Noah steps up beside me and slips an arm around my waist, tugging me into his side. “Are you good?”
I look up and smile. “Perfect.”
I know enough about life to understand that things won’t always feel perfect. But there is a sense of certainty right behind my ribs that’s growing stronger by the minute. With Noah by my side, life won’t need to be perfect—we’ll just need to be together.
Weathering the storms. Enduring the sorrows so we can better appreciate the joy.
“I wish I’d gotten you something for Christmas,” I say.
Noah leans down and presses a lingering kiss to my lips. “I already have exactly what I want.”
Epilogue
“The new nursesare talking about your man again,” Maren says as she steps behind the desk at the PICU nurses’ station.
“You saynew nurseslike I am not also a new nurse,” I say as I work my way through my charting.
“You’ve been here six months,” Maren says. “You aren’t new. At least not as new as they are.” She drops into a chair next to me and reaches for her iPad.
Maren is my closest friend at Northvale General and has been since my first day. She’s funny and chill and easy to work with and was hugely instrumental in helping me learn the ropes, so she has my undying loyalty just for that. But she is possibly a tiny bit obsessed with relationship drama. Hers. The other nurses on the floor. Mine—even when I really don’t have any.
“Let them talk,” I say. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
She huffs. “It doesn’t annoy you even a little bit? That they’re brainstorming reasons to sneak down to the ER to catch glimpses of Dr. McHottyPants?”
“Is that really what they call him?” I say, feeling more amused than annoyed. It’s not like they actually stand a chance with the man. I’m the one wearing his engagement ring. Well, not currently. It’s a hazard at work, so I leave it at homewhenever I’m at the hospital. But I know it’s mine. I knowhe’smine. I can’t fault them for finding him handsome.
“It’s exactly what they call him,” Maren says. “And I really, really think you should let them know to keep their eyes to themselves.”
“I can’t stop them from looking, Mare.”
She rolls her eyes. “Trust me. If you had heard the kinds of things they were saying, you would feel differently.”
I close out my last patient’s chart and stand, pressing my hands into the small of my back to stretch. “I think you just like drama.”
“Or maybe I just want you to rub it in their faces a little that he’s yours.”
“Like I said,” I repeat. “You just like drama.”
“And you love me for it!” she calls as I head down the hall.
I’ve got a ten-year-old patient named Lily who will hopefully be moving to the stepdown unit today, which is a big deal. She was Noah’s patient first, after she came into the ER critically injured in a car accident, and things were pretty touch and go for a while. Even though Noah is no longer overseeing her care, he’ll be excited to hear about her progress.
I glance at my watch, wondering if I’ll be able to run downstairs to see him during my next break. Before I can look back up, an arm is around my waist, and suddenly I’m in a supply closet, my fiancé’s arms holding me against his chest.
“Where did you come from?”
He leans down and kisses me long and hard. We’ve been working opposite shifts lately, so we haven’t seen much of each other. “I missed you,” Noah says, pulling me close enough to press a kiss against the curve of my neck. “This weekend can’t get here fast enough.”
I sigh and lean closer, tilting my head to give Noah better access to more of my skin. As soon as my shift ends on Friday,we’re driving over to Silver Creek to spend the weekend at Stonebrook and finally try Lennox’s restaurant. I’m excited to see the farm in the summertime and visit the goats, but mostly I’m just excited to have thirty-six uninterrupted hours with Noah.
“Hey, Lily is moving into the stepdown unit today,” I say, and Noah lifts his head.
“That’s great news.”
“Yeah. I thought you’d think so.” I lift my hands and wrap them around each of his biceps, pressing up on my toes to kiss him one more time. “It’s nice to see you in the middle of the day like this, but it’s dangerous having you on my floor.”
“Yeah? Why is that?”
