Page 31 of Attached At Heart
She did this sometimes, zoned out. She got lost deep in that beautiful brain of hers, and I couldn’t even blame her because I’d spend my days there, too, if I could.
But this evening, I took the opportunity to study her profile, the graceful curve of her nose, her long, windswept bangs framing her heart-shaped face, and the slight rosiness of her cheeks—likely from the wine.
My eyes dropped to the ring on her finger, and my stomach twisted into knots.
Would I ever get over that?
I hadn’t been sure if she would wear it all the time or just when the occasion called for it, and to see that it was on her finger now, when there was no one else around, made a smile creep onto my face.
I took a careful step forward, not wanting to startle her. It was probably inevitable at this point, but I’d still try.
“Lane,” I said softly, dropping my keys on the kitchen counter.
She jolted a little, as I knew she would, but recovered quickly, turning to face me with a friendly smile.
“Oh, hi.” She sounded breathless. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Thinking about work?” I asked. “Long day?”
That was usually what it meant when she brought the puzzle out. She was doing her favorite one, too—the one with the tulip fields.
“Thinking about…” she repeated like she was processing the question. Her cheeks flamed brighter, and she quickly sipped her wine before nodding. “Yeah, just some work stuff on my mind.” She sat up straighter, folding herself onto the couch and tucking her bare feet beneath her bottom like she always did. “How was your day?”
“Pretty good.” I hooked a finger into my tie to loosen it and then walked over to Delaney, feeling her gaze trail me across the room as I sat on the couch next to her. “I got permission to run this case by you. Can I?”
“Of course.” She cleared her throat and put her glass of wine on the coffee table before us. “Tell me about it.”
Her eyes turned eager, as sharp as her focus suddenly became, and I launched into a rundown of Gracie Elez-Everett’s case and shared the scans with her. Even though I got writtenpermission from Nessa and Grayson to divulge everything, I decided to keep their identity to myself. Delaney wasn’t the kind of physician to let a patient’s high profile distract her from providing sound medical advice, but I didn’t want to take any risks or derail the conversation from the point.
Delaney tracked the details easily like I’d known she would, and I was happy, but not surprised, that her consensus was the same as mine after she reviewed the results from today. As her original doctors in California had determined, Gracie hadnotinherited her dad’s congenital heart defect. There really hadn’t been a question in my mind about the results, but if Delaney’s input could provide Grayson even further relief, this conversation was necessary.
“Coarctation of the aortaismore commonly found in males than females, so it isn’t terribly surprising that her brother was born with the heart defect, but she wasn’t,” Delaney commented thoughtfully before picking up her wineglass again with a note of finality.
“I was thinking the same thing,” I said, nodding. “Thanks, just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.”
That, and I’d wanted to talk to her about something that would bring us back to our roots, to where our friendship belonged—intertwined with medicine and professionalism and our careers.
She gave me a thoughtful look.
“What?”
“Since when do you miss anything?”
“Don’t act like I don’t make mistakes, Delaney. I’m not perfect. My flaws go far beyond being a condescending asshole sometimes.”
If she knew some of the things that went on in my head, especially where she was concerned, she’d undoubtedly agree.
“Oh, stop.” She ran her finger up and down the fringe on one of my throw pillows, her eyes watching the movement instead of me. “Do you still feel like yesterday wasn’t…a mistake?”
“I don’t have any regrets about yesterday,” I said without a second thought. I should have regretted the kiss, but I didn’t. My only regret was that I hadn’t done more to commemorate the day, even if that might have alarmed Delaney, considering our marriage wasn’treal. “Do you?”
I held my breath as she took longer than normal to respond, but then…
“Of course not. It’s really more than I could ever hope for.”
I nodded. I might have spent the better part of the day in agony while replaying the events of yesterday, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t also incredibly satisfying to help Delaney chase her dreams. She deserved them.
“You might change your mind when I tell you about our plans for the weekend,” I said dryly.
