Page 34 of Taught By the Doctor
Zoey looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowing. She stepped up to the door and turned to face him. “I shouldn’t wait too long,” she said in a disapproving tone. “It won’t look good on my resume if I do.”
Evan shrugged. “Even if you wait a couple of years, you’ll always have a job if you work with me.”
Zoey rolled her eyes. “Oh, I don’t doubt that,” she said. She looked up at him with playful eyes then. “I’ve heard office romances never last.”
Evan rolled his eyes, mimicking her. “We’ve already worked together,” he reminded her. He stepped up so there were mere inches between them and caressed the side of her face, enjoying the way it made her cheeks color. “It’s way too late for me anyway. I don’t want you to work anywhere else, but with me. Besides, we’ve been needing more nurses for a little while now.”
Zoey shook her head, shaking away the dreamy fog that had settled in her brain. “We were barely dating when I was still there,” she pointed out, but deep down, she knew she didn’t want to work anywhere else either. She wasn’t going to admit that at the moment though. She wanted to look around first for other possible places she could work. It felt only natural to find a new workplace. She was no longer a nurse’s aide; she was going to be a registered nurse.
Evan bent to kiss her forehead. “We’ll talk about it later,” he murmured against her skin. Then he reached around her to open the front door. “Today is just for celebrating.”
Zoey had turned to look up at him with love overflowing from her eyes. “So, what would you like to do?” she asked shyly. She turned to face the inside of the house and was met with a room full of people. When she met their excited gazes they began to cheer and shout, many of them jumping up and down.
Zoey could barely make out the cheers of “Congratulations, Zoey!” and “We’re so proud of you” as she stood in the doorway, frozen in shock. It took her a moment to realize that they were people that she knew. Many were co-workers of Evan’s from the rehab center, the ones that Zoey knew personally from her time working there. A few of her classmates were there as well. How had they gotten to the house before them? ‘Congratulations, Nurse Zoey’ was written on alarge white banner that hung from the ceiling. There were balloons and streamers, and sitting on a nearby table were brightly colored presents. Before she could say anything, several of her friends came up and hugged her.
“Surprise,” Evan murmured, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her cheek.
“You planned me a surprise party,” Zoey said in shock.
Evan chuckled. “Yes, I did,” he said.
Zoey’s eyes filled with tears as she took in the brightly colored decorations and the smiling faces of her friends. “Thank you,” she said, her voice cracking.
The party was a blur, but also the best day of Zoey’s life. It was strange to see their large, but normally quiet and intimate home brought to boisterous life with party music and people dancing and chatting loudly. Zoey was shy by nature and unused to being the center of attention, but she found herself not wanting the night to end.
“Congratulations, Zoey!” her classmate Kasey called as she and their other classmate, Madelyn, approached.
“To you too!” Zoey said after swallowing a mouthful of cake.
The three girls hugged one another, despite having done plenty of that just hours earlier after the graduation ceremony.
Zoey’s eyes watered. She hadn’t known Kasey and Madelyn that well just a year earlier. She had subconsciously avoided them after they had convinced her to skip class last year, but the three had found themselves together again. They had bonded over anxieties associated with the future and their life goals. They had been inseparable during their final yearof nursing school, getting together several times a week to study or just unwind after a long day of classes.
Zoey snuck a glance at Evan, who was across the room chatting with a few of his co-workers. He knew very well that inviting the two girls would make her extra happy. She wondered briefly how he was able to contact them about the party. He didn’t have their numbers or emails. She gazed at him with love, her gratefulness toward him suddenly overwhelming. Feeling her gaze, Evan turned his head and winked at her.
“Let’s clean up the decorations tomorrow, Zoey. It’s late,” Evan said.
It was just after midnight and the last of the party guests had just left. Zoey was exhausted from the big day, but giddy as well. She wasn’t ready to go to bed just yet, so she decided that cleaning up from the party would be the best way to get the rest of her energy out.
She pouted up at him. “I don’t want to sleep yet though.”
“We got the trash all thrown away,” Evan told her gently, taking her hands so that she was forced to drop the armful of balloons she was holding. He brought her hands up to his face, kissing each of her knuckles before kissing her on the lips. “Let’s leave the rest for now.”
Zoey looked up at him, detecting something odd in his voice. She smiled at him flirtatiously. “Hmm, can you think of a better use of our time?” she asked mischievously, moving a hand to the front of his black pants.
Evan took her hands again and lowered them, confusing her. “Yes, I can think of something better.”
Zoey couldn’t think of what could possibly be better than having sex at the moment, but she sighed contentedly when Evan wrapped his arms around her and began to rock them back and forth in a gentle dance.
“Are you very happy here with me, Zoey?” he asked, his lips falling to the top of her hair.
Zoey shut her eyes and pressed her cheek against his chest as they danced to their own music, to the gentle beating of their hearts and the soft taps from their feet against the hardwood floor. “Of course I am,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right now.”
His arms tightened around her and then he pulled away so he could look down at her. “I feel the same way,” he said. And then he stepped away.
Zoey’s heart flew up into her throat when Evan got down on one knee in front of her. His eyes sparkled as he pulled out a little black velvet box from seemingly out of nowhere.
“You know I love you, Zoey,” Evan said, his voice shaking the slightest bit with emotion. “I told you before that I thought I had found meaning with my career as a doctor, but you’ve taught me there is so much more to life than a career. You’ve brought so much meaning into my life just by being you. Will you marry me?”
