“Gina was looking for you this morning before you left the hospital,” Cameron says, as we make our way from my building to Ethan’s.
“I know.” I sigh, guilt washing over me because I didn’t find her and make good on my promise. “I was beat. It was a long weekend.”
“Are you ever going to invite her to one of your brother’s dinner parties?”
I furrow my brows at him. “It’s not like that between us and you know it, Cam. And the last thing I want to do is ask her to go to dinner with me and have her think it’s a date. I like things just as they are. No complications. No strings. No added stress in my life.”
“There could be worse things than having Gina as your girlfriend,” he says.
I study him for a minute, wondering if there is deeper meaning there.
“Don’t get me wrong,” I tell him. “She’s great. A good doctor, a loyal friend. And the sex, it’s as good as it gets. I just don’t want to send her mixed signals. We have a good thing going.”
I wave at my brother’s doorman on the way by. Between Chad and Ethan both living in this building, I’m here often. The entire building staff knows me by now.
We’re met at the penthouse door by waves of incredible smells. Garlic. Hell yeah! I know this smell.
I pull my sister-in-law, Charlie, in for a hug. “You made lasagna?”
“Mallory made it,” she says, referring to my other sister-in-law. “She brought it up from her place and used my oven to cook it in.”
“Well, thanks to both of you. It’s my favorite.”
Mallory and Chad live in the same building, just a few floors down. It’s a joke among all of us that Ethan owns the penthouse yet Chad is the movie star. Chad, or Thad Stone, as he’s known in Hollywood, has seven movies and a TV series under his belt. While Ethan, our oldest brother, is a private investigator who owns his own agency. We all inherited enough money from our grandparents that we’d never have to work a day in our lives. But that’s not how our parents raised us.
Cameron and I greet Mallory and my brothers before digging into the case of craft beer I brought over. I hand one to everyone but Mallory, who is seven months pregnant with their first baby.
Ethan looks at the bottle of beer I handed him. “Don’t you want the good stuff? I’ve got some bottles of champagne on ice.”
I give him an annoyed look. “This is the good stuff, Ethan. A case cost me fifty bucks. That’s some damn fine beer.”
He laughs. “Fifty whole dollars? Are you sure you can afford that, Dr. Stone?”
“Bite me,” I say. “And don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. It’s good shit.”
He holds up his bottle and we all take turns tapping ours against his before we drink. I watch his face as he swallows and then works his tongue around in his mouth like he’s some kind of beer connoisseur.
“Hmmm…” he ponders.
Charlie swats him on the back of his head. “It’s great, Kyle. Thanks for bringing it over.”
Chad coughs while saying, “Cheap son-of-a-bitch.”
Cameron joins Chad and Ethan as they laugh at my expense. I’m used to it. As the youngest of three brothers, all the teasing fell on me.
“Well, what do you expect,” Cameron says. “He spends his real money on his patients.”
Mallory smiles at me. She and I got close when she lived at my place for a few weeks while Chad was wrapping up a film in L.A. I think she understands my compassion for others more than the rest of them.
“I saw him handing a homeless guy a wad of cash last night,” Cameron tells the group. “And I heard he paid for some old lady’s leg brace last week.” He turns to me. “You’d better be careful or patients will be hunting you down expecting you to pay their bills.”
“I think what he’s doing is incredible,” Mallory says, getting up to set the table. “Don’t ever stop doing what you’re doing, Kyle.”
Ethan motions for me to give him another beer. “Hey, before I forget,” he says, “Mason hooked me up with some pre-season box seat tickets for next weekend’s game. You guys up for it? You too, Cameron.”
“Hell, yes!” Cameron shouts. Then he lowers his voice and says to me, “Damn, I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch to have met you our first day as interns. A movie star brother. Friends who play for the Giants.”
“Dude,” Chad says to him. “Stop kissing his ass or it will give him a bigger head than he already has.”
“Oh, I’m the one with the big head, Mr. Jake fucking Cross,” I say, referring to his award-winning movie trilogy.
Chad punches me in the arm. “That’s Lieutenant Jake fucking Cross, you tool.”
Charlie and Mallory call us to the table for dinner. The girls tell us about the work they’ve been doing at Hope For Life, a program for pregnant teens who have been kicked out of their homes and have nowhere to go. The residential center helps girls navigate their pregnancy and then gets them back on their feet afterwards. It makes me think of Elizabeth. But as she’s in her twenties, she’s too old for the program.
“Bro!” I feel a kick in the shin under the table and look over at Chad who delivered it. “Can you tell me why the hell you’ve been staring at my pregnant wife the whole night? I know she’s gorgeous and all, but what’s wrong with you?”
“Sorry,” I say to him. Then I wince and turn to Mallory. “Sorry, Mal. Uh, I just can’t get my mind off a case I had last shift. She was about your age, and at thirty-two weeks, just a little further along.”
Mallory looks worried and puts a protective hand on her belly. “Oh, gosh, what happened?”
“She’s okay,” I tell them. “And so is the baby—for now. She’s got placenta previa. But that’s not what got to me. First, I found her outside the hospital sitting on a bench. She was scared to come in because she didn’t have insurance. And then, when I asked if I could call someone for her, she said she didn’t have anybody. But the way she said it was so sad. I actually think she doesn’t have anyone. Like she’s alone in the world.” I shake my head and down the rest of my beer. “It just really sucks, that’s all.”
“Oh, wow,” Mallory says. “That’s so sad. I can’t imagine being pregnant and alone.” She reaches over and takes Chad’s hand in hers.
“You have to let it go, Kyle,” Cameron says. “I know you want to fix everything and everyone. But you can’t. You’d better get used to that now or you’ll burn out on this job before you know it.”
I nod. “I know. For the most part, I can let things go. I do what I can and then the rest is out of my hands. But this girl, I don’t know, I just felt like maybe there was more I should have done. She was different. Better. More deserving somehow.” I run a frustrated hand through my hair. “Fuck.”
Cameron puts a supportive hand on my shoulder. Then I look around at all the fallen faces at the table. “Shit,” I say. “I didn’t mean to bring everyone down. I’m sure she will be fine.”
I nod to the large ice bucket on the bar that’s holding several bottles of champagne. “I’m not back on the clock for twenty-four hours. So how about we open those and get shit-faced?”
Chad laughs. “How about the three of you get shit-faced and I’ll be the one to make sure you and Cameron get home.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I say, just as my phone vibrates with a text. I pull it out to check it.
Gina: Enjoy your day off. But I expect payback tomorrow night!
I smile at the text. Best to stick to the things I can control and let the rest go. I tap out a reply.
Me: Looking forward to it.
And then I toss back a glass of champagne and try to convince myself I meant it.