Page 14 of Embrace
I was still processing her reason for leaving the program. She’d said that she was only a surgeon to please her parents so many times I couldn’t count. I’d never taken her seriously because she was one of the best in our program. Not only that, but I could never connect to her circumstances. I’d never had parents tell me I couldn’t do this or that, parents who thought I belonged to them and not myself. The dark circles under Zara’s eyes were gone. The dusty-rose red was in her cheeks. Her appearance was healthy, almost angelic. From the outside, leaving the program seemed to have done her some good.
However, I just had one more thing to say. “But how did you stick around so long? Usually, those who are in it to parent-please, they fuck up early and often. You never did that.”
She shuffled through photos. “Because I take pride in everything I do,” she said matter-of-factly as she stopped on a photo of a woman wearing a long silver gown and hunching her shoulders. The picture looked as if it had come out of the pages of a fashion magazine.
I was about to ask why she was showing it to me when she said, “I’m the photographer. I’ve been hired byFashion F Mag. They’re one of the hugest publications in the business. Not only that, but they’ve started dabbling in e-commerce as well, which means they’re going to be around for a while.”
Her eyes danced excitedly as she spoke about how she was able to split her time between New Orleans and New York.
“How the hell did this happen? I thought you were interested in politics,” I said.
Finally, Zara rolled her eyes and rubbed my back. “Pen, it’s all right. I’m going to be fine.”
I pressed my lips together, wondering why she’d said that. Perhaps I was more perturbed by her life decisions than necessary. It wasn’t healthy on my part.
“You can’t control the things in your life that you love, Pen, and that includes me. I’m happy you’re upset, because again, that means you love me like a sister. And I love you that way too. Seven years, we’ve been each other’s family. You know, the kind we pick, not the sort we’re stuck with.” She shook her head. “Can’t you see that you’re the reason I stayed? You’re my family.”
My sinuses became tight as Zara and I stared at each other. Suddenly, I realized why I was taking her leaving so hard. We had spent more time together in the past seven years than I had with anyone in my life. It hadn’t felt as if we were two peas in a pod until that very moment. Since day one as interns, she and I had melded. We’d assisted each other in every assignment, examination, and surgery, and had sometimes forsaken sleep for twenty-four hours, trying to figure out how to irrigate a difficult brain bleed without damaging surrounding nerves. Then we had lunch or dinner, and Zara talked about anything but what was going on inside the hospital. Unlike me. She kept me connected with the world beyond the confines of our daily routine.
“Okay,” I said lowly because my throat was too tight.
“Things changed career-wise for us, Kit Kat. But we’re always going to be in each other’s lives.”
I grimaced. “I hope so.”
She put an arm around me, then we leaned our heads against each other.
“I know so,” she said.
Right on cue, Kirk stopped the car along the curb of a large house not far away from the mansion where the masquerade party had taken place.
“How the fuck can she afford this house?” I asked, marveling at the sheer size and scope of it. It was a white stone mansion with large trimmed trees. The landscaping alone had to cost an arm and leg.
“Oh, you didn’t know,” Zara said.
She had my complete attention, and I was pretty sure it showed in my expression. “Courtney’s been married twice to two very rich guys. I don’t know what they did for a living, but the first husband bought her the house. And when she married the second husband, the alimony stopped from the first husband, but the second was richer than the first. The second guy supposedly cheated on her with another guy, but he gave her whatever she asked for so that she wouldn’t out him. But the fact that I’m telling you this story means that at some point, Courtney wagged her tongue. Because no one would ever have known the guy was gay unless Courtney told.”
I belly laughed so hard that my cheeks ached. Even Kirk chuckled.
“Are you beautiful ladies ready to exit?” Kirk asked.
“Yes, but we can…”
Before I could finish, he was out and opening the door for us. I was about to tell him we could’ve done it ourselves.
For a moment, I caught the steady eye contact between Zara and Kirk before she looked off bashfully. Regardless, I asked him if he would be picking up Jake later, and he said he would be.
Before Zara and I started up the pathway, which was lit with bulbous lanterns that were staked into the grass, she waved goodbye to him, and he waved back.
“What’s going on between you and Kirk?” I asked as we walked with our arms linked.
“Nothing,” she said as though she were a kid caught with her hand in the candy jar.
“I’m not blind, Zara. I can clearly see the two of you flirting. Is it the fact that he’s a driver?” I asked.
“Pshaw,” she said, jerking her head back. “I’m not a snob. You know that.”
About six people were hanging out on the large porch, very interested in our approach.
