“Damn it, that has nothing to do with it. I don’t break my word.”
“Is that it? Are you feeling trapped by those promises? Is that the real reason you don’t want to tell anyone? Because you don’t want to go through a public breakup like your buddy Cal Burlington?”
“He’s not my buddy, and he’s got nothing to do with us! You’re the one who asked me to keep this marriage a secret less than a month after we exchanged vows. I’ve lived up to my part of the bargain. You knew when I arrived that I wouldn’t be staying long. I’ve already been here longer than either of us expected when I arrived. Why are you acting so surprised that I’ve decided it’s time for me to go?”
She drew a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She supposed Liam asked a reasonable question. They had agreed from the beginning that he wouldn’t stay long. And yet…
And yet she hadn’t expected him to leave so abruptly. To spend his last night there dozing on the couch so he could leave before dawn the next morning.
Before she could form a reply, her phone rang. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was just after nine when she pulled the phone from its holder. She grimaced when she saw the number displayed on the screen. “It’s my father.”
“Of course it is,” Liam muttered, and turned away.
She didn’t take the time to ask him what he meant by that. “Hi, Dad.”
“Are you at home? Am I interrupting a study session?”
She pushed her hair out of her face. “No, I just walked in a few minutes ago. What’s up?”
“Actually, I’m calling because of a talk I just had with your mother. I could tell something has been on her mind tonight. When I asked, she said she was sure she’d seen you at the restaurant where we had dinner tonight. She thought you were there looking very cozy with a man, but when she turned to make sure it was you, whoever it was had already gone.”
“I, um—”
“I might not have thought much about it, but I ran into Mike Haverty at the club earlier this week and he said he saw you out with some man at what appeared to be a romantic dinner for two last Friday night. Are you dating someone you haven’t told us about?”
Several possible answers whirled through her mind. The truth. A carefully worded prevarication. The very valid response that her personal life was none of her father’s business at this stage.
She’d thought she’d set that sort of boundary when she’d moved out on her own, insisted on handling her own finances and other business affairs. Yet here he was calling her and grilling her about who she was seeing, just as he had when she was in high school. And in college, she recalled with a scowl, thinking of all the heated arguments they’d had about Liam then.
She chose to respond with a combination of all of the above. “I do go out occasionally, Dad. I’m an adult, remember?”
As if her words had given him a clue to the reason for the phone call, Liam paused in the act of moving away and turned back toward her with a searching look. She shook her head to indicate that it was okay, she was handling this. He didn’t leave.
“I know you’re an adult, but I’m also well aware of what your schedule is like right now. With your classes and pending exams, I fi
nd it hard to believe you have many free evenings for socializing. You’ll have plenty of time for that sort of thing after you pass your licensing exams.
“Although, of course, you’ll be quite busy with rotations for the next two years, and the first year of your residency will be very demanding. A surgeon’s schedule makes it a challenge to maintain relationships, as you know from my own example, but you’re still very young. You’ll have plenty of opportunities later to find someone who will understand the demands on your time. Someone like your brother found. Perhaps another surgeon.”
He was planning her entire future for her, she thought with an exasperated shake of her head. Scheduling a romance for her—preferably with another surgeon—some five or six years in the future. “Perhaps you’d like to find someone for me, when you think the time is right, of course? Maybe you’ll even let me meet him sometime before the conveniently timed wedding you arrange for me.”
“Now, Anne, there’s no need to take that tone.” Her father sounded rather startled by her atypical sarcasm. “I’m simply trying to give you advice, as a caring parent. I’ve been through surgical training, and I know exactly how demanding it is, and how hard it is to sustain outside relationships while going through that hard schedule. I’m just trying to spare you some of the mistakes I’ve made in life.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I’m going to have to make my own decisions. My own mistakes. I will always value your advice, but it’s still my choice whether to follow it.”
She drew a deep breath, then blurted, “I haven’t even decided for certain that I want to be a surgeon. Maybe during my rotations I’ll find another field of medicine I’ll want to pursue instead.”
It was the first time she’d admitted that she was considering other options. To her father—even to herself. The closer she got to having to decide what sort of doctor she wanted to become, the less certain she was that surgery was the answer.
“Of course you want to pursue surgery.” He seemed stunned that she would even consider any other path. “You have a real gift for it, inherited, I’m sure, from your grandfather and me. Sam Burkhaven told me he was very impressed with you so far.”
She supposed she should have been surprised her father had sought out her preceptor, but she wasn’t really. He’d have taken the position himself had he been allowed to do so with his own daughter. If it were up to her dad, he would be supervising every step of her education to make sure it met his expectations.
“I’m not ruling it out. I’m just saying that the final decision is mine. And when I make that decision—when I make any decisions regarding my personal life—I’ll expect you to acknowledge my right to do so, and to support me in whatever choices I make. I think that’s a fair request.”
“Of course I will always support you, Anne. Just as I always have,” he added stiffly.
It was amazing how blind people could be about their own behavior, she mused with a faint sigh. She looked at Liam as the thought crossed her mind.