“Five months.”
“Deal.”
“And if we haven’t reached a conclusion by then, we’ll cut our losses.”
“I can work with that.”
“Also, in that time, we will ban all talk about being stepsiblings, and we will certainly not talk about marriage or children.”
“Fine,” he said. “Now it’s time to seal the deal.”
He pulled Isabella into his arms, and for the second time that night, they made love. In the morning, James found a more suitable outfit for her to wear and drove her home.
From that point forward, Isabella promised herself that the days of sleeping over and lounging at his place all morning were put on hold.
Isabella felt a little more at ease in terms of the way things were going with James. She had him right where she wanted him. They were more than friends with benefits, but less than girlfriend and boyfriend. They could be friendly and professional at work and be deviants in the spare closets of the hospital.
Eventually, they would have to make a decision about the future of their relationship, but that was five whole months away. For now, they could just have some fun.
Chapter Seventeen
“Are you two officially back together?” Jordan asked before Isabella even had a chance to say hello.
“Keep it down,” she re
minded her friend. The other interns were too close to be speaking loudly.
“Sorry. Tell me what happened after you left,” she said, slightly quieter.
“We’re not back together per se,” Isabella said. “We decided to take things slowly.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means there are no strings, no commitments, and no drama.”
Jordan snorted. “Good luck with that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t mean to be condescending, but in how many instances has that sort of arrangement worked out for you?”
“Okay, I don’t have a lot of experience in this department, but I think it will work this time. We were clear with our intentions, and in another five months, we’ll re-evaluate.”
“This isn’t a post-op checkup. You’re saying that you’ve scheduled an appointment to see how your relationship is doing?”
Isabella blushed. “I think it’s a good idea. Why not bring rationality into something that’s usually dominated by feelings?”
Jordan waved her off. “You do what’s best for you. I’m just warning you that it’s not going to be as simple as you think it is.”
I’ll show you, Isabella thought to herself.
James was in charge of the interns that day, and he seemed like he was back to his usual, happy self. He could look Isabella in the eye again, but he still managed to hold off on the winking and smirking. They addressed each other by their last names and were perfectly professional. He even assigned her to a good surgery. Everything was back to normal.
With things this good, Isabella wondered why they even had to complicate things in the first place. Just because their parents were together, it didn’t mean that they couldn’t have a good professional friendship with bonus unprofessional moments.
That first work day since their reconciliation was great. Isabella had an extra spring in her step, and she didn’t feel distracted by James. James was in a better mood and was more patient around the interns. When they made mistakes, he calmly corrected them instead of blowing up at them.
“Whatever you’re doing to him,” Jordan said to Isabella at lunch, “keep it up. I accidentally spilled half of a urine sample on him, and he was completely chill about it. Last week, he yelled at me because I dropped his chart on the ground. This is a big improvement.”
“What can I say? I guess I just have that power over men.”
“That man in particular,” Jordan noted.
For next two weeks, Isabella and James only communicated when it was within the confines of work. They smiled at each other when they passed in the halls, and Isabella was back to taking the elevator and changing in the doctor’s lounge.
One night, James and Isabella happened to be working the same on-call shift. Isabella was sitting around the quiet ER when James approached her.
“Hey, come with me,” he said softly. “I have something to show you.”
Isabella rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me, that something is your penis?”
He smiled, shaking his head. “No, just come with me.”
She sighed, dropping her book on the counter. “What happens if we’re needed?”
“Then they’ll page us. Come on.”
She followed him up several flights of stairs and walked through empty wings of the hospital. She wondered where they were going. They passed up many of their usual closets.
Eventually, the final staircase took them up to the roof of the hospital. It was dark except for the soft glow of a few streetlights.
He lay down on the roof, staring straight into the sky. Hesitantly, Isabella followed suit.
“What are we doing?” she whispered. It was unusual that they were both horizontal but he wasn’t trying to touch her.
“There’s a meteor shower tonight. I didn’t want you to miss it.”