Page 14 of Anatomy of a Meet Cute
Sam watched Grant slide into a sleek luxury SUV while Duke reached across to unlock the passenger-side door. Sliding into the car seat, she looked over at Duke as she buckled her seat belt and caught him grinning at her.
“What?” she asked, trying to tighten the overused belt strap. Duke continued to smirk, raised an eyebrow, and said nothing, so Sam made a face at him.
“I don’t think he got the message about your petty revenge.” Duke chuckled as he began easing out of the parking lot.
“I mean, I caused him to concuss someone, so I think he knows I’m not a fan,” Sam said, tilting her head against the headrest as much in exasperation as in exhaustion.
“You sure about that?” Duke said, nodding his head toward her window and lifting his steering wheel hand in a classic driver’s salute. Sam looked over in time to catch Grant waving at them with a big goofy gesture. “Like I said, I’m not sure he got your message.”
Holding her posture ramrod straight, she looked back at Duke. “That was just unfortunate timing. He hasn’t had a moment to reflect on how I destroyed his midrange game. It’ll hit him later tonight. The grief will probably wake him up.”
“I’ll let you keep believing that,” Duke said, still grinning as he turned left out of the parking lot.
Chapter Four
“I promise. It’ll be like ten minutes max,” Duke said as he unlocked the front door.
“I’ve lived with you for two months. You’ve never taken a ten-minute shower in your life.” Sam chuckled, following him in. By the time they reached the house, Duke and Sam had broken down their entire day at the hospital, laughed at Raphael’s lucky game socks, and rock-paper-scissors battled for the shower. Sam lost. And now it would be a good forty-five minutes before she could get near the shower. Probably longer if Duke used up all the hot water.
“You always act like I’m—” He stopped short just a few feet into the hallway. “Hey, Jehan, what’s going on?”
Duke sounded like someone trying to talk a child into handing them a kitchen knife instead of running over and sticking it in an electrical socket. Peeking around him, Sam saw why. Jehan had situated herself on the couch, face splotchy with tears, surrounded by bits and pieces from magazines, a few legal documents, and a laptop and tablet, both of which were open to Pinterest.
“I’m just a little overwhelmed. Trav doesn’t really get the engagement party thing, so I’m trying to move fast, but now my mom and my aunts have opinions ...” Jehan’s lip quivered as she forced a shuddering breath into her lungs. “It’s a lot to handle.”
“It’s okay. We’ll get through this,” Sam said as Jehan picked up a magazine and halfheartedly stacked it on top of another. Sam pointed to a semicleared spot on the floor next to her. “Can I sit down?”
“Of course. I didn’t expect you all to be home for another twenty minutes. I thought I had time to clean up.” She sniffed, grabbing another fistful of papers and shuffling them around.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll help.” Sam caught Duke’s eye. He shrugged at Jehan and shook his head as she continued to rearrange papers, oblivious to the both of them. Sam widened her eyes and jerked her head at him to come sit down. He shook his head again, right as Jehan looked up.
Stopping midmotion, Duke tried to turn his vigorous headshake into some sort of sniffing gesture, then said, “I really smell after that game. Let me hit up the shower, and then we can all”—he pointed vaguely in the direction of Jehan’s piles and shrugged—“organize things.”
“Thanks,” Jehan hiccuped, looking back down at the piles around her and missing the pointed look he gave Sam before disappearing in the direction of the shower.
“So what happened?” Sam asked, gingerly peering at her friend.
“I started talking to my mom about the party, and it exploded.”
“Exploded how?” Sam asked, then immediately wished she hadn’t.
Great soggy tears started rolling down Jehan’s face as she pointed to the magazines. “My mother started sending me all this. Then she told my aunts, who got involved. Now there are multiple Pinterest boards, and everyone has expectations, but no one is helping.”
“Okay, so we want to work on managing expectations. After all, it’s just a small party—”
“Not anymore.” Jehan’s voice wobbled as she dropped her head into her hands. “My mom is insisting I invite everyone from my parents’ social circle. She wants half her office here.”
“It’s okay. We can get through this,” Sam said, pulling Jehan’s hands away from her face so she could look her in the eye.
“Mom wants a proper wedding; Travis wants a fast wedding in DC. I just want to practice medicine and be left alone,” Jehan continued as if she hadn’t heard anything Sam had said.
“I’m here. Duke’s here. You don’t have to do this by yourself.” The sentiment that Jehan just wanted to be alone during what should be a happy time struck Sam as odd, but she decided to poke at it later. Right now, she needed to calm her friend down, not help her spin out faster.
“This whole fellowship thing is so much harder than they told us it would be.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Sam laughed. “Honestly, how long was your last shift?”
“Sixteen hours. The doctor taking over for me was late and—”
