Page 21 of Stone Vows

She laughs. “Abby said Jell-O is pretty much a staple here at the hospital, and since I’m going to be here a while, I might as well figure out which flavor is my favorite. So, she brought me all of them to try. I really like her.”

“Oh,” I say, looking out her window to check out the approaching summer storm.

“Kyle?”

I look back at her and see the concern etched in her face. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” she asks.

She looks worried and I realize that maybe she thinks I’m here to give her bad news about her or the baby.

“Everything is fine. You’re doing well and so is the baby.”

“Not with me,” she says. “Something is wrong withyou. What is it?”

I shake my head. “Just a difficult case, that’s all. Nature of the job.”

“I’m sorry.” She reaches over and touches my shoulder in the same way I comforted her the other night. She studies me. “You need a distraction. Something to get your mind off whatever is bothering you.”

“Let me guess,” I say, looking up at the TV. “ESPN? Or maybe you had something else in mind. One of those survivalist programs perhaps? Bare-ass naked guy climbs into volcano whilst trying not to roast his balls?”

She laughs for the third time.Why am I even counting?Then she asks, “Whilst?”

“Sorry, I guess my British attending is rubbing off on me.”

She nods. “Oh, right, the one who sentenced you to babysitting duty.”

“Not a sentence,” I say. “A privilege.”

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever you say,Dr. Stone. And no, I wasn’t referring to watching television to get your mind off things. I was thinking of a game my friends and I used to play in college when we were stressed out over an exam.” She frowns. “But now that I think of it, it wouldn’t work in this situation.”

“Why not?” I ask, intrigued.

“Well, because for one, I’m pregnant; and two, you’re working which probably means drinking alcohol would be frowned upon.”

“Probably,” I say sarcastically. “What game was it?”

Her face pinks up. “It’s totally juvenile. But it was fun. I don’t know why I even thought of it. It’s stupid.”

“After the way you just blushed, now youhaveto tell me, Elizabeth. What is it?”

“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Her face breaks into an adolescent smile. “Have you ever played ‘Never have I ever’?”

I draw my brows together thinking of the games my brothers and I would play in the old neighborhood. “Is it anything like ‘Spin the bottle’ or ‘Truth or dare’?”

She giggles. “Notthatjuvenile,” she says. “In ‘Never have I ever,’ you say something you’ve never done before and if anyone else in the room has done it, they take a drink. It’s fun.” Then she looks embarrassed again. “Well, it was when I was nineteen. Sorry, it was a stupid idea.”

I smile. She doesn’t know what a great idea it really is. Elizabeth is a closed book. Not once has she ever given anyone details about her except where her pregnancy is concerned. And I could use something to get my mind off things. Every time I look at my damn hand, I think of the tiny girl I was holding in it earlier. “No, I want to play,” I tell her.

She looks at me awkwardly. “What don’t you understand about the whole drinking thing?”

“We’re not going to drink alcohol, Elizabeth. Although I do have a damn fine bottle of champagne in my locker.”

“Why do you have a bottle of champagne in your locker?” she asks. “Hot date after work?”

“Ha! Hardly. I’m a second-year resident. There isn’t any time for dating. No, I had a professor in medical school, Dr. Williston, who said every new doctor should keep a bottle handy because you never know when you are going to want to celebrate that one great thing. He said for some it would be the first time they do a solo surgery. For others, the first time they deliver a baby. Or maybe for when you save a life by making a difficult diagnosis.”

“And you haven’t opened it yet?” she asks.

I shake my head. “Haven’t felt the urge.”

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