Page 18 of The Exception

She glanced at his profile, his jaw tight and his eyes burning a hole into the spot where his dad had been standing.

“Excuse me?”

“He never went to a parent teacher conference in his life, so I know he wasn’t here to check up on me. He probably spent the last ten minutes telling you what a screw up I am, and if you’re feeling sorry for me, don’t.”

She moved to stand in front of him, breaking whatever trance he was in, and his eyes flicked to meet hers. “First of all, I’m not going to go easy on you because no one ever went easy on me and therefore I don’t know any other way to go.”

“I—”

She held up a hand to cut him off. “Second, I know your father was here to manipulate me into giving you a glowing review, but if you want to pass this rotation you’re going to have to work for it. If you can’t keep up, I will have no problem making that clear on your eval no matter who your daddy is. Are we clear?”

“Crystalline.”

“Good.” They stared at each other for a moment, Sonya waiting for that cocky smile of his to return. When it didn’t, empathy crept in behind the hard look she was trying to maintain. “So are you going to take him up on that dinner?”

Trav blinked, clearly shocked at the concern she’d let slip. “Uh, I don’t think I have much of a choice.”

She nodded. She had a family meal of her own this weekend that she was dreading. Not for the same reasons, but he’d happened to catch her in a moment where she understood what that was like.

In a move that surprised both of them, she found herself reaching for his shoulder, giving it a friendly squeeze. “Good luck, soldier.”

“Thanks.”

She cleared her throat, dropping her hand back to her side. “Now that we’re on the same page, I need to go check in with Nurse Chen. I’ll meet you at the nurse’s station in five minutes.”

She walked back toward Abi’s office. Giving up her role as Trav’s preceptor wasn’t an option anymore. He would just end up assigned to someone who would cave to an offer like the one his father had just made, and she couldn’t let that happen. She’d meant what she’d said; he was going to have to earn a passing grade and the only way to ensure that happened was by keeping him as her precept.

As she stepped into Abi’s office to sell her a story about coming in early just to check in, she prayed she didn’t come to regret that decision.

Ten

The new Mrs. Dr. Jack Travis certainly liked to talk. Trav could count on one hand the number of times she’d taken a breath in the hour since he arrived at his dad’s house in North Arlington. He was fine with it, though. If Shelly’s endless prattling stopped his dad from criticizing everything about his life, he could endure it all night long.

“How’s the new place,” she asked.

“It’s good. Empty but I’m working on it. I’m still sleeping on an air mattress my buddy left me.”

Shelly laughed but Jack shook his head and sipped from his rocks glass. “Surely, you have enough money packed away to buy some furniture. You’re not living communally any longer. Buy a damn bed.”

Trav had definitely noticed the difference between living with a bunch of guys and the solitary existence he was living now. After the glow of having space and a private bathroom wore off, he wasn’t so sure he was made for it.

“Yeah. Okay, Dad,” he said, restraining any further arguing.

Shelly glanced nervously between them. “You must be glad to be home, though. Right Ben?”

He knew she meant home in the general sense, but he couldn’t help but look around the dining room of the house where he’d grown up but not set foot in since he was eighteen years old. It wasn’t like he remembered it, but that was to be expected. Every Mrs. Travis put her own stamp on the house, so gone was Marielle’s cozy comfort, replaced by something out of Real Housewives.

Embarrassed that thanks to Tif he was even able to make that connection, he tried to focus on Shelly.

“I am, and please call me Trav.”

His father’s annoyed sigh reached them from the other end of the table. “Don’t indulge him, dear. His name is Benjamin but he insists on being called by that ridiculous nickname.”

Ignoring his dad, he said, “In the army, everybody goes by their last name. I guess I just got used to it.”

Shelly patted his arm and smiled as wide as the Botox would allow. “When your father told me you were off fighting for our country, I was just as proud of you as if you were my own son.”

“Thanks, Shelly. That’s sweet of you to say.” She seemed like a nice lady and he wondered what, if anything, she saw in his dad other than his money.

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