A fireplace had a faux plant in it, telling me I wouldn’t be relaxing near warm flames. Leaving my scarf on, I plopped down on the sofa and kicked my socked feet on the large square ottoman that doubled as a coffee table. I plucked the phone out of my pocket and looked at the time. It was just after 2:00 p.m., which meant it was five in Virginia. Collin should be out of practice, but I couldn’t know for sure. All I did know was I needed to tell him that I’d made it to Seattle despite my previous text going unread.
Earlier that day, and shortly after I had arrived at my gate, my proper name was called over the loudspeaker. For a moment, my heart had stopped, thinking that Collin was there to tell me not to go. To stay with him. But he wasn’t. When I’d walked up to the service desk, the lady had asked to see my boarding pass. She tore it in half, stunning me.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, Miss Nicholson. You’ve been upgraded.”
“Upgraded?” A new pass slid out of the small printer at her side. She handed it to me. Looking down, I saw I’d gone from row seventeen to row three. “I’m in first class?” When she nodded with a smile, I added, “At no charge?”
“It was paid for.”
Realizing it must have been Collin, I returned her smile, thanked her, adjusted the strap on my backpack, sat down, and sent him a text thanking him.
Me:Hi. I’m here. Thank you for the upgrade. You may have spoiled me for future flights.
I paused, wondering if I should add that I missed him. Would that be a good or a bad thing? It was always nice knowing someone missed you, but would that just make all of this more difficult? As it was, I couldn’t stop thinking about what he was doing, and I had just left. What would the next few weeks be like? Torture, I was sure of it.
My phone pinged with an incoming text.
Collin:Hey. Glad you made it. And you’re welcome for the upgrade. I enjoy spoiling you.
Me:I was. The seat next to me was empty, so I had a lot of space.
When no one appeared to be my seatmate, my heart had thought maybe he would walk on, but he hadn’t. Instead the door of the plane had closed, and it had taken off shortly afterward. Then a thought had popped into my head. Nah, he wouldn’t do that. Needing to know, I’d typed out:
You didn’t by any chance buy that seat, did you?
Collin:Wanted you to be comfortable.
He sent a wink emoji. My breath hitched, knowing that he’d purchased the one next to me too. I need to get into a meeting, and I’m standing in a towel.
A delicious vision of a half-naked Collin with droplets of water dotting his perfectly sculpted body flashed in my mind.This was going to be torture.
Me:Okay. I’ll talk to you later?
Collin:Having dinner with Mack and Lucas tonight. If we get home early, I’ll text you.
I knew that it would need to be very early thanks to the time difference.
Have fun.My chin quivered.Tell everyone I said hi.
If homesickness had already begun to set in, this was going to be a long semester.
Collin:Will do. I miss you.
Dropping my head, I typed back.I miss you more.
###
Whatever I thought medical school would be like paled in comparison to how my day was going. Technically classes hadn’t started yet, but for the past week I’d been shadowing a couple of doctors thanks to it being a teaching hospital. When I heard this was what I’d be doing, I’d pictured those medical shows where the students were just taking notes. Except my days had started to feel as though I were on a quiz show that would be aptly namedWhat’s the Treatment?
It hadn’t taken me long to figure out that the other students had a leg up—or at least a semester of med school under their white coats. Whereas my latest knowledge had to do with the velocity needed to precisely send a football several yards down a football field. In other words, I needed to work twice as hard.
Only one student so far has asked me about being a professional player, but that was it. The others paid me no mind or extra attention, which is what I preferred.
At the end of the day, my feet throbbed, my recently healed ankle ached, and my entire body hurt. All I wanted to do was soak in a tub with a glass of wine and a book that didn’t revolve around diseases and injuries. I watched the lavender bath bomb fizzle in the water before I shucked off my robe and stepped over the ledge. Sliding beneath the bubbles, a moan gently eased out of my mouth at the pleasure of it all.
I took a sip of my wine, set it on the small teak table, and closed my eyes. An image of Collin in a towel popped into my mind. For months I’d seen him every day. Even at work, where some couples go their separate ways, we hadn’t. I hadn’t needed to ask him how his day was because I knew and vice versa. His friends were now my friends. We had everything in common.