Page 73 of Karma
“Might as well get it over with since you’re freaking out. Just rip it off, Dad.”
“Dad, relax,” Margaret says.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this? Because if you’re not—”
“Stop. Mom wants you to be happy and move on. She’s written it in many of the letters she wrote me. It’s okay.”
Many letters. And Lex has a stack more to give her throughout her life. Lane only wrote Zane two. It feels unfair.
No matter what happens, Lane will always be Margaret’s mother. She wants Zane to have another woman in his life to share it with, so he supposes he understands. It’s hard to move on if he has letters from his dead wife coming at him left and right. He just wishes she’d written him a couple more.
The doorbell rings, and Zane almost runs to the door. He feels like he’s fifteen again with his first girlfriend. Wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans, he opens the door. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Anne says, a bright smile on her face. “Is this still okay?”
“Yeah,” he says, his voice coming out breathless. “Come in. I’d like to introduce you to my daughter.”
She steps inside and takes off her sweater and purse, hanging them on the coatrack beside the door. The coatrack Lane wasadamant they needed, even though he can’t remember anyone ever using it before now.
“Margaret, this is Anne Collier. Um, Dr. Anne Collier.”
Geez, can I be any more of a spaz? I’m a grown ass man, for fuck’s sake.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Margaret says and stands, extending her hand out to Anne. “I hope you like pizza. Dad seems to think we’re feeding a football team.”
Anne chuckles. “It’s nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard so much about you, and I love pizza. I also love having options.”
“Me, too.”
They sit down, and Zane can’t bring himself to eat. His stomach continues to jump as the woman he may or may not be dating sits at the table with his daughter. The table he shared with his late wife. This feels all sorts of wrong. But it also feels right.
“Do you go by Maggie?” Anne asks and accepts a plate from Margaret.
“Sometimes. I was named after my grandma, and I think that was her nickname. Not many people call me that.”
Zane frowns. “Do you want to go by Maggie?”
She shrugs and takes the slice she put back in the box when they invited their guest over. “I don’t really care.”
“Do you mind if I call you Maggie?” Anne takes a bite of the peppers and onion slice.
That’s why I ordered it. It’sherfavorite pizza. Weird as hell, but completely subconsciously chosen.
“Go for it,” she says. “What kind of doctor are you?”
“Trauma. I’m pretty much the first face people see when they’ve had something terrible happen.”
“LikeGrey’s Anatomy?”
Laughing, she nods. “Yeah, sort of.”
“Did you treat my Aunt Lex when she was brought in?”
She accepts the soda Zane gets up to grab for her and shakes her head. “I wasn’t working yet. I saw her afterwards, though.”
“Did you talk to her?”
God help me. Did they talk? Lex said it was about her meds, but she’s nothing if not a great liar to hide things.
