Page 103 of Dr. Attending

“No, I don’t,” he counters before turning to me with a reassuring smile. “Because Caroline knows that I’m going to support her, no matter what. I don’t need her to help raise my son—I need her to follow her dreams. And I’ll be by her side, cheering her on every step of the way.”

Chapter 37

Weston

“Thanks for the assist tonight, little man,” I whisper against my son’s forehead. “Love you.”

The corners of his lips tilt up like he hears me, even though he’s already in a deep sleep. Today was just about as exhausting for him as it was for me, so I’m about to be right behind him on the way to Dreamland.

I brush the white-blond hair out of his eyes and step back from the crib, thinking about how incredible it was to see him take his first steps tonight. I imagined them happening at daycare without me. Or maybe in his playroom, with only me around. But the fact that they happened while he was surrounded by people who love him, made me more emotional than expected.

Being a single parent isn’t just challenging because you feel like you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. It’s challenging because you worry that you’ll do it alone forever. That you’ll be the only one who experiences the milestones with your kid, and you wonder if that will be enough for them.

Tonight, I realized that I don’t have to worry anymore. Because even though we fight occasionally, this group of friends has become so much more than friends—we’re family. A family that works through challenges, and comes out stronger on the other side. A family that’s held together by mutual love, respect, and experiences. A family that’s chosen every single day.

“That didn’t take long,” Caroline says, looking up from her phone as I close the door to my bedroom.

She’s wearing one of my button-down shirts, her damp hair creating nearly transparent spots on the white cotton as she sits beneath my gray duvet cover, looking cozier than ever.

I glance at the fireplace mantle to ensure the baby monitor is on before stepping out of my joggers.

“Told you,” I reply with a wink as I shed my long-sleeve compression shirt and toss it on the floor.

Caroline offered to help with bedtime, but I brushed her off because I knew it would be easy. Carter was so tired that the entire process took less than five minutes, including the diaper change. Plus, I wanted to give her a few moments to herself after the chaos of the evening.

“Do you want a prize or something?” She arches her brow at me in challenge.

I slip under the covers, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “Just a kiss.”

She turns her head, quirking her lips into a mischievous smile. “A kiss where?”

Her tone is teasing, but my cock still twitches in response. I let out a low chuckle, brushing my lips against her temple. “Don’t get any ideas, princess. I’m running on fumes.”

Caroline giggles and nestles her head against my chest. “I was going to say the lips. Get your mind out of the gutter, old man.”

“I felt old today,” I sigh, closing my eyes as I inhale the scent of my shampoo in her hair. “Well . . . at least compared to your brother.”

I love Parker, but holding my tongue when he reacted like that today was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I figured he might take issue with our relationship for a whole host of reasons—my friendship with him, my age difference with Caroline, even the fact that I have a son. But I never expected it to be about medicine.

It wasn’t just frustrating—it was hurtful. He looked at me, someone who’s been to hell and back with him, and decided I wasn’t good enough. That I wasn’t enough to support her, to love her, to be part of her life without pulling her off track. And maybe that’s what stung the most—that he couldn’t see how much she means to me, or how I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she thrives.

In addition to his ass-backward viewpoint that women can’t be successful doctors if they have families, everything Caroline said about his incessant career pressure finally made sense. He didn’t see her as his sister—he saw her as his protégé. Someone who was supposed to carry out his vision of success, not her own. And he thought that being with me meant she might not achieve the goals he had in mind for her.

All I could think about in that moment was how I wanted to take him outside and shake him. To give him a healthy dose of perspective and show him that there’s more to life than medicine. To teach him that a job isn’t the same as a life.

But that’s the thing about perspective . . . you can’t force it on someone. You have to wait until they experience it for themselves. And for all our sakes, I hope that Parker eventually does.

Caroline gently elbows me, drawing me out of my head.

“Careful there,” I say, opening my eyes to see what she’s doing.

Her phone is in her hand, and the notes application is open on the screen as she types and deletes several phrases. From this angle, I can make out the last one:Getting into bed at the end of a long day.

I squeeze her arm to get her attention. “What’s that? A schedule?”

Caroline glances up at me, her lips quirking into a subtle smile. “No. It’s just this thing I do.”

“Care to enlighten me?”

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