Emma had mixed feelings about how together he seemed. He always appeared on air as a healthy, vibrant, passionate correspondent. He was everything he’d been before the accident. Before half a dozen specialists had told them both he would never be the same. Specialists he’d believed even if she hadn’t.
Now, Dylan was a prime example of how the human spirit persevered. How passion could turn a life around.
Too bad that conviction ha
dn’t extended to their marriage.
“They’re utilizing indiscriminate weapons,” Dylan was saying, “including Sarin, chlorine, mustard, and phosphorus gases. Barrel bombs and suicide bombers are killing civilians by the thousands. For many people here, there is no memory of life without war. This strife and devastation has become part of their everyday routine, and they’ve grown numb to it. These people have come to know only war, only oppression. They often turn to prayer, asking God to save them, because they have no faith in the international community to witness their struggle and render aid.”
The anchor thanked Dylan for his report and urged him to stay safe. Then he was gone. Vanished, the same way he’d vanished from her life eight years ago.
She turned off the television and stood in the dark for a moment with envy coursing through her veins. She and Dylan should have been living their dreams together. She should be out there helping people too.
And there, in the dark, with her heart stirring, longing and hurting over the sight of him, Emma wondered, as she had countless times over the last eight years, if she’d ever be able to put Dylan behind her. Really put him behind her.
With her eyes closed, she recentered, reminding herself of all she had in her life now—her family, her work, her fiancé.
That thought reminded her of the dinner plans she and Liam had with his parents. She’d never met them, and they’d flown in from California for the weekend to talk about the wedding.
But she was exhausted. She really didn’t feel like she could face all three of them, knowing they were going to push her for a date.
Emma slipped from the emergency room and wandered through the halls toward surgery. Liam turned a corner, headed toward her.
“Hey, I was just coming to find you,” she said, stopping in front of him and running her hands down his navy sport jacket. With blue eyes and blond hair, he always looked great in blue. “You look handsome.”
He glanced at her scrubs with a frown. Then at his watch. “Why aren’t you dressed? We’re going to be late.”
She leaned a shoulder against the wall. Behind Liam, Emma’s friend and a radiology resident, Maizey, turned the corner, caught sight of them, and stopped short. She and Emma exchanged a look, and Maizey wandered the other direction, scrolling through something on her phone, waiting for Emma’s conversation to end.
“I’m so sorry,” Emma told Liam. “Carter’s having car trouble. I have to stay a few extra hours to cover.”
Irritation darkened his eyes. “Can’t someone else do it?”
“No one’s available.” She reached out and pushed a wayward strand of hair off his forehead. “You have a nice visit with your parents. I’ll catch up with them while they’re here.”
Liam let out a frustrated breath. “Okay. I’ll call you later.”
Once he’d disappeared down the hall, Maizey pocketed her phone and met up with Emma. She and Maizey had been friends since first grade. They’d corresponded during Emma’s years overseas with her family, then reconnected in medical school.
“I just saw Carter in the reading room.” Maizey’s buttery-blonde hair was pulled into a twist. She faced Emma and crossed her arms, glancing in the direction Liam had gone. “Lying to the guy you’re going to marry isn’t exactly the best start.”
“I’m just exhausted. I don’t have the energy to meet his parents or field questions about the wedding.”
“Ah, the wedding,” Maizey said. “Do we at least have a date yet?”
“That.” Emma pointed at Maizey. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” She deliberately redirected the conversation. “Did you decide to take the job at Vanderbilt?”
“I did.”
“Congratulations!” She leaned in and hugged Maizey. “I’m so excited for you.”
“A little birdie told me the ED there is still waiting for your answer,” Maizey said. “Why haven’t you accepted the offer? It’s the best in the area, and it would be so fun to keep working together.”
Emma winced. “Liam got an offer from Johns Hopkins.”
Maizey’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
Emma deliberately lifted her voice. “Isn’t that amazing?”