He missed his students. Without conceit, he could admit that he, too, had been a well-liked teacher. He hoped he would be a well-respected physician—if he survived medical school.
“I’m sure you’re pleased that she asked you to join us for trick-or-treating,” Mia said.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.”
“She seemed to really want you to accept. She’s reaching out to you, Connor.”
He was well aware that Alexis would prefer Mia to him if she had to make a choice, but he supposed Mia was right that this was a step forward. “I’ll do my best to make it. What time were you planning to start?”
“Around six, I guess. I was just going to take her to a few houses here in your neighborhood. Everyone around us seems to be in the Halloween spirit, judging from the house decorations I’ve seen. Afterward, I promised Alexis we’d have hot chocolate and popcorn and watch a Disney DVD.”
It sounded time-consuming, but also like a good chance to spend quality time with Alexis. And with Mia. He supposed he could always sacrifice a couple of his already-rare hours of sleep during the weekend to make up for it. “Okay. Just tell me I don’t have to dress up.”
She laughed. “You don’t have to dress up.”
“Good. There’s a big Halloween party that night for anyone in my class who wants to attend, but I wasn’t planning to go, anyway. Costumes and kegs are rarely a safe combination.”
She laughed again. “I attended my share of college Halloween parties. They can get pretty…interesting.”
“Yeah. Now that I’m a dad, I guess I’d better skip out on the ‘interesting’ this year.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she murmured. “Trick-or-treating with a ballerina fairy princess could be very interesting.”
He smiled wryly. “At least it will be different.”
“I’m ready for my story, Mia,” Alexis said from the doorway.
Mia moved toward her. “Tell your dad good night.”
Alexis crossed the room to offer Connor a hug and a cheek kiss. “Good night,” she said.
Tousling her soft hair, he said, “Good night, princess.”
She giggled, then turned to hurry toward her bedroom with Mia close behind.
Connor realized, somewhat to his surprise, that he was smiling when he went into the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee and settle in for a couple more hours of studying. As weary as he’d been when he’d dragged himself in, he seemed to have gotten a second wind. Might as well take advantage of it while he could.
The study group met at a coffee shop Friday afternoon, taking over a table in the back. With overpriced beverages and snacks arranged around them, they pored over the notes they’d taken through a series of six long, detailed lectures that day, trying to make sense of the overwhelming amount of new data they were expected to memorize and understand.
Connor glanced at Anne, who’d been quieter than usual that afternoon. She, too, was staring intently at her computer screen, her pretty oval face creased with a frown. “You okay, Anne?”
She looked up at him, her clear blue eyes clouded. “Oh. Sure. There’s just so much of it.”
“When’s the last time you had a good night’s sleep?”
She laughed wearily. “Probably about the same time as you. Sometime last August. Before we started medical school.”
“You can afford to relax a little, you know. You’re doing great.”
Her frown only intensified. “I don’t want to get behind. Once you get behind, it’s almost impossible to catch up.”
“Anyone want to move to my place for a while?” James asked, tossing his empty coffee container into a nearby trash receptacle. “We could order pizza or something.”
“Sounds good,” Ron agreed. “I really need some more help with these histology notes.”
“I’m in,” Haley said with a nod. “But let’s make time for the gross anatomy notes, too.”
“I need to go over all of it,” Anne murmured, still looking stressed.