“Thank you all for allowing me into your hospital, and thank you to the students and the NYU art department for your help; I couldn’t have done it without you,” she said to them as we all clapped.
My mother walked over, wrapping her arms around her. People called to her for photos and press work. The more her attention was divided, the more jealous I became, because they all had the chance to congratulate her and shake her hand before me. She was amazing and talented and beautiful, and I just wanted to hold her and tell her that.
“You aren’t thinking about walking through the crowd and kissing her, right?” Ian came over to me, pulling off his K-POP scrub cap.
“And if I was?” He looked back toward me like he was impressed, even leaning back.
“Welcome back, Dr. Davenport. I wasn’t expecting you to return from the dark side for another few days. I guess all you needed was a GP boost.”
“A GP boost?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know whose initials those are. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to go take a selfie in front of the mural.” He smiled, walking past me.
“You're an idiot.”
“You love me anyway!” He put up a peace sign as he walked.
Shaking my head at him, I stayed in my spot. I would wait until the crowd was gone and the excitement went down, and then I would go to her. For the moment, I was more than happy to just watch her shine.
Guinevere
I felt like I had been smiling and getting blinded by flashes forever, but watching a few patients take photos in front of the mural made up for it all. I sat down, staring up at it, practically amazed with it myself. Not really the painting, but with the oath on it. I felt like whoever read it would really believe in the love affair between art and science. Both were in each other, really.
“Is this seat taken?”
Looking toward him, I shrugged. “My boyfriend might beat you up.”
He snickered. “Your boyfriend does deserve to have his ass handed to him for pushing you away, and for yelling at you in the rain. It’s only romantic if the kiss comes afterward, right?”
He was trying to joke, but I could tell he didn’t find it funny.
“I’m sorry, I was just upset about—”
“I know,” I finished for him. “At first I was confused and upset, then I heard, and the first thing I wanted to know was if you were okay…well, that’s a lie. I wanted to know if Toby was okay, though I knew he wouldn’t be. But I was worried about you, too.”
He laughed, taking my hand, holding it in his and kissing the back of it. “I’ll be fine. Toby, he’s in pain. Will be for the rest of his life. I just need to remember there will be more Mollys, and to try harder to help them in the future.”
“In the future, will you tell me more?” I asked softly. “I know I can’t understand everything, but I would hate if you felt the need to give me a censored version of what your day is really like. You’ve never talked about your work in detail to me before.”
“I’ll try, but the reason I don't say much is because when I’m with you, I like that I forget about everything else.”
“Then do you have time to run away with me?” It sounded so cheesy saying it like that. From the look on his face, I could see he agreed.
“Run away with you?”
“That came out wrong. Actually, no. It came out right. My father had a heart attack a few weeks ago and didn’t tell me. So I want to go home, and was kind of hoping you would go with me…if you want.”
“When did you find out? About your father, I mean.”
“The same day Molly passed. A lot of things happened. If you don’t want to go, it’s fine. I just thought I would offer, but you have work—”
“I’ll go,” he said, squeezing my hand. “Let’s run away to Cypress.”
Chapter Twenty
Cypress, Alaska Welcomes You
Eli
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I was sure no one else could, either. She held on to the arm of the chair like a cat held on to a shower curtain, her eyes closed shut. The plane shook again and she bit her bottom lip, taking deep breaths.
“You don’t fly home often?”
“I drive.”
“You drive from New York to Alaska?” She had to be kidding me.
She nodded. “It’s not that bad. It takes about three, almost four days, and I stop to take pictures of scenery and whatnot.” The plane shook again, and she looked like she was going to cry.
I need to calm her down, I thought, placing my hand over hers. Only then did she open her eyes for the first time since we had taken off. She hadn’t been that bad on the first plane—the ride was so smooth she went to sleep—but since this was a much smaller one, she could now feel every bump through the clouds. “Why is your acrophobia this bad?” Talking often helped.