Page 358 of The Doctors Will See You Now

I laughed and squeezed her hips, scrunching my nose. “I don’t think that’ll help you actually treat patients. And since you want to treat kids—”

“And kids are your weakness,” she finished for me with a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, I get it. You don’t want my incompetence to kill them. It’s really selfish of you, but I guess I understand.”

My phone buzzed on my ass and made me jump.

It took some work to shift Harlow enough to get to my back pocket to retrieve it, but somehow, I managed—not that Harlow helped at all.

She laughed when she got a look at my exasperated face. “What? I’m more important than your phone.”

She had no idea how right she was. Lips to hers, I parted the seam with my tongue and showed her.

Our breathing was noticeably heavier when we broke apart—at least at the mouth. Our bodies were still a tangle of limbs.

“You’re the most important. This phone call could be the President of the United States for all I care.”

Of course, it was more likely that the call was actually from my mother. A week we’d been gone, and she already thought living on opposite coasts was the worst thing ever to happen to her and called me at least once a day to remind me.

Harlow’s face softened into a thoughtful frown. “Are you going to miss New York?”

I lifted my hand to her jaw, stroking the apple of her cheek with my thumb, and shrugged. “I don’t know, doll. But I’m fine as long as I don’t have to miss you.”

She sighed. “I love you, Scott.”

“Frances,” I started, causing a playful frown. I wiped it away with my thumb. “You have no idea.”

One year later…

“I promise to love and honor you in all the ways that count,” she recited from the small, worn piece of paper in her hands.

Her vows. I’d watched her rub them nervously all morning, so much so that the paper felt soft to the touch. I could tell by the way she rubbed at it to steady all of her shaking nerves.

It was a big day.

Maybe the biggest. And I’d been expecting it since that first night at Kinky Boots.

Flowers dotted every flat surface of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, and the colorful light filtering through the stained-glass windows made the whole room feel like magic.

“I’ll do my best to give you the space you need when you need it, and fill that very void the rest of the time.

“I know I’m crazy and impetuous—”

I bit my lip to contain my laugh at her truth in reporting and got a stern look from the green-eyed goddess across the aisle. Apparently, this wasn’t the time to goof off.

“But you know just how to handle it. Thank you for loving me for who I am at the same time as making me want to be a better person. Most people don’t have it in themselves to watch calmly from the sidelines as I do ridiculous things.”

No longer able to contain my laughter, I drew the attention of everyone in the church, including one particularly unhappy bride.

My mother.

“Scott!”

“Sorry, Mom,” I apologized quietly. “Continue.” Harlow’s smirk warmed me from her spot across the aisle as “best man” to her father.

We’d flown in three days ago for the start of the wedding festivities for Bill and Nicole soon-to-be Paige, and there hadn’t even been one solid hour that passed without someone making a joke about Harlow and my new relation—stepsiblings, as it were.

Harlow’s dark red lips moved silently. “You’re naughty,” I could have sworn she mouthed.

I winked, mouthing the word “Later” back at her.