Page 7 of Take Me to the Wedding

Dammit.Reluctantly I faced her again. The light above our heads was shining on her hair. Black, shiny hair and so much of it, thick and lustrous. I pushed the distraction out of my mind. Sooner or later I was going to have to confront our troubles. “Funny you should say that,” I said. “I’ve got something to get off my chest too.”

“I hope it involves an apology for trying to boot me off that case last week.”

I bristled. “You make being nice so hard, Gas.” I pinched my nose for patience. If only my key wouldn’t have stuck.

“This is no joke,” she said. “What you did could have cost me my job application. I was lucky no one told Dr. Benson about it.”

I crossed my arms and looked down at her. Not that far down, because the woman was tall—not the usual dynamic I had with women. I disliked Samantha, but she was a conscientious doctor. What I’d done about trying to replace her on my case was a little reckless, not my usual behavior, but nothing bad had come of it. Just this painful conversation.

“You’re right, our dislike of each other isn’t a joke. I admit that what I did wasn’t the greatest way to handle things. And I am sorry about that. But this timeyouwent too far, and it costmesomething too.”

* * *

Samantha

“Iwent too far?” I couldn’t wait to hear this.

Caleb tipped his tall, lean frame against the scarred doorjamb. “For your information, you cost me something with someone I care about.”

“I’m confused. You actuallycareabout someone? With human emotions?” I instantly regretted being snarky. The hospital grapevine said that he dated around a lot. I wasn’t sure if he ever went out with anyone more than a couple of times. But then I didn’t pay much attention to the daily dish.

“Judge much?”

“I can’t help it if I find you reprehensible.” Okay, so subtlety wasn’t my strength. At least with me, people got what they got. I wouldn’t apologize for that even if his frown lines were distractingly cute. Who has cute frown lines?

“I can’t help it if you’ve got a tree trunk up your?—”

“Just tell me what happened, okay?” Somebody had to be mature here, so it might as well have been me.

“Something you said last week got back to someone I care about.”

“I don’t gossip,” I said firmly. I couldn’t fathom what he was talking about. But Ihadbeen royally upset after he’d nearly booted me from that case. Had I vented to a couple of my girlfriends? I had. But I don’t have the kind of friends who break confidences. “Who?” I asked, straining to remember what I said and whom I said it to. “Got back to whom?”

“Lillian Hardy.”

Lillian Hardy? Never heard of her. Wait a minute—yes, I had.Lilly.She was Ani’s oldest friend from childhood, and she was one of her bridesmaids, along with me and Caleb’s sister Mia. “From Oak Bluff?” That was Caleb and Ani’s hometown, a quaint little place in the middle of a lot of farmland, about two hours from Milwaukee.

The look in his eyes confirmed a yes. “Lilly happens to be very special to me, and she’ll be at the farm this weekend.”

“I’m still not following.”

“She’s my ex. My first love. I hope you understand about love.”

He got an eye roll for that. “Your first love?”

Caleb sighed heavily. “I don’t want to talk about this. But yes. Things didn’t end well, but I have a chance to make them right. Except someone at the hospital spread some rumor—that I don’t treat women well.”

First love—didn’t end well—make it right. That sounded to me like strikes one, two, and three. I would’ve never pegged him as a full-blown romantic.Good luck with that, buddy, was my first thought.

“I have no idea how you treat women. I only know how you treated me, which wasn’t nice. Or collegial. Or fair.” And I was still pretty steaming mad about that.

“Lilly is good friends with Stacey from 5 North,” he continued, “and Lilly apparently… heard things from her.” He cleared his throat. “Things ‘the anesthesiologist on the case with the child with a broken leg,’ said about me.”

A dull sense of dread seeped into my veins, like anesthesia before a surgery. That happened in the OR all the time. Patients felt a cool sensation and started counting backward from ten, and by eight they were out. Stacey was a nice work friend. I knew she was chatty, but I guess I’d been angry enough to be careless with my words.

Nora, our friend from NICU, had been beside herself that week. She’d gone out with Caleb a few times, but then the very next week, he dumped her for a respiratory therapist whoalsoworked in the NICU—whom Nora said he’d been dating at the same time.

I’d vented to Stacey about what a terrible person Caleb was. How he indiscriminately dumped women, how he’d screwed me over and nearly got me called in by my department chair. And Stacey must have told Lilly.

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