The embittered laugh that follows my question raises the hairs on my neck.
“It’s nothing.” He sighs and drinks his coffee. “I thought there might have been something between us. Clearly, I was wrong.”
My mind stumbles over that piece of information. “Wait. What?”
He waves a dismissive hand. “Just wishful thinking on my part.”
The door opens to let in a horde of family medicine residents.
I lean closer to him. “Asher, I thought you were teasing me. I had no idea you were serious.”
“Doesn’t matter, does it?” He sends me a shrewd stare. “You were into someone else.”
No longer hungry, I stare at my uneaten food. “I guess.”
“Hey. No hard feelings. I’m off to Houston in a few months, anyway.”
I try to smile. He does the same.
“Still friends?” I ask.
“Always, Gracey-kins.”
The door opens again, and Dr. Levine wanders in. He nods at Asher and grabs some food before heading our way. “I guess you guys heard the news?”
He settles into his food while Asher and I trade glances. Asher sets his cup on the table. “Heard what?” he asks.
“Alesha married Steve Langston last Sunday,” Levine says, chuckling. “Crazy, right?”
My body stills.
Asher laughs. “What? You punking us?”
Levine shakes his head. “Saw the pictures myself.”
“That—” I let out an awkward laugh. “That can’t be right.”
Levine takes a bite of food. “Guess they’ve been together a while. Since before she was an intern. She’s the one who had a relationship with someone in GME.”
A flash of heat precedes an entire ocean of ice water spilling over my body. Asher’s stare pierces me, but I’m frozen. Not even my chest will move to let in air.
Levine laughs and matches my gaze. “And to think I thought it was you this whole time.”
He shrugs. He just…shrugs. Like none of it matters.
“Grace, you okay?” Asher touches my shoulder.
I nod and force my breathing to a normal rate. My shaking hands drop beneath the table, and I stuff them under my legs.
Alesha?
It was Alesha?
Asher faces Levine. “So, Alesha was given a spot because she was in a relationship with him?”
Levine turns from his food. “Oh. No. Langston wasn’t involved in resident selection that year. He stepped back. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Now it makes sense, though.” He takes a bite of potatoes. “Alesha got in fair and square.”
So did I.