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“That was three years ago, Emma—”

“I agreed to a three-month stay in a luxury trailer home in a luxury trailer park in Utah with allllll the amenities—”

“Emma—”

“And when we got there, it was a two-thousand-year-old camper with no working AC, mice, a drained pool, and a creepy laundry room. No long-term rentals in sight because it was peak tourist season, so we were trapped in the RV from Breaking Bad for three months—”

“I found us a different place and you didn’t want it!”

“Really? The spare bedroom from the drunk guy you met in the ER who kept telling me I’d be prettier if I smiled more? That guy?”

She looked away from me. “I can’t believe you’re bringing this up,” she muttered.

I stood and walked slowly toward her, knowing I had her. “All I’m asking is to put off Hawaii for six more weeks. We get to stay in a gorgeous cottage on a lake, we have a boat for the summer, we get to cross Royaume off the bucket list. Yes, I realize Med Surg is less than ideal, but we’ll be working with some of the best surgeons in the world. And then I get to try this thing with this Justin guy—it’ll be an adventure.”

She didn’t reply.

“You can pick where we go for the following six months. You get two turns back-to-back.”

Her eyes slid to mine. “Can I pick the same place the whole time?”

This caught me by surprise. “We never stay at the same place for six months,” I said.

“Yeah, well we also never chose from a state not on our top twenty-five and we never skip turns.”

My heart started to pound. I don’t know why the thought of not moving made me feel slightly panicky. Maybe it was just the change in routine? We always moved on once a contract was up.

But I wanted this. It sounded fun. And if we waited until after Hawaii, we’d get to Minnesota when it started to get cold, and no way was I doing Minnesota in the winter no matter how cool Justin made it sound.

“Fine,” I said. “We can stay someplace for six months. Wherever you want.”

She drew in a deep breath and let it out before looking reluctantly at me. “Fine,” she mumbled. “We’ll go to Minnesota.”

I started bouncing all over the living room.

She jabbed a finger at me. “But you’re not allowed to bring up the trailer. Ever again. We are even. And you’re buying me cupcakes when we get there or the deal’s off.”

I bounced back to her and hugged her.

She shook her head. “Med Surg and no Hawaii, just so you can break up with some guy.”

“We’ve done stranger things.”

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, we have.”

I didn’t tell Justin about Minnesota. I wanted to surprise him. We talked and texted on and off for the next week and a half until Maddy and I packed up to make the two-day drive to our new state.

Our contact for the cottage was a woman named Maria. She worked for the owner, who had a full-time residence on the mainland of the lake. We’d be parking our car in his driveway and using his dock to come and go to our cottage.

When we pulled up to this house, five minutes early, we sat in our car and stared. It was huge. A mansion.

“What the hell does this guy do?” Maddy asked, shaking her head.

“I don’t know,” I breathed.

She looked at me. “How’d you find this place again?”

“The agency. The lady seemed like she knew someone. I think it was luck.”