“No. The rest of the surgical team does that. I walk in whenever they’re done and perform the operation. Today’s a routine heart surgery. Nothing too complicated.”
Of course it wasn’t too complicated for him. He would probably be the one to take over for the chief if he were to step down. Chief Reid had filled me in on Jake’s important role at the hospital. Before last night, I wasn’t quite aware of what a coveted doctor I was dating. His modesty made me appreciate him even more.
“Hey, Emi? Guess what?”
“What?” I asked.
“The chief just called me with some good news.”
“Oh?”
“Well, there’s this heart association conference in Paris he wants me to attend. He was going to go himself but has a conflict now with some important hospital board meeting. He called to see if I was available.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m sure it will be a great experience for you. Though, I’ll miss you while you’re gone.” I hoped I didn’t sound too sad at the thought of him leaving me. I didn’t want him to miss anything on my account.
“Emily. I’m not going to Paris without you. How could you think I could be apart from you for that long? The chief is quite smitten with you and told me to take you along. He’s transferred his ticket and hotel room over to my name. I’ll just buy you a ticket. What shall we do about the one room? Can we stay together in the same room?” His eyes were hopeful.
“Jake, I don’t know what to say. I don’t think I can get a whole week off from work. Besides, it sounds kind of dangerous, the two of us in Paris,” I teased. “Who knows what kind of concessions I’ll make in such a romantic city, especially if we only have one room?” I flirted with his hope.
“I like the sound of that,” he said, hugging me. “Let’s go to Paris, then we can go visit Gram in London. She really liked you. Dad told me she called early this morning to tell him how wonderful she thought you were. My whole family loved you.”
“Oh, I’m relieved to know I passed the test. I do want to meet Gram. I’ll work on getting that week off. I’ll let you know as soon as school starts.”
“So, I have a question that wasn’t answered yesterday while you had us broken up in your own mind.” He shook his head, looking at me as though I were crazy.
I shrugged my shoulders and raised my eyebrows as a combined apology and what else was I to think, response.
“When did you know you loved me, and why didn’t you tell me this monumental information before?”
“I’ve known for a while, but couldn’t admit it to myself till the night before we left for Hawaii. At the sushi restaurant when you were asking me about my family, I appreciated how much you cared for me and how you empathized with my every joy and heartache. I, too, wanted to be there for every part of your life. I knew that I would laugh when you laughed, and cry when you cried. That’s when I finally admitted that I had fallen in love with you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, I kind of waited for you to say it first so I could reciprocate, but you never told me you loved me in Hawaii.” I shrugged my shoulders again. “I felt a bit self-conscious bringing it up out of nowhere.”
Jake gave me another disapproving look and came over to hug me. “Please don’t ever doubt my love for you, OK?”
“OK,” I answered but nudged him away. “I think it’s time for you to leave, Dr. Reid.”
“All right. Don’t forget about getting the second week of February off, OK? If your principal says no, then let me talk to her.” As I walked Jake out to his car, he held my hand and noticed the eternity band on my finger. Joy radiated from his eyes.
“You’re wearing the ring…on your finger?”
“Oh…you noticed finally? It was so heavy around my neck I was getting a neck cramp,” I kidded. “I thought I’d try it on the finger and see if it’s any better here. Of course as luck would have it, it only fits on my ring finger.” I stretched out my ring finger to show him the perfect fit. “Unless of course you think it looks better on my neck, then I’ll put it back on as a necklace.” I pretended to take the ring off and Jake immediately stopped me.
I confessed my heart to him. “I am committed to you as your loving girlfriend. When I see us heading toward that last step, you’ll be the first to know.”
Cars started pulling up in front of the house as we continued saying good-bye. Max was one of the first to get out of the car. He stared at me with a hurt expression. As much as I hated seeing Max upset, I wanted to finish saying good-bye. “I love you, Dr. Reid. Now go. Save lives.”
Jake wouldn’t let go of me, but I gently nudged him away.
“Hi, Jake,” Sarah called out. “Did you have a good Christmas? How was Hawaii?”
“It was fantastic. How was your Christmas? You went up to Oxnard?”
“Yeah. It was great. What did you get for Emily for Christmas?”