“Oh, I forgot about that. You sure you’re okay to do it without me?” Molly Jenkins is one of our best friends and also the lawyer helping us out with some estate planning.
“Totally.” Allie yawns and curls closer to me. “We’ll talk about the trusts, but really, I haven’t seen her in a while, and we need a serious catch-up session over many margaritas.”
“Sounds great. Give her a hug for me. I feel like I haven’t seen anyone in forever. When our schedule is less manic in a couple of weeks, let’s have everyone over. We need a big, loud family dinner.” Allie and I are part of a very tight group of friends that includes Molly, my two best friends from college, their girls, and a few others. They are the best people in the world, and Allie and I don’t get to see them nearly often enough because of our insane schedules.
“That sounds perfect. I’ll mention it to Molly. She can get everyone else on board.”
I open my mouth to say something but before I can, Allie’s phone beeps. She lifts a hip to dig it out of her pocket and when she glances at it, she groans. “They need me for a consult in the ER.” She sits up and scrubs a hand over her face.
I run a hand up her back. “Your shift was over ten minutes ago.”
“Ugh, I know, but it’s one of my regular patients. It should only take a few minutes, and I have to meet Molly outside anyway. I’ll just text her to pick me up outside the ER instead of at the front.”
She leans over and kisses me. “I’m glad I got to see you,” she says against my lips. “This opposite shift thing really fucking sucks.”
I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and bring her in for a longer, deeper kiss. “Three days, baby girl, then we’ve got a date in our bed.”
“God, I really can’t wait. Love you,” she murmurs, kissing my cheek and pushing to stand.
“Love you back, baby girl. Drink all the margaritas; you deserve it. Text me when you get home later?”
“Always.” She heads for the door, tossing a grin and a wave over her shoulder. I keep my eyes on her, watching her walk away until she’s out of sight.
* * *
“Do you know what’s going on in the ER?” I ask my friend and fellow surgeon, Owen. “A nurse just mentioned something weird was going on down there, but she didn’t know what.”
He shrugs and turns to the coffee maker. “Don’t know. Can’t be that big of a deal since they didn’t lock anything down. Weird shit goes on in the ER all the time. Anyway, I was a little more focused on what was going on up here.”
He gives me a sly smile, and my gossip radar immediately lights up. I fucking love gossip. So does Allie. It’s, like, a core tenant of our relationship. Talk about all the people. Know all the things. I lean back on the couch where I’m still sitting and toss an arm over the back, getting ready for story time.
“What was going on up here?”
Owen hands me a cup of coffee and I take it gratefully. Working nights fucking sucks. I’m already tired and I haven’t even started yet.
“Marci may or may not have come by, and I may or may not have been in an on-call room with her.”
I read between the lines of that very undetailed sentence. “You snuck your girlfriend onto the surgical floor and fucked her in an on-call room?”
“Sure did. Listen, I’ve been on nights for two weeks and Marci’s a lawyer who works bananas hours. I hadn’t seen her face in four days, which is four days too many. I regret nothing.”
I stretch my legs out in front of me, crossing them, as I laugh at the smug, satisfied look on Owen’s face and get a flash of all the times Allie and I have defiled on-call rooms over our years at the hospital. I also regret nothing.
A noise in the doorway has me turning, surprised to see my friend Molly standing there, since she’s supposed to be at dinner with Allie. I grin at her. “Hey, Mol, what are you doing here? I thought you and Allie were having dinner. Did she let you know about that ER consult? She said it wouldn’t take long though. Word is something weird happened down there a little while ago, but I figured you guys would be at least one marg in already.”
She says nothing, just glances around, her gaze landing on Owen. “I’m a friend of Jordan’s,” she says to him. “Would you mind if I talked to him in private?”
It’s a weird request, one I can’t figure out why she would make, but Owen just looks at her for a second and nods. “Sure, no problem.”
Owen starts for the door, squeezing my shoulder as he passes. “I’ll be in the office catching up on charts if you need me when you’re done.”
His uncharacteristic gesture and the blank expression on Molly’s face have a tiny frisson of dread curling in my stomach. When he leaves, Molly steps fully into the room. My eyes follow her hand as she flips the lock on the door to the lounge, and when my gaze meets hers, the dread deepens to fear as my heart starts to gallop in my chest.
I don’t understand what Molly is doing here when she’s supposed to be sitting with Allie in their favorite Mexican restaurant or why my always light-hearted and bubbly friend is silent, a blank expression on her face as she sits on the couch and turns to face me. Molly grips her hands together in front of her, like she’s trying to keep them from shaking, and I feel like I might lose my shit if she doesn’t tell me what’s going on in the next thirty seconds.
“Mol, not that I’m not glad to see you, but what the fuck is going on? Where’s Allie?”
Molly takes my hand in one of hers and holds my gaze for a beat. I live a thousand lifetimes in that beat, knowing that I’m standing on the edge of something but not sure exactly what.
