Chapter Twelve
For the following two weeks Elizabeth had kept herself busy working double shifts and meticulously planning every detail of her trip. She’d worked out everything from tourist attractions, roadside diners, and quaint bed-and-breakfasts right down to creating the perfect music playlists for each leg of her journey. She’d decided that she’d lived long enough without seeing the Grand Canyon. It was on the other side of the country, but she had plenty of time to get there. No reason to rush back to Boston. She could stretch the trip out for as long as she had the time off and the money.
Her car had been serviced, she’d bought old-school maps to augment her GPS, she decided what clothes to take, and she even bought trip snacks. There was nothing left to do but leave. Even Megan didn’t need her to stay.
She’d just finished changing out of her scrubs when Priya entered the locker room. “You want to go get dinner?” she asked. “I’ve been on call since noon yesterday. I haven’t eaten anything except chips from the vending machine today. Brian brought me dinner last night, but he’s working tonight.”
“I know what Brian brought you,” she teased. There weren’t many secrets in a hospital and the fact that Dr. Shah liked to have quickies with her boyfriend was too juicy not to have made the rounds.
“A girl has needs,” Priya said. “So, tacos?”
“Tacos are life.”
They walked over to the small Mexican restaurant two blocks away. Priya waited until Elizabeth had dug into her carne asada and was halfway through her margarita before bringing up the subject of Will. Which was exhibiting super powers of restraint since Elizabeth could see the questions hovering on the tip of Priya’s tongue since the moment they’d sat down.
“Seen Will lately?” Priya asked with forced casualness.
“Haven’t you talked to Brian about it already?”
“Brian doesn’t know anything. Will’s clammed up.”
Elizabeth took a healthy swallow of her margarita, instantly regretting it when the ice gave her a cold freeze headache. Served her right.
Priya wasn’t deterred by silence, she kept right on going. “You’ve seemed off these last few weeks, too. Like you’re about to break. And this trip?”
“You know I’ve wanted to travel. I couldn’t because of Megan.” Her voice sounded overly defensive event to her own ears.
“It seems a lot less like traveling and a lot more like running away.”
She needed to get dumber friends.
“Are you at least going to the MacGregors’ party tomorrow night before you leave?” Priya asked. “Will’s about to break an arm patting himself on the back, but I know you did a lot of work on that.”
“I don’t think I’d be welcome.” There was no way Will would want to see her. She’d taken his feelings and flung them back in his face. She’d been like a hurt and cornered animal snapping viciously at the person who wanted to help her.
“Whatever happened between you and Will, we won’t take sides. And it could be a good opportunity to clear the slate. Maybe you guys can start over as friends?”
“I don’t know if that’s possible.” There was no way she could be around him and not want more. But at the same time, she was too much of a coward to be more. She’d thrown up excuse after excuse as to why she couldn’t be with him.
“If not for Will, then come to be moral support for me. My family will be there.”
“That’s great. That must mean things are going well with you.” Despite her own personal drama, she felt genuinely happy for Priya. Priya had been estranged from the family she loved for too long, all over lies told when she was teenager. Not much younger than Megan was now. And you were never too old to not need your parents.
“It’s never going to be like it was,” Priya said. “But I’m hoping that maybe things can be better. I was always hiding myself from them, trying to be perfect. But now maybe I can have a relationship with my parents and with my brother as myself, warts and all.”
“I’m really happy for you. Really.” It was selfish to turn Priya’s happiness into a requiem on losing her family, and she pushed back the ache from fruitlessly wishing her mother were here and she could talk to her one more time. “What are Will’s—Brian’s parents like? I’m assuming your parents haven’t met them yet.”
“Not yet. They’ve met Brian on a handful of occasions and I think they’re at grudging acceptance with him. His parents are kind, funny, and welcoming, so I think they’ll all get along. My parents weren’t wrong to be angry with me. I betrayed their trust badly and it takes time to repair something like that.” She scooped a chip into the bowl of salsa and paused before putting in her mouth. “It’s never too late to change,” she said before crunching into the chip.
Elizabeth knew that last bit was directed at her. Was it too late? She wanted Will, but she was embarrassingly scared. It’d become glaringly obvious that she’d never actually dealt with the loss of her parents, and as Will pointed out, she’d also lost her friends and her imagined future along with them. She’d just pushed it down to fester all these years.
But maybe she could start by just telling Will that he’d been right. She was scared. “I’ll go,” she said with a decisive nod. She instantly felt lighter.
Priya beamed at her and Elizabeth knew she’d made the right choice. It was time to stop running.
* * *
Everything was coming up Will. The party he’d planned was a success and he’d even been able to fit into the suit in the back of his closet that he’d worn to his sister’s wedding, thus negating the need for the dreaded clothes shopping. He should be happy.
He sipped his beer from a red Solo cup and watched as his father escorted his mother across the makeshift dance floor to the sound of Frank Sinatra’s crooning. Their heads were bent together and his father whispered something in his mother’s ear that made her laugh and give him a teasing swat on the shoulder. Emily and Sophia had their daughter, his feisty niece, cradled between them and were dancing her around to her obvious delight.
Despite the short notice on the invitations, the hall was packed with friends and relatives. He could pick most of his cousins out from the crowd because of the distinctive red hair. He had a feeling there must have been a bit of inbreeding somewhere back in the MacGregor family tree because that particular genetic trait had stayed consistent.
Even Priya’s family had come. They were standing in the corner with his brother, who was obviously trying very hard to charm them, his hands weaving about as he told a story. Next to him, Priya wore an expression of naked hope.
His one regret was that he’d never finished the portrait of his parents. Instead, he’d had some old photos of them blown up to poster size and hung them around the hall. The cake was three tiers of flowered buttercream perfection, currently in danger from his Uncles Joe and Mike, who were arm wrestling way too close to it. Will was about to intercede and tell them to relocate when his attention was caught by a new entrant. The last person in the world he expected to see strolled through the door like she was walking onto the red carpet to collect her Oscar for Best Actress.
He halted in his tracks. She bestowed a wide smile upon him as she glided his way on high heels wearing a short dress. Her legs were his Kryptonite. What was she even doing here?
When she reached him, she gave him a long, assessing look and licked her lips. “I’m Elizabeth,” she said. “On a scale of one to America, how free are you tonight?”
It was so unexpected that he had to laugh. “Touch my shirt,” he said. She raised an eyebrow but did what he asked. “Feel that? It’s boyfriend material.” If they were playing bad pickup lines, he played to win.
She gave him that dirty, mischievous smile he loved. “Are you from FedEx? Because I’d sign for that package.”
He deliberately licked his finger. Slowly, he leaned forward keeping eye contact with her the whole time to touch the strap of her ridiculously sexy silver dress. “Let’s get you out of these wet clothes.”
In a husky voice, she said, “Big sale in my bedroom right now. Clothes are one-hundred percent off.”
It was so easy to get sucked back into the fun and teasing with her, but he reminded himself that he wanted more. “Are you trying to woo me with these lines? Because if you’re not all the way in, then this isn’t going to work. I want to have fun with you, but I also want something real.”
Her expression was serious and she took a deep breath, seemingly bracing herself. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You were right. I was—am scared. But I like you. And being with you is fun and exciting and all those things I told myself couldn’t happen in a relationship.”
“Just promise me that if you’re going to freak out that you talk to me first.”
“I don’t freak out. Much.”
“Want to try that again?”
“I won’t run.” She said it in a way that sounded like a promise.
“I get to meet Megan. With my clothes on this time.”
“You drive a very hard bargain.”
“That’s not the only hard thing I drive.” He tried to wiggle his eyebrows, but from her expression he didn’t think it was successful.
She held up a finger. “One thing,” she said. “I’m taking a road trip. I was planning on leaving tomorrow. I want to see the Grand Canyon.”
“An adventure,” he said.
“Exactly.”
“Are we talking the open road, greasy spoon diners, and tacky tourist attractions like the biggest ball of twine or Stonehenge made out of old cars?”
“Yes. You get it.”
“I’m in.”
Her face lit up. “You’d want to do that?”
“Of course, I’d want to do that. I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon either. One thing, though. Can we put it off a week? I’m going to need to arrange some time off.”
Her answer was to twine her arms around his neck and kiss him until he felt it all the way down to his toes.
When they broke, he found himself grinning like an idiot. “There’s another reason I need the extra time,” he said, wanting to share everything with her. “There’s this art gallery that’s going to hang some of my paintings.”
She hugged him tight. “That’s wonderful! It’s a good thing I saved that sketch of me you did the night we met. It’s going to make me rich one day.”
“You kept that?”
“Of course I did. It’s amazing. You’re amazing. I should have said yes the first time you asked me to dinner.”
The nice thing about Elizabeth in heels was that he didn’t have to bend his head to whisper in her ear. “You’ll have plenty of opportunities to say yes tonight. You can even scream yes.”
“Yes,” she said.
* * *
Elizabeth was happy. Truly happy. Not the “put a smile on and pretend” that she’d been doing, but deep down in the core of her being she felt warm and wonderful and maybe that was the kiss. Will was kissing her back with skillful enthusiasm. And she knew she could have it both ways—someone special and fun. There would be no sacrifices with Will.
Someone was clearing their throat pointedly behind her. She pulled away from Will, and whirled around. An older gentleman with Will’s eyes was smiling broadly. “You going to introduce me to your friend, son?” he asked.
Will didn’t look at all embarrassed to be caught making out with a strange woman in front of his father. “Dad, this is Elizabeth,” he said.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said hastily, holding out her hand.
He took her hand in his, but instead of shaking it, he gave it a gentle squeeze. “It’s good to finally meet you, Elizabeth. We’ve heard a lot about you.”
Will was looking at his dad with a question mark on his face.
“Your brother and sister have big mouths,” his dad said in response. He released her hand and said, “I’m glad you could come. I hear you planned this party.”
“It was Will,” she said. “I only helped.”
“Well, it’s fantastic.” He turned to Will. “Aren’t you going to ask her to dance?”
“I was just about to,” Will said. He extended an arm to her. “Shall we?”
“Yes,” she said. In her heart she added, yes, yes, yes. Yes to life, yes to taking chances, yes to a new adventure.
“I think my parents would have liked you,” she said as he swung her onto the dance floor and pulled her back into his arms.
As they swayed to Frank Sinatra, she felt as though something had just changed. Another fall, another new life. This new path was opening in front of her and she would boldly take that first step.
But not alone.
* * * * *