Page 5 of Seduction
“And tonight, I’m on call. Shit,” she groused.
The doors slid open. Calvin and Sanjay, two residents in the internal medicine program, were already inside.
“Good morning, guys,” I said as Zara grabbed me by the shoulders.
“Seriously, Pen. I don’t know if I’m coming or going.” She was shaking me as she worked herself into a frenzy. “What am I doing with my life? Why am I so dog-tired?”
The doors opened, and Sanjay and Calvin raised their eyebrows and said, “See you later,” as they slid past us and out of the elevator. They were used to meltdowns. We all were.
I quickly took her by her shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. “Done?”
Her frown said she was unsure. “I guess so.”
That was good enough for me. “Then let’s walk.”
I exited the elevator, and she followed me.
The NOLA air always made the new day easier for me. It was going to be another hot one, when all the fried foods and local cuisines would be simmering in the atmosphere. However, once again, I would be trapped inside the big, cold hospital, unable to catch a whiff of any of it until my shift ended.
Zara and I walked swiftly out of habit but in silence, which was abnormal. She was usually a chatterbox in the morning. It felt so strange not to hear her prattle on about her political volunteerism or the newest guy her parents were trying to get her to marry that I asked if everything was okay.
She sighed wearily. “No.”
“No?” My tone was both sympathetic and leading her to explain.
“Remember what we talked about a few days ago?”
I shuffled through my memory bank to find the last conversation we had. When I located it, I gasped a little. “You mean quitting the program. You weren’t serious about that.” At least I wanted to think so.
“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “I think I’ve had enough, Pen.”
I shook my head repeatedly. “We’re almost finished, though.”
“No,” she said and slapped herself on the chest. “I’mdone. And I don’t give a fuck if my parents are disappointed. I’m thirty-two and only became a doctor because it was either be a doctor”—she raised her finger emphatically—“no, be more than a doctor. Be a brain surgeon or marry one of their rich friends’ sons. No. No, no, no, and no. I’m over it. And quitting at this point sends the strongest message to my parents that they don’t control me anymore. Fuck it. If I lose them, then I lose them, but I’ll be free.”
We were thoughtfully silent again as we passed Bernard’s Bakery. Usually, one of us would ask if the other wanted to go in for a croissant, knowing we’d be a little late for our shift because Eloise, the woman who co-owned the bakery and worked in the mornings, would want to gossip about something someone from the hospital had told her.
Actually, it would’ve been perfect to chat with Eloise that morning. She might’ve known something about the handsome stranger. My mind was too busy to obsess over him, but I still wanted to know who he was. The decadent smell of freshly baked pastries drew everyone in the neighborhood into her shop. If he lived in the area, Eloise would know his whole story. I was sure of it.
I looked longingly through the window of Bernard’s. That day, we would pass her by, and that felt like the right decision.
After a sigh, I said, “Well… you are right about your life belonging to you, and that’s the way God made it. You know what I mean? He didn’t attach your mom and dad to your ass. You know?”
Zara pressed her lips together as she nodded. “Right,” she said quietly. “By the way, what’s going on with you since we last spoke?”
It almost felt wrong to bring up my dramas. That odd sense that radical change was in the air had grabbed me again, though. I certainly had a lot of newness in my life as of the day before at Bellies, but Zara wasn’t just frivolously claiming she was quitting. She meant it. Half of me wanted to convince her to stay. The other half knew she couldn’t be persuaded.
“Hurry, tell me. We’re almost at the hospital,” she said.
When I looked up from the pavement, I saw the huge modern glass complex on the horizon. So I scoffed then quickly told her about my encounter with Court and Rich.
She frowned as she shook her head slowly. “Wait, are you seriously talking about Rich Durbin, your ex?”
I nodded then shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah.” I turned to meet her gaze. “What?” I asked, confused.
“That’s it?”
I jerked my head back. “What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?”
