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"What?" Michael said, his voice sounding shocked. "What happened? Why?"
"Kate came back and surprised me and she wants us to stay. So," Drake said, smiling at me, a finger touching my bottom lip. "Can I have my job back?"
"Are you kidding me? Of course you can!" Michael said, relief evident in his voice. "I was dreading having to take over your classes. The students would be so disappointed to have an old geezer like me for their instructor instead of you. But Wangai will want to keep the locum. You won't have any OR time unless you want to help me out. I'm sure we can find plenty for you to do."
They spoke for a while about logistics and when they were finished, Drake took my hand and pull me to the house.
“Wait here,” he said. I stood on the front step and waited, wondering what he was going to do. In a moment, he appeared with Sam and closed the door behind him.
He came to my side and slipped his arm around my waist.
“Sam, Kate told me what you said to her. I want you to understand that Kate is perfect for me. I’m in love with her and she is with me. We’re getting married. We’re very happy.”
Sam stood there, her face getting redder and redder by the second.
She turned back to the door without a word and went inside. Drake turned to me and shrugged.
“She had to hear it.”
Then Sam came back outside, her bag in her hand and stomped down the sidewalk to her car.
When she drove off, Drake turned to me and exhaled heavily. "I can relax," he said, grinning. "Now that there's no fear you two will get into a catfight, although I must confess there's a little part of me that would have enjoyed it."
I laughed and slipped my arms around his waist.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Drake said, nuzzling my neck. “I hope once you’re wearing my ring that people will stop trying to meddle in our lives.”
“Me took.” I kissed him. “Thank you for confronting her. I don’t want any more uncomfortable moments like that. I don’t think I could survive another one.”
He smiled and led me inside to make the announcement that we were staying. The remaining students whooped out loud when they heard, then clapped, obviously happy that Drake was staying.
"I'll order pizza," he said to them. "Do they even make pizza in Nairobi?"
The students laughed and what had started as an afternoon to help Drake pack up our home's contents turned into a party of sorts, to unpack the contents again and celebrate Drake's change in plans. The students didn't even seem to mind, especially once Drake brought out the beer from the fridge.
After the students left, Drake and I were alone in the middle of the living room, breaking down the boxes the moving company had provided. The beer and pizza had been consumed, and all that was left was a bottle of Anisovaya that Drake had special ordered from a liquor store in Nairobi. I sat on the couch beside him, nestled against his body, and we toasted each other before shooting back the vodka, the sweet taste of anise so familiar and bringing back so many good memories.
"I had an interesting experience when I got back to the city," Drake said, his voice sounding conspiratorial. "I happened upon Claire and Sam having lunch together. Claire was Den Mother to the residents at the hospital, but I didn’t realize she and Sam were especially close. One of the OR nurses and I got to talking about office politics. Seems Claire and Sam became pretty good friends when Sam was here before. Apparently, Claire wanted Sam and me to get together and wasn't happy when we broke up. In fact, Claire said something to Sam even before she got back from the safari. Sam seemed to think you and I would break up."
"I knew it," I said, a shock going through me. "I mean, I didn't know it, but I felt something was off with Claire."
Drake nodded. "She called me and left a message on voicemail wondering if I had received her text about you and Sefton. I texted her back saying that I had, that I had spoken with you and cleared everything up. It was all a misunderstanding. She never responded."
"Do you suppose Sam told Claire about your lifestyle?"
"If they know, neither Michael nor Claire said anything." Drake shrugged. He said nothing for a long time, staring off into space. His jaw was clenched and a muscle in it flexed.
I kissed his jaw. "She wanted you to be with Sam instead of me."
Drake exhaled. "Too bad for her then," Drake said and turned to face me. "I'm glad you're not in medicine. It would drive me crazy to come home to more of the same. Neurosurgery is intense and I need to escape. I escape into you."
He kissed me, his hands on either side of my face.
When he pulled back, he wrapped his arms more tightly around me.
"I haven't found my passion yet," I said, remembering how Sefton had made me doubt my art.
"Not painting?"
