AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Noah,” Paul says, his graying mustache tilting with his smile. “Never thought I’d see you at one of these things.”
“I’m...” I feel Mackenzie’s arm loop through mine suddenly, and when I look down at her, she gives me an encouraging smile. Iremind myself the touching is necessary, just part of the ruse. “Well.” I paste on a smile of my own, remembering myself. “There have been, ah, a few developments since you left.”
Paul chuckles. “You’re telling me. Whole table has been chittering about it ever since I sat down.”
I glance at the other members of the table, finding them all looking elsewhere all of a sudden. Pretty much confirming what Paul has just said.
Mackenzie leans to nudge Priya with her shoulder. “Rude.”
“Well!” Priya throws up her hands. “You guys dropped, like, the biggest bomb the hospital has ever heard. Our Mackenzie? With Cardiology’s version of a Nosferatu?”
“Thank you,” I deadpan.
Priya looks apologetic at least. “Sorry.”
“She’s had a few already,” Jamie, the one she mentioned was her tech, chimes in. “You’ll have to forgive her.”
“Think I’m gonna need a few more,” her husband, Matías, snorts.
“I don’t think we, ah... thought it would make this many waves,” I offer.
“I guess we didn’t account for hownosy”—Mackenzie gives Priya a look of what I think is faux irritation—“our coworkers were.”
“She hasn’t even told me how you guys got together,” Priya pouts. “Isn’t that mean, Noah? We’re supposed to be friends.”
“You’re the one who ran out on me at lunch,” Mackenzie argues.
“AndI told you I wanted that story next time I saw you,” Priya accuses. “Come on! Tell us. Noah? Was it love at first sight?”
“I—” I look to Mackenzie for help, and I can see by her expression that she can tell I’m struggling. We had agreed to keep itsimple, but all of a sudden I find myself terrified I’m going to fuck things up. “Well, I—”
“We met at work,” Mackenzie blurts out, saving me. “Obviously.”
“Right,” I add, nodding in agreement as I collect myself. “Mackenzie had... come by my office to consult on a patient having an acute MI.”
Jamie’s eyebrows furrow. “MI?”
“Myocardial infarction,” everyone else at the table says at once.
Jamie rolls her eyes, muttering something like, “Doctors.”
“Soanyway,” Mackenzie presses on, helping me out, “I had heard all the stories about Noah Taylor, as you can imagine.”
This isn’t something we discussed. “What stories?”
“Oh my God. You name it.” She points at Priya. “What was the one about Noah ordering everyone out of an elevator because he wanted to ride it alone?”
“It had been havingmechanicalissues,” I huff. “I just urged them to take the stairs.”
Priya clicks her tongue. “But you rode it?”
“Wait,” Mackenzie laughs. “I’m willing to bet he was trying to be punctual for something.”
I make a face. “I had a ten o’clock meeting.”
“I knew it.” Mackenzie laughs harder, and I notice the arm still looped through mine tightens its hold. I can’t say I dislike it. “Only you would risk plummeting to your death to make a meeting on time.”
“I’m not even sure I want to know about the other yarns that have been spun about me,” I grumble.
