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“Didn’t you want to work in pediatrics? You need to find someone with kids so they can be your taste testers.”
Mia waved a dismissive hand. “Surely you’ll be married with kids in the next few years. Claire, too. I’ll be the cool aunt who’s always bringing treats by for my godchildren to try.”
Noah completely ignored her suggestion he’d be married with kids anytime soon and studied her, trying to decide why she was making excuses. Was it because she didn’t really want to do it, or because she was scared? An idea was slowly forming in his mind, but there was no way in hell he’d put it out there if he thought going back to school wasn’t something she really wanted.
“Let me ask you this,” he said. “If there was a way for you to keep your current insurance without working, would you take the scholarship and go back to school?”
She laughed humorlessly. “That’s impossible. I know your dad loves me, but not that much.”
“Humor me. Don’t worry about the logistics and answer the question.”
She sat there for a moment, a mere foot away, but he knew her mind was miles from his living room. Slowly, her head moved up and down. “Yes.”
At that single syllable, the tiny idea bloomed into possibility. It grew even more at her next words.
“If there was a way for me to stop working, keep my insurance, and go back to school, I’d do it in a heartbeat.” Her slumped posture indicated she found the entire premise hopeless.
“Maybe there is,” he said.
She looked at him, confusion marring her forehead.
His heart pounded, and it suddenly felt as if his lungs couldn’t get enough air. A strange sense of excitement filled him, even as his brain rained down rational thoughts to reverse his decision.
Don’t.
It’s a terrible idea.
It’s fraud.
He ignored them all. “What if we got married?”
3
Mia stilled as her mouth dropped open. “What if we what?”
Noah’s throat worked as he swallowed. His hands gripped his knees, but his ice-blue gaze remained steady on hers. “We could get married.” He said it in the same way he might say “next week let’s get tacos instead of chicken wings.”
Her pulse tripled, and she frowned at her body’s reaction. She just stared at him.
“I could put you on my insurance, and you could accept the scholarship. Go back to school.”
“As yourwife?” she squeaked.
“Yeah.”
She remained frozen for a split second, then blinked several times, shaking her head slowly. She’d been confident Noah would come up with a plan, but never in a million years would she have come up withthat. “Noah.”
“Mia.”
“You can’t be serious.” She knew he was, though. He’d one hundred percent do that for her, because that’s the kind of friend he was.
He just looked at her. He knew she knew he was serious, too.
“I would never ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t.”
She groaned. “Okay, I couldn’t let you do that.”
