Page 146 of Doctorshipped
“I can’t believe you all know, and I have to sit here not running in to let him off the hook already.”
Shannon is quiet for a moment. Then she says, “What’s the thing in life you’ve had to work the hardest for?”
“My degree? Maybe. No. It’s my writing. I’ve had to patch together a life just to support my ability to write stories. I’ve even had to start a ridiculous social media presence. And I’ve had to overcome doubts and fears to keep writing when I didn’t know if I could produce another string of engaging words to save my life.”
“Right?”
“What are you getting at?”
“We treasure the things we work hard for. And we work hard for the things we treasure. I’m not saying Grant should have to crawl across glass, though if you’d have asked me a month ago, I’d have been out there smashing bottles to pave the way for him. I’m saying, let him work for it. He’ll never take for granted the need to be open with you again. And also, he’s got this whole thing planned. Trust me. You don’t want to spoil it.”
“How am I supposed to sleep tonight?”
“Maybe you don’t,” she says. “Sleep is so overrated.”
I’m smiling so big it almost hurts. Grant. He did this. He fixed what he broke. I don’t even care what the surprise is at this point. He’s proven himself to me—more than proven himself.
“He’s so far out of his comfort zone, I barely recognize him,” I say softly, thinking of all the notes, the way he had to get people to help him—especially that.
“I know!” Shannon screams. “It’s almost comical to watch him squirm while he does all this romantic stuff for you. It speaks volumes. And you deserve every drop of it.”
“You know what?”
“What?”
“I think I finally really believe I do.”
44
GRANT
I’m relatively certain I’ve officially lost my mind.
Looking around at the crowd gathered here, I have all the evidence I need to prove, sane or not, I’m not the man I was a few months ago when we moved to Bordeaux.
That man kept his past a secret from the woman he loved, and from a community who surprisingly pulls together for their own.
That man never wanted friendship, let alone a romance.
That man saw medicine as a duty to be provided, and people as a nuisance to be tolerated.
That man would not be standing in a field, wearing a vampire costume, surrounded by a town full of people dressed up as vampires, aliens, wolves, cyborgs, and zombies.
But, here I am.
All for her.
No words can adequately describe this scene. Elderly women are dressed in homemade capes or wrapped as mummies. Trust me, whatever you’re imagining, it’s worse. Far worse. Some of them seem to have used remnant fabric to make their capes. I’ve seen gingham capes, capes with pancake stack images, and camouflage capes among the assortment.
Younger children run around saying things like, “I vant to suck your blahhhhd!” and making monster moans and noises like, “Rahaahgghh.”
Cooter’s dressed as Frankenstein. I don’t want to know what he used to turn his skin green, because I’m pretty sure I’m going to be seeing him later this week when he has an allergic reaction to it.
Mabel has a Bride of Frankenstein outfit on and she’s clinging to Walt Satterson so, in her words, “Cooter doesn’t get any wild ideas that we’re a match.”
Memaw apparently went online and ordered vampire teeth in bulk, and she’s handing them out to anyone who wants a pair when they pull in to park their cars and trucks.
Ghoulish treats line tables someone set up on a packed down dirt portion of the property just off to the side of the area where cars and trucks line the dirt driveway leading onto this land. I never knew there could be so many uses for Jell-O.
