“I’m not sure how to navigate this,” she murmured.
I smiled at her, keeping my hands on her shoulders. “I have a plan for today.”
She smiled right back. “And it star
ts with breakfast. Maybe we should order.”
“Your choice.”
We sat down, and she picked up the menu, rubbing her stomach as she read it. I was seeing this amazing woman in a whole different light.
“Okay, I want their premium breakfast. It says that it is a platter with a mix of their signature dishes. All of them sound good.”
“Let’s order.”
The waiter was quick and efficient, taking our order and then immediately coming back with our coffee and a basket with bread. Laney munched on a slice right away.
“I don’t know why I’m so hungry. That shawarma last night was huge. Skye and Tess really saved me with that.”
“They really didn’t try to question you? That’s very unlike my sisters.”
“Well, they thought about it, but I honestly think they were both tired. It crossed my mind to offer myself as bait to distract them from everything that was going on—both of them, because honestly, Tess was also pretty down. But I wanted to talk to you first about everything.”
Her compassion for my sisters took me by surprise completely, especially that she’d noticed Tess’s state. This didn’t come just from being a doctor, but also intuition and just being a caring person.
“Do you want to know more?” she asked.
“Only if you’re ready to talk.”
“I usually am not, but I want everything out in the open.” She sipped her coffee, holding the cup with both hands.
“Ryan and I met in college. We got married when I was in med school. We never knew about the heart issue until... it happened. It was just before I had to decide where to do my residency.”
“And after that you moved to New York.”
She nodded. “I’d been accepted to a hospital in Philly and this one for my residency, and I just needed a change of scenery, you know? A fresh start. It was scary to come here on my own, but honestly, staying there was even more scary.”
“I am sorry for your loss, Laney.”
I covered her hands. She nodded, smiling sadly. “It was a rough time, but I had Isabelle and also my parents. I went to therapy, and that helped.”
“With Isabelle?”
“No, she said that usually it’s best if the counselor is a stranger. It’s been... I’ve healed, you know. Through my work and the counseling sessions. I’ve made peace with what happened. But moving on, opening up, dating is different. It’s harder. I’m scared, and I’m not even sure why. Losing someone leaves deep marks...”
I took her face in my hands, shifting closer. “Baby, we’ll go at your pace. We’ll just take everything as it comes.”
She smiled, biting her lip. “That sounds good. I can do that.”
Just then, the waiter came with breakfast, interrupting us, laying six small plates of food on the table. Laney dug into the food with the same excitement as in Rome. I couldn’t even fathom that this person who was so positive and optimistic had experienced such a loss. The server kept bringing new plates as soon as we cleared the ones in front of us. We devoured the enormous amount of food relatively quickly.
“So, I believe you promised pampering today. Proper pampering.” She laughed, her eyes happy again.
“I’m a man of my word. I’m going to follow through.”
She batted her eyelashes, smiling. “Care to share what happens after breakfast?”
“See, that’s the thing. I have to change the plan.”