Wildflowers and Wide Receivers

23. Sophie

Chapter 23

Sophie

T he drive into the office goes quicker than I expected. One minute, I was leaving the island, and then the next, I was pulling up to our building in South Tampa. Some pediatric groups are attached to a hospital, and the scheduled surgeries are performed there, but ours take place on the first floor of our building in a state-of-the-art surgery center.

The sun is finally rising, and the eastern horizon glows orange, ending one of the best nights I’ve ever had in my whole life. And yes, that includes the night we met. Was I going to stay? No. But I broke out of my comfort zone, weighed the risks and the rewards, and boy, was I rewarded. Three times.

Jonah surprised me this weekend. I mean, I already knew he was doing a great job at being Vivi’s guardian, but it goes past that. He goes out of his way to give her not only all the care and love she needs but also memories and tributes to his brother and sister-in-law. He’s not just passing the days with her; he’s trying to enrich them in a way they are a part of the things she does and the traditions they’re trying to make.

I try to visualize Jonah at the Gasparilla children’s parade, and a smile slips onto my face. I can just see them now—Vivi on top of his shoulders, both dressed in some sort of pirate gear, and standing next to the parade route so Vivi can catch beads thrown her way. If he had to pick a parade, this one is definitely iconic.

And don’t get me started on the stars. He mentioned both of them were teachers, and John loved science. I wish I had asked him what his major was in college. What subject does he love? What would he do or be if he wasn’t playing football? Then again, I guess we have time.

“Good morning, Dr. Black,” Laurie, one of the group physician assistants, says when I climb out of my car. I pulled in just after her, and she’s waiting for me.

Laurie was already with the practice when I joined, and her skills are very comprehensive. I find I’m lucky that she’s fallen onto my rotation more times than not. She’s about my age and my go-to first assistant in the operating room when it comes to shoulder and knee arthroscopies, and open and closed fracture internal fixations. She’s my height, and when we’re standing next to each other and working, it’s like I’m a double with two sets of hands. Words don’t even need to be said. She anticipates what I need and want without me even having to ask.

“Good morning.” I smile at her as we head inside. Of all the people throughout the practice that gossiped about Isaac and me after the fact, to my knowledge, Laurie wasn’t one of them. She already had my respect on a professional level, but she gained it on the personal too.

While the waiting room for family members is nice enough, once we pass through the restricted area doors, I’m met with fluorescent lights and antiseptic, and my heart smiles. My father has never understood my love of the medical setting, but I imagine if you are a baker and walk into a bakery or a librarian and walk into a library, it’s the same thing.

“For it being so early in the morning, you look like you’re glowing. Nice weekend?” Laurie asks, wiggling her brows at me.

Heat rises into my cheeks. She sees it, and her eyes shine back in delight. “Very. I spent the past three days at the beach. That glow is my new tan.” I hold out my arm between us.

“You went to the beach?” she asks, her gaze shifting to one of curiosity.

“I did. Does that surprise you?”

“Kind of, yeah.”

I’m a little bit taken aback by her answer, and by the time we reach the surgeon’s office and I settle in, I can’t hold back anymore.

“Why does me going to the beach surprise you?”

Laurie sits at her station pulling up this morning’s schedule and charts when her eyes pop over to me.

“I guess it’s just in the time that I’ve known you, you’ve never taken any kind of vacation. I’ve heard you mention Pilates and your dad, but not much else.”

She’s not wrong. I’ve never been a spontaneous person. I like a plan. I like to research, organize, and I guess in a way be in control. But outside of my personality, I have been here for two years, and other than taking a few quick trips home to see my dad and a girls’ weekend with Camille, I haven’t done anything else. My fellowship year, I was way too busy worrying about my board certification exam, and well, this past year, I agree with Isaac when he said I was just passing time. My life has been on hold. I haven’t been living it.

“I guess I haven’t, but I think I’m ready to change that.”

She nods like she understands me. “My friends and I get together at least twice a month to go to whatever festival is happening in Curtis Hixon Park. It doesn’t matter what it is, from a margarita festival to a macaroni and cheese festival or a sports viewing party. I’d love for you to join us.”

“I’d love to go. Just text me when. Thank you for inviting me.”

Look at that, I’m making a new friend.

“Great. This weekend is Mimosaland and an R&B music festival.”

“Because nothing screams mimosas more than an R&B concert.” I laugh.

She shrugs. “Ehh, we’ve learned to just go with it.”

“Sounds fun.”

“And maybe you’ll tell me more about that ‘glowing tan’ you got.” She wiggles her brows.

My cheeks flush again, and I look away from her. Look at that. It’s only Tuesday, and I’ve already made plans for Friday and Sunday this weekend.

Opening up the schedule, I run over the surgeries and see that they are back-to-back all day. First up, a tibial shaft fracture. I scan the X-rays, hoping that I can do a closed reduction, where I realign the broken bones without cutting into the skin, but I don’t think it’s possible. This one is an unstable displaced fracture. Set it, pin it, cast it.

From there, I review each case and set a tentative game plan. Just as I’m finishing, my watch thumps against my arm with an incoming text. Seeing it’s from Jonah, I pull my phone from my bag.

Thinking of you. I hope you have a good day.

There’s no way I can keep a smile off my face. He makes me happy. The kind of happy where I feel like twirling with my arms spread wide, and I’m not a twirling girl. I instantly reply.

Thank you. I’m missing the sunshine already.

More like I’m missing being with the two of them, but the beach was nice too.

“Don’t think I don’t notice you smiling over there,” Laurie says, eyeing me suspiciously.

My smile grows even wider.

It’s interesting how fate keeps throwing us together. I know this past weekend was because of our friends, but before that, the timing seems to be on point to be anything other than fate. I can’t speak for him or Vivi, but for me, I wasn’t in this place that I am now.

You could always come back.

What I wouldn’t give to head back down there after work today. But the drive is just a tad too long to commute, and I know he and Vivi have a week full of fun things already planned.

Tempting, but I can’t. Duty calls. Make sure you both wear extra sunscreen.

I may be in orthopedics, but that doesn’t change the fact that I know the long-term damage caused by overexposure and burns from the sun.

You know I will.

Thank you for the amazing weekend.

I hope we can do it again sometime.

I heart the comment and then set my phone down to get back to work. It’s then I check my email and find one from MCOSC, Minneapolis Children’s Orthopedic and Scoliosis Center.

My heart rate picks up, and I click it open.

It’s from the office administrator to Dr. Leville. She’s informed me that they have received my interest in joining their practice, and she would like me to call her at my earliest convenience to schedule an interview.

Oh no.

And just like that, Mistress Fate has me wondering what she’s doing now.

I’ve dreamed of this moment. I’ve lain in bed for years and thought about what it would feel like to finally get the opportunity to go home. I expected to feel so much excitement. After all, this is the next step in my dream of returning home, my plan, but I don’t. At all. Instead, I feel confused in a way that I don’t know what to do with myself. Dreams and plans are these giant-pie-in-the-sky endgame goals. They’re the things people work toward while still living their life, like a life where you meet people who might be changing you. Where you melt over the sweetest smile and little hands wrapped around yours, as well as big hands that know just how to touch you to set your world on fire. I know three days with them shouldn’t weigh on any decision I’m trying to make about my future, but somehow, I find it does.