“Sure. But don’t get mad if I don’t follow along.”
“I’m happy to repeat myself. I told you, biology fascinates me.”
Archer comes to a sudden stop, staring across the street. We’re making our way down Michigan Avenue on our way to the Cheesecake Factory.
“See a ghost?” I ask him.
“That’s Dr. Crawford.”
“Who?”
“The trauma surgeon I wanted to talk to at the convention.”
“Oh! Should we go say hi?”
He shakes his head, looking almost starstruck. “He probably doesn’t remember me.”
I look across the street, guessing Dr. Crawford to be the stuffy looking old man walking next to a thin woman in a red coat. “They’re going into Gucci. Let’s go in.”
“To Gucci?”
“Yes,” I say with a laugh. “I really like their handbags, and it’s been a while since I’ve gotten a new one.”
Archer takes my hand as we stop at the crosswalk. “Okay. I guess it won’t hurt to see if he remembers me.”
“Exactly.” Cars zoom by, and a couple of minutes later we cross and enter the store.
“Good evening, Ms. Dawson!” one of the clerks says, looking up from behind the counter.
“How long is a while?” Archer asks, raising his eyebrows. “They know you by name here.”
“I’m very memorable.”
He smiles and steals a glance at Dr. Crawford, who’s standing behind his wife looking bored. I walk past the purses and over to the display of belts the doctor’s wife is looking at. Buying a five-hundred-dollar belt to fit my pregnant belly isn’t something I can rationalize, but I could always buy one for later, right? Anything to try and get Archer an in with the doc.
“I have that one,” I say to whom I assume is Mrs. Crawford. She’s holding a black leather belt with gemstones on the logo. “I always get compliments on it.”
She runs her fingers over the colored stones. “You don’t think it’s a little young for me?”
“Not at all! I think it’d look great on you.”
She smiles. “Thank you for saying that.” Her eyes go to my purse on my shoulder. “I see you have great taste.”
“It’s more like an addiction,” I laugh, and she does too. I turn away from the belts, lusting over pretty much everything in this store, and see Archer looking at shoes, and probably choking over the price tags.
“Find what you’re looking for?” he asks, coming over. His hand settles on my hip.
“I found too much.” I look behind him. “You’d look really good in that suit, you know.”
He smiles and shakes his head. “Give me a year—or two, probably two—to make more than I do as a resident and then we’ll come back here.”
“Deal. Are you going to talk to him?”
“I don’t want to be awkward.”
“You won’t be.” I step forward. “Actually, I do need a new fancy professional outfit to wear when I go talk with those professors from MIT.”
“Already?”
“I’m giving a speech at graduation.” I shake my head. “Unless I chicken out. But that Professor Slughorn guy I told you about has been emailing me about coming in and talking to his class this semester.”
“You should do it,” Archer encourages. “Like you said, you’re in the minority being a successful woman working in the technology field.”
“True. And I haven’t been back to MIT since graduation. It’ll be kinda fun to see the campus again.”
“Excuse me,” Mrs. Crawford says. “I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but did you say you’re giving a commencement speech at MIT’s graduation ceremony?”
“She did.” Archer smiles at me. The way he’s looking at me right now makes my heart skip a beat.
“Our son is graduating high school this year and that’s his top choice.”
“It’s a great school.”
“You went there as well?”
“I did,” I say with a smile. “And I loved it. It opens so many doors and the education is priceless. What’s your son’s area of interest?”
“Algorithms and code or something like that.”
“That’s what I do!” I say a little too excitedly. But hey, if Archer looks cute when he talks about genes, maybe I look cute too? “I work at IGH now overseeing software development as well as creating codes for high-profile clients. Having that MIT degree definitely helped me land the job.”
Mrs. Crawford says, “Barry, this young woman went to MIT. Maybe she has some advice for John.”
Dr. Crawford comes over, a pleasant smile on his face. “Sorry to bombard you while shopping,” he starts. “We’re more than a little excited. Not to be those parents that brag, but John is a smart boy.”
“No worries. I don’t run into too many people around here looking to apply to MIT. It’s exciting!”
“We’re not ashamed to be those parents,” Mrs. Crawford says. “We’re very proud of our son and will take any opportunity we can to help him.”
Archer tips his head down to me. “I think we’ll be like that too.”
I put my hand on my stomach. “I think so too.”
Dr. Crawford’s eyes drop to my middle. “Are you expecting?”
Mrs. Crawford elbows him sharply in the ribs. “You can’t ask people that!”
Archer and I laugh. “I am,” I tell him, and Dr. Crawford looks at Archer, and a spark of recognition crosses his face.
“I know you,” he starts, still staring at Archer.
“We’ve met before,” Archer starts, “at a conference in June.”
“Dr. Jones from Indianapolis,” Dr. Crawford recalls. “Yes. I do remember you. You made quite an impression on Dr. Miller.”
“A good one, I hope,” Archer says and we all laugh.
“Yes, she spoke very highly of you. If I recall correctly, you’re finishing your surgical residency this year and are interested in a trauma fellowship.”
It’s all I can do not to make a weird squeaking noise of excitement. Archer wants this fellowship so bad. It’ll be long hours, hard work, and functioning on little sleep. But if he’s in Chicago, we can live together. He’ll be crazy busy busting his butt to become a trauma surgeon, but we’ll be able to raise Emma as a family under one roof.
“Yes, I am interested.”
“You’re sure you want to do that with a little one on the way?” Dr. Crawford raises his eyebrows. “It’s long hours.”
“It can’t be worse than what I’m working now, can it?” Archer says back with no hesitation.
Dr. Crawford laughs. “I don’t miss my days as a resident. Though at least now you’ve been capped on your hours. Back in my time, there were no regulations.”
“I’ve heard horror stories. The first attending I worked with scared a resident out of the program.”
“If stories can scare a resident, he has no place in surgery in the first place.”
“That was my thought too. And all the stories in the world can’t prepare you for that first time shit goes south.”
Dr. Crawford laughs. “My first day of med school I had two patients die. Completely unrelated and total freak accidents.”
“That’s one hell of an orientation. One of the first surgeries I observed, the surgeon perforated a bowel. None of us were prepared for that smell.”
Both Archer and Dr. Crawford laugh, and I find it oddly sexy to hear him telling what I guess would be considered doctor jokes.
Mrs. Crawford shakes her head and leans into me. “He’ll talk about surgery all day.” She rolls her eyes. “How long ago did you graduate? You look so young.”
“Four years ago.”
“And did you start at IGH right away? John has mentioned that company a few times, so I know it must be good. I’m not the best with technology. I have a hard enough time with my cell phone.”
“I had an internship there and after the year was up, th
ey hired me.”
“Oh, I didn’t know they offered internships. What are the requirements?”
“A college degree for a paid internship, but we do have unpaid interns who basically shadow and help with small tasks. It’s not the most fun, but it looks good on a resume or college application. I can give you my email if you’d like and maybe we can set something up.”
Mrs. Crawford thanks me over and over, and saves my email address in her phone. Archer and Dr. Crawford are still talking about surgery and difficult patients. I get back to shopping, purposely taking my time so Archer has more time to talk with the doc.
We’re finally on the same page. In love, wanting to raise Emma as a family. I don’t think marriage is that far off, though I still want Archer to take his time and make sure this is really what he wants to do.
My mind jumps ahead of me, to accompanying Archer to fancy dinners with the Crawfords. We’re married and have at least two kids at home. Mrs. Crawford talks to me about MIT, and Archer and Dr. Crawford compare days in the OR.
I blink and shake my head. I don’t do fancy dinners like that. I’ll go out on a hot date, don’t get me wrong, but playing the pretentious wife—yeah. That’s not me. I like designer shoes and purses, with the occasional accessory thrown in, but that’s not me and it never will be.
I’m small town born and raised, coming from a large family who had to cut corners and coupons to get by. My dad’s business didn’t take off until my senior year in high school, and when I sold that app, I had no idea what to do with all the money.
I paid off my student loans. And Dean’s. And Logan and Owen’s. Weston’s were taken care of thanks to the US Army, but I would have paid those off too. I gave myself an allowance and then stuck half the money in a savings account and had an investor help me with various investments. It’s nice having disposable income, I won’t lie, but the fancy, stuck-up, I’m-better-than-you-because-I-have-money life isn’t for me, and I sure as hell won’t let Emma grow up thinking that.
Several minutes later, I go to the register and pay for a new pair of shoes. Archer comes up behind me, followed by the Crawfords.