I know,” she sighs, wiping her eyes.“I’m being selfish.Let me be selfish for a second.”
“Of course.”
And I let her.
