Second First Kiss

“It’s Saturday?” Great. Sage didn’t even know what day of the week it was. After her big get away from me moment with Jasher, she’d asked to be scheduled off at the hospital. There were no big surgeries on the calendar, Babbage was chomping at the bit to resume work, and really—how could she even trust herself to function professionally, under the circumstances? Especially when she might be harming Jasher by being within a however-many-foot radius.

It was better this way.

“These long pauses, Sage, where you’re staring at the countertop? They’re not making my report to your mom any glowier.”

Sage rested her elbows on the counter and put her head in her hands. “I need to stay away from the hospital.”

“My mom said you’d asked for time off.” Kennedy put her chin on her hands. “That’s probably the other reason your mom called me—so I could pump my mom for hospital insider information.”

“And what did you learn?” Maybe Sage could at least get a drink of water. She took a glass from the shelf and filled it at the tap. Mendon tap water tasted really good. She’d almost forgotten. It quenched her, and she perked up. “By pumping your mom for hospital info, I mean.”

“Let’s not talk about that.” Kennedy half-smiled. “We’re here to talk about you.”

Sage’s radar for diversion perked up. “Nuh-uh. You’re not telling me something. Something important.”

“So, other than living in squalor and never washing your face, what have you been up to? Binged any good shows on streaming?”

“Kennedy.”

She sighed. “Fine.” She looked at the ceiling. “You probably don’t want to know this, but it’s all the talk, and you’ll hear it eventually. You might as well hear it from me.”

Please don’t say Jasher sold his clinic. Please don’t say he caved and is giving it to that Quennelle dude so his brother Volmer can botch surgeries for all of Mendon.

Sage shot about ten prayers heavenward on this topic.

They were answered—but terribly, when Kennedy said, “Jasher Hotchkiss walked out of a surgery.”

He what? “Excuse me?”

“Mid-surgery. He handed the tools to some resident who was just observing and had never held a surgical drill in his life, and walked out. They’re saying he—he lost his nerve.”

Shush. Silence it right now. Sage put her fingers in her ears to close the sound off. “No. It’s not even possible.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it either, based on what you’ve told me about his O-R prowess. But there it is. And a simple bone spur removal. Could have been an in-office visit in any other place.”

If Sage had eaten that cinnamon roll, she might have retched it up. “Why did he leave the surgical table? Did—did he make a mistake?”

Kennedy gave a half-shrug. “Wait a minute. You aren’t starting to think back on that old kooky curse notion—stop it. Just stop.”

Sage wandered over to the fridge and started taking everything out of it and setting things on the counter. Mayonnaise. A bag of wilted green salad. Two apples. A container of yogurt. Dazed, she picked up her trash can and started sliding all of it in. Kennedy jumped up to prevent it.

“Sage! Wake up.”

“If only I could. If only this were a dream.” And not a reality where she’d ruined the best man in the world’s best talent by selfishly, helplessly falling in love with him.

Kennedy steered her over to the couch. “Maybe you should come stay with me for a few days. In Reedsville. We could see a play, eat dinner at that Italian place you like.”

Sage hugged a cushion as tightly to her chest as possible, and pulled her knees up. Fetal position.

“Whether you believe in it or not, it’s real, Kennedy. My curse has struck again.”

Her only choice would be to officially tell him that it was over. Maybe by breaking up with him she could stop the spread of the infection. She’d never broken up with a guy, just always waited until it was too late, until the curse had struck. With Kyle, they’d been so young, and she’d fallen so hard for him. Even though he’d loved basketball much more than he’d cared about her, she’d been smitten. Ivan had loved the forest and his country more than he’d loved Sage, but it had made her admire him all the more. Hayden, who loved fireworks displays more than anatomy homework, had always been setting things on fire, including her heart. And then there was Leo. He’d loved his whiskey and been too drunk from the second they said their vows to even notice Sage was alive—until he wasn’t anymore.

Not one of them had loved her most.

And I always put them first. My love itself was the curse.

She had to shut off her feelings, not just push him away. If she did close her heart this very moment, maybe it would be in time to save Jasher’s career.

“Where are you going in those pajamas, Sage?”

Sage realized her hand was on the doorknob and she was looking like a rumpled loser.

“Nowhere.” Certainly not to officially break up with Jasher looking like she’d been institutionalized. Though he might think she deserved to be, considering how real the curse was—and no one believed her. “I mean, yes. Eventually. After I get showered. I’m going to break up with Jasher.”

“But you still have one more date. If he doesn’t take you on it, he has to pay Inchy and the hospital auxiliary all that money. Like, a hundred grand. And it can’t come from you through Leo’s insurance funds. Inchy will find out, so don’t even start with that idea.”

Cringe. Oh. Right. “Fine. I’ll break up with him on our last date.” Which—if she remembered right—had to be at the rodeo.