by Gina Wilkins
“Did you and Liam decide how you’re going to make the announcement? Are you going to tell your family on your own, or will he join you?”
“We didn’t get that far in our discussion.” She cleared her throat, then admitted, “Liam didn’t think it was a good time to talk about it. I could tell the suggestion caught him off guard. And not necessarily in a good way.”
“What do you mean?”
“He said it was a bad time for me to make any decisions, with all the other stress I’m under. Classes and tests and everything.”
“He has a point there.” Haley looked suddenly weary as she rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. “I can hardly find time to eat and sleep, much less make any important decisions not connected with the next exam. Let’s face it, we’re all stretched pretty tightly.”
Anne nodded. “I know. It was just—”
Haley studied her perceptively. “Just what?”
The light turned green and Anne turned her attention toward the road ahead as she mentally groped for words. “Liam didn’t seem all that impatient to announce our marriage,” she murmured finally. “I got the impression that he wanted to put that off as long as possible.”
“I see.” Haley hesitated a moment before asking, “Why do you think that is?”
Anne smiled wryly. “You aren’t a shrink yet, Haley, but you’re already talking like one.”
Haley shrugged a bit sheepishly. “I still haven’t decided for sure that I want to go into psychiatry. But the question remains. Why do you think Liam doesn’t want to make the announcement?”
“I don’t know.” She’d given that question a great deal of thought in the past couple of days. She hadn’t liked many of the possibilities that had occurred to her.
“I can think of one significant reason he’d want everyone to think he’s single.”
Anne shook her head in response to Haley’s gentle suggestion. “It has nothing to do with him wanting to see other women,” she insisted. She was completely confident about that. Well, maybe ninety-nine percent confident, she thought with a slight frown.
“Is it his job? Does he think he’s a more interesting celebrity as a bachelor?”
“Maybe—even though he always refuses to talk about his personal life in interviews. He wants to keep the conversation on his travels and his experiences, not on his broken home or his father abandoning him when he was a kid—or his marital status.”
“Makes sense. But it sounds to me as though he’s mostly worried about you. I’m sure once the semester is behind us, he’ll be very proud to tell everyone the two of you are together.”
Anne supposed Haley was right. It wouldn’t be much longer until summer, she reminded herself. Which, of course, meant that it wouldn’t be long until the Step 1 exam.
“What time are we meeting to study tonight?” she asked, deliberately moving her attention to the more immediate concern.
Anne and Liam met for an early dinner at a popular Chinese fast-food place not far from the campus Wednesday. They had hardly seen each other that week, and Liam had been cooped up in the apartment for days, so they both needed the break.
The place was crowded, as always, and Anne couldn’t help worrying a little that she would run into one of her classmates, but Liam was dressed very incognito again. His preppy polo shirt and jeans were far from his usual safari gear, his hair was freshly trimmed and he wore the ball cap again, which he didn’t bother to remove for the casual surroundings. He wasn’t the only one wearing a cap while eating. They had agreed that if she did see someone she knew, and if introductions seemed called for, she could simply refer to him as her friend Lee.
Conversation was made somewhat difficult by the noise level of the dining room, but they managed to make small talk as they wound pad Thai noodles on to disposable chopsticks. Liam looked rather happy with the amount of work he’d accomplished that day.
“It’s going better, I take it?” she asked, pleased that he seemed satisfied with his results.
He nodded. “I think I’ve finally figured out my strategy for easing from one story into the next. It seems to be flowing well now. I should be able to wrap up a rough draft by the end of next week. I’ll send that to my editor for input before I spend much more time on it.”
“The end of next week,” she repeated, hoping the background noise concealed the hollowness of her voice. “Wow. That would be great progress.”
He nodded. “After all the delays, I really have to put the pressure on now. I’ve got a couple of meetings scheduled in New York the week after that, and it would be a lot better if I get this project out of the way first. At least, this part of it.”
So. She had a timetable now. Liam would be leaving in approximately a week and a half. Still longer than he’d planned to stay when he’d arrived almost a month earlier, but it still seemed so soon for him to be off again.
“I’m glad it’s going well for you,” she said, stabbing her chopsticks into the bowl of noodles. “I was beginning to get worried, for your sake.”
“You should have known better,” he chided good-humoredly. “I always work things out eventually.”
“That’s true.”
“Guess you’ll be glad to have your place back. Your friends are probably wondering why you haven’t invited them over to study lately.”
She tried to smile. “Maybe a little. Haley keeps jumping in to volunteer her apartment whenever we’re not meeting at one of the others. She’s really been covering for me.”
“I’m glad you have such a good friend in her. I like her.”
“Yes, so do I, obviously.” She watched as Liam pushed his bowl aside after eating less than half the dish. “Is that all you’re having?”
“I’m not very hungry. My stomach’s been a little queasy today. Maybe a stomach bug or something.”
“There’s a nasty stomach virus making the rounds. Maybe you should see a doctor.”
His grin was mischievous—and more than a little suggestive. “I’ve been seeing a doctor quite regularly. And enjoying every bit of what I’ve seen.”
Her cheeks warmed. “I meant a real doctor—one who’s already taken and passed all these stupid tests.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“If it’s not better by tomorrow, I’m going to start nagging,” she warned him.
He laughed. “I read somewhere that married men tend to live longer because their wives nag them into seeing doctors. If it makes you feel better, I’ll check with a doctor if my stomach is still bothering me by Friday.”
She agreed to the compromise with a nod. It probably was just a virus, in which case there wasn’t much a doctor could do. Antibiotics were useless—even counterproductive for viruses, which tended to resolve themselves within a week or so. She was probably just being overly concerned, a typical med student’s reaction when family fell ill.
She glanced at her watch and grimaced. “I’m sorry to have to run, but I’m supposed to meet the group at Ron’s in twenty minutes.”
“Of course. I don’t want to make you late. I’ll walk you to your car.”
They stood and moved together toward the door. Halfway there, a rowdy toddler darted out in front of them, almost tangling in Anne’s feet. Liam steadied her with an arm around her shoulder while the child’s father captured the runaway with a murmured apology.
Anne smiled up at Liam, and he tightened his arm around her as they shared a laugh at the near collision. And then they looked toward the door again.
This time Anne almost fell over her own feet when she stumbled to a shocked halt, causing Liam to bump into her.
“Now what?” he asked with a chuckle.
His smile died when his gaze followed hers.
Anne’s parents and grandfather had just walked into the restaurant.
Chapter Ten
An hour after leaving the Chinese restaurant, Anne still felt a little shaky whenever she thought about how very close to disaster
she and Liam had come. She could hardly believe they’d managed to blend into a crowd of college-age students leaving the restaurant just as her family had entered. She and Liam had both ducked their heads, and Liam had instinctively sheltered her by keeping himself between her and her parents. Somehow they had gotten out without a painful and public confrontation.
“That was entirely too close,” Liam had said as they stood beside her car.
“You’re telling me.” She’d swallowed the hard lump that had formed in her throat when she’d seen her father. “I knew Dad liked eating lunch here occasionally, but I had no idea they were coming here for dinner this evening.”
“Let’s get out of here before they spot us,” he’d suggested, opening her door for her. “I’ll see you back at your apartment later. Have a good study session.”
He hadn’t even kissed her as he’d all but shoved her into her car. The near miss had seemed to scare Liam even more than it had her.
As a result of that close call, she was a bit on edge when she met with her friends that evening. And she wasn’t the only one. Even though the next test was a week and a half away and they’d all had a few days’ break from each other, the tension remained within her group when they gathered at Ron’s downtown loft apartment. And this time she placed the blame directly where it belonged—on Ron and Haley.
“All right, guys, stop it,” she insisted after Haley snapped at Ron for the second or third time that evening and Ron sniped back. “This is really getting out of hand between you two.”
“Seriously,” Connor agreed, looking relieved that someone had brought up the subject. “I haven’t seen this sort of juvenile squabbling since I quit teaching high school. What’s going on with the two of you?”
Haley scowled. “I just get tired of him turning everything into a silly joke. This is serious. Maybe it doesn’t matter to you if we all pass the next test, Ron, but it matters very much to us. We have to focus.”
“I’m just trying to lighten everyone up a little,” Ron argued. “All we do is study and drill. It doesn’t hurt to laugh every once in a while.”
“And I just happen to be the most convenient butt of most of your jokes?” she retorted. “Gee, thanks. That really makes our study sessions more entertaining for me.”
“Maybe if you wouldn’t be quite so sensitive…”
“I’m not being sensitive! I’m just tired of you always picking at me. Making fun of my quirks, belittling anyone I happen to date, teasing me when I miss a question…”
“Oh, yeah, like that ever happens. When’s the last time you were less than perfect on anything, Ms. Genius?”
James cleared his throat, the quiet noise sounding oddly loud in the sudden silence. “That’s hardly fair, Ron.”
Ron turned on James, then, his usually smiling eyes dark and grim. “I can see why you’d think so. You’re at the damned top of the whole class. It all comes so easily to you. I don’t know why you even bother to study with us.”
“As it happens, I enjoy the companionship,” James replied evenly, his tone a bit too patient, as if he were keeping his own temper under control with an effort. “And, yes, I need to study as much as the rest of you.”
Ron snorted.
Growing more uncomfortable by the moment with the direction their conversation had taken, Anne noticed that Connor was eyeing Ron intently.
“Ron,” Connor asked quietly, “are you under the impression that you are any less valuable to this study group than the rest of us?”
Ron flushed. “Let’s face it, guys, you’ve all been carrying me for almost two years. All of you are so smart and so damned prepared for this career. I don’t even know how I got into medical school, and it’s all I’ve been able to do just to keep up so far. I’m not at the top of the class—I have to struggle just to stay somewhere in the middle. It’s going to take a freaking miracle for me to pass Step 1 and move on to third year. I don’t even know what I want to do when—or if—I get this degree.”
He held up his hands when everyone started to speak at once, his expression both embarrassed and chagrined, as if he’d been provoked into revealing much more than he had intended. “Don’t start throwing reassuring platitudes at me. I don’t need to be patted on the head. I’m just saying that if I act like none of this really matters to me, it’s because I just want to be prepared in case I screw up and have to find some other career. If you all agree with Haley that I’m more of a liability than an asset to the group, then I’ll start studying on my own. I’ll understand.”
Haley appeared to be near tears. “I never said you were a liability.”
Ron glanced at her with patent skepticism. “You made it clear enough.”
Anne drew a deep breath and stood. The others still sat around Ron’s round table, and they all looked at her in surprise when she rested her hands on the table and leaned forward, looking from one to the other of the faces turned her way.
“Every single one of us contributes to this group,” she said firmly, focusing now on Ron. “We need you to make us laugh, Ron. We need Haley to keep us motivated, and Connor to use his teaching skills to make some of the material easier to understand, and James to keep us calm and centered. We’re all exhausted. God knows none of us has had a full eight hours sleep in longer than we can remember. We’re all worried about next Friday’s test, not to mention the shelf exams and the Step 1. I suspect even James worries about that, though he doesn’t let us see it.”
James nodded shortly. “I’d be a fool not to worry about passing that exam. None of us is guaranteed to sail through it without a hitch.”
“Exactly. Which is why we have to stick together,” she continued, fierce determination coloring her voice now. “I need you guys. All of you. I would not have been able to get through these past two years without you. I can’t imagine preparing for these exams during the next four months without you all. But we’re going to have to stick together. Haley, stop taking everything so personally. And Ron, if you don’t feel like you’re prepared for the next test, then for God’s sake, stop fretting about it and say so! That’s what we’re all here for.”
Haley bit her lip, looking somewhat abashed by Anne’s uncharacteristic lecture. And then she peeked at Ron from beneath her lashes. “I’m sorry, Ron. I had no idea you feel like you’ve been struggling. It just didn’t seem to matter that much to you.”
“It matters,” he muttered. “And I’m sorry if you feel like I’ve been picking on you. I was kidding around—like I do with everyone. I’ll stop, I promise.”
Haley nodded, but Anne noticed she didn’t look particularly happy about Ron’s offer.
“Maybe we should get back to work,” Connor suggested. “We’ll all feel better when we’ve gotten through the last of today’s lecture slides.”
Anne took her seat again, even as Ron sprang up from his own. “I’ll make fresh coffee. Who, besides me, needs a cup?”
“I’ll help you,” Haley offered quickly, a bit too courteously. Without actually looking at Haley, Ron nodded to accept her assistance.
Anne supposed it was a start.
Gathering her things, Haley spoke to Ron, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”
Hesitating only a moment, Haley pivoted and moved toward the door. “Are you coming, Anne?”
“Yes. I’ll be right behind you.”
Anne waited until Haley stepped out before speaking quietly to Ron. “I hope I wasn’t out of line earlier. I didn’t mean to come down on you like a disapproving mother.”
Ron grimaced. “I guess I deserved it. I was acting like a whiny kid.”
“No. You were acting like a scared and stressed-out medical student. Trust me, I know all about that.”
He pushed a hand through his sandy hair that was in need of a trim, his gaze focused uncertainly on her face. “You really worry about passing the tests? As well as you’ve done so far?”
“I’m scared every single t
ime,” she replied simply. “I come from a whole family of surgeons, remember? If I fail, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
His smile was crooked. “Yeah, well, I come from a family of ne’er-do-wells, and I’d never hear the end of it, either. They’ve all been predicting from the start that I would never make it all the way through medical school.”
Indignant on his behalf, she said firmly, “They’re wrong.”
He reached out to give her a hug, and because the gesture was both natural and unmistakably brotherly, she hugged him in return. “Thanks,” he said, looking a little sheepish when he drew away.
“Just don’t forget that our group needs you,” she told him a little mistily. “Good night, Ron.”
“We need you, too. Every group of rowdy kids needs a mom.” Tugging her braid, he smiled more naturally. “Good night, Annie.”
His teasing use of the nickname startled her a little, though she tried not to show it as she let herself out. No one except Liam called her that, and it felt odd hearing it on someone else’s lips. She had a feeling Liam would not be pleased to hear Ron speaking to her so familiarly, though she could assure him in all candor that she felt nothing for Ron except affection.
Liam was the only man who would ever hold her heart.
The lights were burning in her apartment when she parked in her space and climbed out of the car, drawing her coat more snugly around her as a cold breeze slithered down her collar. A hint of impending rain hung in the air, which already felt damp against her cheeks.
Shivering, she gathered her books and computer bag and headed for the stairs, toward those welcoming lights.
Having heard her key in the door, Liam stood in the open bedroom doorway to greet her when she walked in. She wondered if he was still battling that stomach bug. He looked a little pale, and his voice sounded rather strained when he spoke. “You’re home early.”
She nodded and set down her things. “Long night. We got through today’s slides, though. And I think we had a breakthrough, in a way, in the group. We sort of cleared the air and passed around apologies. I think we’ll all get along better now.”