Page 4 of Dr. Brandt

She grew more serious. “We were both so young back then, Cam,” she stated. “We had a lot of crazy dreams and ideas about how our future together might look. It turns out that fate decided we should live those dreams separately.”

“You and your fate and always looking at the brighter side of things.”

She grinned again. I missed how Jessa smiled at everything. Even through tears, the woman found happiness. “I’m fairly confident that in your line of work, Dr. Brandt, you’re the same way now. Well, I hope so for your patients anyway.”

I softly chuckled. “If I weren’t, I’d have a lot of angry patients.”

“So, which medical specialty did you choose? I know you took the internship for pediatrics, and I heard through friends that you graduated med school, but that’s pretty much all I know.”

“The path I should’ve chosen was to stay with you.” I went for broke with that declaration.

“Answer the question, Casanova. Your charms aren’t going to work with me.” She smiled and then looked toward the ocean, more serious now. “Not now, anyway.” And in the way only my Jessa could do, she recovered her curious expression and smiled back at me. “So? Doctor of…” She left her question hanging in the air.

“Well, after busting my ass, I graduated and worked through fellowships, internships, and everything else that comes along with becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon.”

“Wow.” She stared at me in disbelief.

“You say that as though it’s a shocking reveal. I might’ve been a jerk, but I was always ridiculously smart, you know.”

I tried my best attempt at humor, but the truth was that I wanted Jessa in my arms right this instant. I wanted to move past this awkward reunion and beg for her to take me back. It wasn’t all about me, though. Sixteen years had passed, and what had happened to her in all that time?

“I’m not surprised that you managed to accomplish so much. You were definitely ridiculously smart, and sometimes you were just ridiculous.” She flashed that half-smile of hers that always made my heart skip. “So, tell me what it is you do. Brain surgery?”

“Close,” I answered. “I specialize in epilepsy and work with a pediatric brain and spinal surgery team. Do you remember how my sister passed away?”

“Of course, I do. She was born with a rare genetic epilepsy disorder. I remember you telling me that she passed in the night when she was five because she had a horrible seizure.” She shuddered at the thought briefly before recovering herself. “Wow. Your parents must be so proud of you for going into this line of work.”

“Yeah, of course.” My parents had been killed in a plane crash a few years ago. They were flying with some friends to a ski resort in the Italian Alps when their jet went down, and it was the most devastating time of my life. However, I decided to keep that info to myself because I hated talking about it and didn’t feel like bringing a storm cloud to rain on an otherwise lighthearted conversation. “Anyway, I wanted to pursue this career path since it is personal to me. And because neuroscience has exploded with breakthrough treatments, things are more promising than ever. I just want to help people so they don’t experience the same grief as my family.”

“Always thinking of others.” She leaned her chin against her palm. “I’m glad to see you haven’t changed much.”

“Speaking of change since you and I last saw each other,” I said, finding some bearings in this conversation, “what happened after I took off and left you to graduate college without me?”

“You might want to brace yourself for my exciting answer,” she chuckled.

“From the look on your adorable face,” I said when I saw her wide blue eyes dazzle, “I’m bracing for anything.”

“I dropped out of college soon after you left.” She held a finger up to stop me from blurting out my response.

Was it my fault? Did I fuck this up that bad?

“Jessa,” I reached for her hands, and strangely, she let me hold them, “I’m sorry.”

“Let me finish, dummy.” She chuckled and stared down at my hands as they held hers. “It wasn’t you; it was me.” I watched her intently as her eyes returned to mine. “I had a lot of things come up that…” She stopped herself and shrugged. “It was for the best that we broke things off. You stayed on an incredible career path, and let’s leave it at that.”

“Bullshit.” I became sterner, as if holding her soft hands brought me back to the days when I could call her out on anything as if she were still mine. “You had superior grades, and you wanted to be a dentist. What happened to make you drop out, aside from me leaving you in tears?”

“Life.” She shrugged again.

“No. I’m not buying that.”

“I have a son, Cam.” She looked at me, and my stomach dropped.

“Is it mine?”

She smiled at the way I croaked those words out.

“No. Rest easy, champ,” she advised me.

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