He exhaled and his shoulders dropped. “That would make me feel so much better.”
“I’m not accepting that I have bad taste. Just that you’re more particular.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself.” He grinned at me. “So I have your solemn promise that you won’t get involved in any design of our new house and you won’t buy anything for the house without my express agreement?”
“Wow, you mean business,” I replied.
“Honestly, I love you, Parker, but being in your flat stresses me the bloody hell out. It’s all too much.”
I laughed and lifted my right hand. “If that’s important to you, then I solemnly swear not to get involved in any interior design discussions, and I shall make no home purchases ever at all for as long as we both shall live.” Nothing was more valuable to me than making Tristan happy.
“You can have one room where you can go wild. Apart from that, it’s what I say all the way.”
I nodded resolutely. “Yes sir.”
He growled and pushed me to my back. He’d just climbed over me when the doorbell went.
“That’s Sutton.”
“I was about to ravage you,” he replied.
“Ravaging can wait. She hears about her hospital placement today.” I scampered off the bed and went to open the front door.
Sutton looked like she’d just been slapped in the face with a frying pan. I could almost see the cartoon halo of stars circling over her head.
“What is it?” I pulled her inside. “Tristan, we’re going to need tequila,” I called. “Come and sit down.”
“I got into the Royal Free.” She collapsed onto the sofa.
I was confused. It sounded like good news. “Wasn’t that your top choice?” I sat down next to her and patted her on the back.
“Absolutely,” she said. “But I didn’t expect them to pick me. I’m an older student and everyone wants to be on their program. It must be some kind of mistake.”
Tristan came through carrying a tray of shot glasses and a bottle of tequila I wasn’t sure I’d seen before. “I’d like to say I’d leave you two to it, but given we live in a two-room shoebox, there’s nothing you can say that I can’t hear.”
“Of course it’s not a mistake,” I said, ignoring Tristan. “Tell her,” I said, glaring at him.
“What’s not a mistake?”
“Well, you just disproved your own theory.” I rolled my eyes. “Sutton got the job she wanted at the Royal Free Hospital and thinks they must have made a mistake.”
“Of course they didn’t,” Tristan said, pulling up one of the dining chairs—it was between that and the floor in terms of seating options.
“But I’m older than most of the candidates.”
“Not by much,” I said, trying to be reassuring.
“That would likely go in your favor,” Tristan said. “More life experience and maturity.”
“And your exam results were epic,” I added.
She grabbed my hand. “Don’t forget about me, will you? These next few years are going to be intense. And now you have this husband.” She nodded toward Tristan like he was a lamp I’d just acquired. “And he has a thousand friends with wives and girlfriends. You’re not going to be able to fit me in.”
“Of course I am.” I squeezed her hand. “This is exciting. It’s the job you dreamed about. Yes, you’re going to be working hard, but we’ll just be around the corner—we’re moving. You’ll be able to pop round and have dinner when you’ve finished a shift.”
She looked up at me. “You’re moving to Hampstead?”
Tristan was shooting me devil stares as he poured out shots of tequila.
“We have to find a place still, but why not?” What wasn’t there to love about Hampstead? I was sure we could find a place there. “And I’m going to task Tristan with finding a new friend he can hook you up with.”
She groaned. “I don’t need a boyfriend. I just need to be good at my job and not get sacked on the first day.” She needed my dad’s pep talk ASAP and a hefty amount of distraction.
Tristan handed Sutton a shot glass of tequila and then gave one to me.
“I’m not going to be able to drink tequila again. Not after I start at The Royal Free. I have to be . . . like a grown-up. I’m going to be a doctor.”
“Better get as much in as possible now, then,” Tristan said, tipping back his shot. I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed and held back from pinning him to the floor and licking his neck from collarbone to chin.
I clinked my glass to Sutton’s. “This is amazing news, Sutton.”
“We’re all growing up and moving on,” she said.
“Where does Hartford work?” I asked Tristan. “Isn’t that The Royal Free?”
Tristan shrugged. “No idea. You want me to text her?”
I shook my head. “Whatever happens, we’re always going to be the best of friends.”