Page 48 of Just One Chance
She smiled at that. “Look. I can almost see where you were coming from. Your mistake is that you plowed forward with a plan without any consideration for Avery’s feelings. You thought about howyouwould feel if she knew her boyfriend was cheating. You thought about how the truth might helpyouout. Because she can’t date you as long as she’s dating the other guy. But did you ever really stop and think about how knowing mighthurther?”
“You work in medicine, Haley. You know that if we only prescribe treatments that don’t hurt, we’d lose twice as many patients. Sometimes the right course is the most painful one.”
“But when it’s really going to hurt?” Haley said. “We use anesthetics. We numb people so they don’t have to feel how much it hurts to get better.”
David paused, trying to understand Haley’s point. “So you’re saying what I just did to Avery is akin to performing surgery on someone who’s still awake,” David said, a statement, not a question. He didn’t need Haley to confirm because he felt the truth of his realization all the way down to his bones. Logically, knowing was the best thing for Avery, even if it hurt in the moment. But he hadn’t done anything to prepare her, to protect her, to ease the pain of learning that truth.
“Exactly,” Haley said.
David shook his head. “I’ve really ruined things, haven’t I?”
Haley shrugged. “Tonight was definitely not your best work. But I don’t think I’d give up if I were you.”
“No? She told me to leave her alone from now on. That feels pretty final.”
“She was angry,” Haley said. “And rightly so. Just give her some time.”
It wasn’t lost on David how ridiculous it was to be having a conversation about working things out with Avery at the end of a date with another woman. Particularly when he’d treated her so badly. He’d walked out of the movie twenty minutes before it ended so she could find him in the lobby with another woman. That was the kind of bad date you tell stories about.
And yet, she was still being nice to him. Giving him advice. Helping him sort out his feelings.
“Thank you for being so understanding,” David said, hoping Haley recognized his sincerity. “I’ve been awful to you. I want you to know I realize that. You deserved a better evening, a better date.”
Haley unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door handle. “Honestly? It’s fine. Lucy begged me to give this a chance but dating doctors has never really been my thing.”
David tried not to feel affronted. Not that he wanted to go out with her again, either. But to be dismissed over his profession? “No?”
“It’s not personal. Work just already consumes so much of my time. I want to date a teacher. Or a botanist, or something. Someone that doesn’t also smell like the hospital when they come home. Does that make sense?”
It made total sense. Avery smelled like sun and salt and sand and the giant gardenia blooms that lined the side of her house. He’d take that over the smell of the hospital any day. “I get it. So, I’ll see you around the hospital?”
Haley opened the car door. “Sure. Good luck with Avery,” she said before climbing out. “I think you’re going to need it.”
David drove home in silence wishing he could rewind the last three hours of his life and live them all over again. How had he been so stupid? So clueless to how his impromptu ambush would feel to Avery? Haley’s analogy, about surgery without anesthetic, had driven the point home hard. Good doctors didn’t just solve problems and make diagnoses. They solved problems while also caring for the emotional well-being of their patients. They made eye contact. They explained what they were doing and why. They answered questions and made each patient feel comfortable and secure in their doctor’s competence and ability to take care of them.
David had treated Tucker’s presence in Avery’s life like a disease that needed to be rooted out and eradicated. But he failed to treat Avery like a patient—like someone who deserved communication and respect.
He owed her an apology. Big time.
Haley had said Avery needed time, so he resisted the urge to walk straight to her house once he’d pulled into his own driveway. But the idea of doing nothing didn’t sit well either. He felt antsy and uncomfortable, like he’d never be able to settle down if he didn’tdosomething to fix things.
He needed to apologize, yes. But not just with words. He needed a gesture. Something that showed Avery he realized he was wrong and was sorry he’d hurt her. A gift, maybe? Or a letter? Back when he was a teenager, his parents had taken him to a therapist to help him work on his social anxiety and awkwardness. One of the things his therapist had told him was that if he struggled to express himself in person, he might try writing letters. Letters could be revised, after all, so it meant there was no reason to stress about saying the wrong thing. It had worked before, so maybe he needed to write Avery a letter.
At the very least, that was something he could donowinstead of later. And he wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep until he’d donesomething.
Chapter 17
Averyheardaknockon her door just after eight on Sunday morning. She tiptoed into her living room and peeked through her blinds. She’d honestly been surprised David hadn’t shown up the night before, anxious to try and talk things through. She was prepared to ignore everything—knocks, texts, calls—but she hadn’t heard from him at all. It had been a blessed relief. She was in no mood to try and navigate his bumbled attempts at apologizing.
Through the blinds, shedidsee David, but he was walking away, already down her steps and crossing the lawn back toward his own house. Curious, she moved to the front door and swung it open. On her doormat, there was a huge basket tied up with a giant bow. She hefted it—the thing probably weighed twenty pounds—and carried it into the kitchen. A watermelon filled up the left side; that’s what had made it so heavy. Next to the watermelon, Avery found three beautiful navel oranges, a box of fresh donuts from the downtown bakery she loved, a gift card to the Darling Oyster Bar, and a to-go box of Darling hushpuppies. The hushpuppies and the donuts were both still warm. The donuts she could understand. The bakery opened at six-thirty every morning. But how had he managed fresh hushpuppies? At eight in the morning?
Avery dropped onto a barstool behind her. It was a basket of all of her favorite things. Nestled into the middle of the basket was an envelope, Avery’s name written across the front. She sighed and reached for it, laying it flat on the counter beside her. Before she opened it, she poured herself a mug of coffee and opened up the box of donuts. Cinnamon with a vanilla drizzle. Her favorite. Except, she’d never told David her favorite flavor. Had he guessed that part?
Adequately fortified with caffeine and sugar, Avery finally opened the letter.
Dear Avery,
I wish that I could apologize to you face to face. Hopefully sometime soon, I’ll do just that. But since I’m notoriously terrible at getting my words right, I hope you’ll accept this letter as a first step. I’m not sure how I miscalculated so badly when it came to handling the situation with Tucker. The only thing I can figure is that I was blinded by jealousy that he was the one dating you, and furious that he would use you like he did. When he threatened my position at work, I lost touch with reality, an evidence of my continued insecurity in my profession. I am too young. Too logical. Too clinical to be a good doctor. These are the worries that still haunt me. Coming here, accepting this job at such a renowned hospital felt like a reach and a dream and Tucker played right into my fears that I might lose it. That I don’t deserve it after all. Those fears clouded my judgement and influenced my actions. I’m so sorry. I should have worried less about myself, and more about you. I did not think about how my interference might make you feel. I’m sorry I embarrassed you. I’m sorry I didn’t respect you enough to tell you right from the start that I knew about Tucker’s fiancée. I realize it might take a long time for me to earn your trust again, but I hope you’ll give me another chance to be your friend.
