Page 95 of The Doctors Will See You Now

She laughed, easy and free, and three little words swelled up inside me until I couldn’t contain them anymore. “I love you, Mel.”

Her laughter cut off abruptly.

“I realize it was kind of ridiculous to tell you in a text message, but…” I shrugged. “It just popped out. I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks.”

“Will…”

“And I’ve been thinking. I don’t think we should tell people here.”

Her face shifted from happy to confused, her eyebrows pulling together. “But I thought…”

“I don’t want things to change. I don’t want things to be more difficult for you in the office—and they will—and I don’t want the shine of your ability to dull because of assumptions.”

“Assumptions?”

“You slept your way to the top assumptions.”

“Will—”

“I love you, Mel. But I’m also seriously impressed by you. You make my life easier when you’re not twenty minutes late…”

She rolled her eyes.

“And I’d miss you if you weren’t with me all the time.”

“We’re going to have to tell them one day.”

“I know.” I wanted to. I wanted to desperately. But for once, I was thinking about the consequences of my actions for someone other than me. “We will one day. I promise.”

“Okay,” she agreed with a nod.

I pulled her close and touched my lips to hers, wishing I could keep her there forever.

“But, Will?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“You should know I love you too.”

Like a vise, my arms constricted around her.

Forever.

The day had started out as a completely normal Saturday afternoon in New York.

I’d woken up to the fresh smell of coffee and Will’s naked butt in the kitchen. I’d given him a kiss after he’d handed me my mug. And after we’d had sex on the kitchen counter, I’d gotten showered, dressed, and taken a nice stroll with Georgia and Cassie toward Mirabelle’s auction house to bid on some items for the charity function I’d been planning for the practice.

I guess, in a sense, we’d be reauctioning the items I got today at the function, but since my auction was a silent one and for charity, I figured that couldn’t be as bad as regifting. Right?

All in all, the day had been off to a fantastic start.

Will’s sudden change of heart about telling the girls in the office about our relationship had taken me by surprise at first. It seemed like I’d done something or he’d developed some kind of doubts.

But when I’d left the haven of his office after exchanging I love yous, his reasoning made almost immediate sense.

Melissa had been doing the most work I’d ever seen her do in her life, but she’d also been ranting with an intensity I hadn’t even known was possible. About how Dr. Cummings was biased, treating some people in the office one way and others another. Saying how she’d really gotten a rotten deal and how he probably needed to get laid.

All in all, it hadn’t taken a whole lot of rational thinking to infer what she’d be like if she learned about our relationship that day. So, a delay had been warranted, and we hadn’t discussed it again. It’d been a week and a half.