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Drake
Drake always knew his extended family was over the top, but it was never more obvious than this moment as he sat at the annual Maguire Thanksgiving Eve party at his aunt and uncle’s house. All his cousins were either married or about to be. Even his badass SEAL team legend of a cousin, Finn, was all gaga over his new girlfriend. Granted, she was beautiful, but still. Drake was nowhere near settling down, and it seemed more out of reach when he was surrounded by so many couples. None of his family had arrived yet. His parents were late, and his brother was once again not answering his calls.
“Are you really a rolling stone?” a little squeaky voice asked over his right shoulder, pulling his attention away from the fire pit in front of him.
“Yes,” he admitted.
“What does that mean? Cuz you don’t look like a stone to me,” the little brunette with a mop of curls said, stepping out of the shadow. She stood all of three feet high with her two front teeth missing and looked just like his cousin Charlotte.
“No, but he looks scary in all black by the fire,” quipped a little boy with matching curls trimmed into a faux mohawk.
“Hey, you two leave cousin Drake alone. He’s just grumpy by nature,” Finn said, giving the kids more sparklers and sending them off.
“Thanks, I think,” Drake grumbled.
Finn smirked. “I can’t have you scaring the kids. Charlotte would not approve.”
“What’s with the goofy grin?” Drake countered.
“Just happy, I guess. What’s with the scowl?”
“Been a long year.”
“That must mean business is good. So what’s the problem?” Finn said.
Drake huffed. “I’m not sure, but I think I hate my job.”
Finn made a low whistle. “I thought you loved being a doctor? Making surgery art and healing people. It fits your god complex.”
“Plastic surgery doesn’t feel like real medicine unless I’m doing pro bono work, and that can be really sad. Burn victims and scars from terrible experiences.”
“Then do something else. Your genius-level brain can come up with a new plan. Maybe get back to basics?”
Drake scoffed. “I’ve been lecturing at Mercy this week. They’re trying to convince me to transfer from LA to their plastics center.”
“But you’d rather do something else, practice different medicine?”
“Maybe, but I’d have to start over in the rotations, like a resident, at any hospital if I change my discipline.”
“Maybe a new challenge is what you need, and it’d be the perfect time to come back to Virginia. Just imagine all those newbie doctors forced to learn next to our own plastic surgery god.” Finn laughed.
“More like the devil,” his cousin Connor said, sitting down in an empty seat next to Finn. “Drake, would it kill you to smile and wear something other than black all the time?”
“Maybe,” Drake replied.
He practically grew up with his cousins on his dad’s side. They spent summers together and dozens of holiday parties, wrestling, shooting hoops, or swimming at the lake, where every family had a lake house. Finn and Conner’s family were always the cheery household with the mushy parents who genuinely adored each other and their kids. His parents were more obsessed with good grades, knowing the right people, and getting him and his brother into the right school. In many ways, he was as close to his cousins—if not more so—than his own family.
“Drake’s considering a career change,” Finn said, filling Conner in on their conversation. “I’m trying to convince him to come back to Virginia.”
“Do it. You’ve been miserable. Why don’t you go into pediatrics? You’d probably be good with all those cute babies.”
“Never,” Drake said.
“Orthopedics.”
“Boring.”
“Brain surgery.”
