To which Ron always replied, “Only having fun, kiddo. I always take that seriously.”
It was a wonder, really, that Ron had fallen in with this generally more-serious group. And yet somehow he, too, just seemed to fit in naturally.
“I’d take some more coffee,” Connor said, standing with his empty mug. “I’ll get it.”
Haley followed him with her own coffee mug, and Anne made herself a second cup of herbal tea. Always the gracious host, James provided everything they needed when they met at his tidy apartment. They’d already devoured the pizzas he’d had delivered at noon. A plate of cookies and a bowl of candy sat in the middle of the paper-strewn, round oak table where they studied, in case anyone needed a sugar jolt.
Popping the top of his soda can, Ron studied Connor’s face. “So, is there anything in particular bugging you today? You’re not all that worried about the histology exam Monday, are you?”
“I worry about all the exams,” Connor answered drily. “But no more for this one than the others. I guess I really am just tired.”
“A few more weeks until Thanksgiving,” Haley said with a wistful sigh. “Four whole days with no classes or exams. I’m keeping a countdown to give myself incentive until then.”
Twenty-six-year-old Haley had honey hair, amber eyes and a firmly pointed little chin that was evidence of her tenacious personality. She was the cheerleader of the group, the one who kept everyone else encouraged and on track. She was the one who called when she sensed they were down, who prodded when she thought they were slacking off, who seemed most delighted when they did well.
Anne, on the other hand, was probably the most competitive of them all. Not because she had a desire to show them up or to always be the best, Connor had decided, but because she seemed to have a need to prove something. To herself? To her family? He didn’t know, but he worried about her sometimes. He thought she needed to cut herself a little slack, to allow for mistakes and failures rather than always demanding perfection of herself. She was going to burn out fast if she didn’t relax a little, he feared.
As for himself—he just wanted to make it through the first semester. And then the seven semesters after that, one milestone at a time, until he finally held that diploma he’d wanted for so long.
He’d sacrificed a hell of a lot to get to this point, he thought grimly. Thinking again about Mia’s date last night, he found himself wondering incongruously if maybe he’d sacrificed too much.
“Okay, guys, back to work,” Haley ordered, reaching for a study sheet. “I’ll quiz this time.”
It was just after four that afternoon when Connor let himself into his house. Just as he closed the door behind him, his telephone rang. He nearly stumbled over himself in his rush to answer it, thinking it might be Mia. He was just casually curious about how her evening had gone, he assured himself even as he snatched up the phone without bothering to check the ID screen. “Hello?”
“Mr. Hayes? Connor Hayes?” It was a man’s voice, and one Connor didn’t recognize.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“My name is Art Haskell, Mr. Hayes. I’m an attorney and I have something rather significant to discuss with you. Would you be available to meet with me sometime this evening?”
Mia had just settled onto her couch to watch a television program when her doorbell rang at nine o’clock Saturday evening. Setting aside the remote, she automatically brushed a hand over her casual top and jeans as she moved to answer the summons. She wasn’t expecting anyone this late, so she checked the peep hole before she opened the door.
A bit surprised to find Connor on her doorstep, she let him in. “Well, hi,” she said. “This is an unexpected visit. Why didn’t you call? Have you had anything to eat?”
When he didn’t respond to her questions, she closed the door and looked at him more closely. What she saw in his face made her stomach clench. “Connor? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
His expression grim, his eyes looking shock-glazed, he swallowed visibly before answering. “I, um, I just came from a meeting with an attorney. I—”
Taking a deep breath, he shoved a hand through his hair before blurting, “I’m going to have to quit medical school.”
Chapter Two
Mia stared blankly at Connor, deciding she must have heard him wrong. Surely he hadn’t said he was quitting medical school. Not after all he’d gone through to get to this point. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“It’s sort of a long story.”
“I’ve got time.” Taking hold of his arm, she drew him to the couch. “Let me get you something to drink. Soda? Coffee?”
He shook his head, his expression still heartrending. “No.”
Sinking onto the couch beside him, she took his hands in hers. His fingers lay limply in her grasp and his skin felt cold. “Connor, you’re scaring me. What’s happened?”
His eyes met hers. “I got a call from an attorney this afternoon. He’d been trying to reach me for a couple hours, but I was with the study group. He asked if I could meet with him this evening at his office downtown.”
“On a Saturday evening?” She swallowed, thinking that sounded awfully serious. “What was the meeting about?”
He cleared his throat, as though searching for the right words. “I—There was this girl.”
She frowned.
“A girl from college,” he clarified. “We hooked up during my senior year. I was almost twenty-two, a few months from graduating. I’d been working pretty hard to earn my degree. Brandy was a—well, sort of a flake. Unpredictable. Impulsive. A little crazy, in a passionate, free-spirited sort of way. I guess she was what I needed at the time because I was obsessed with her for a few months. And then she got bored and she took off. After a few weeks of sulking, I realized I was sort of relieved. I’d had fun, but she certainly wasn’t someone I wanted to spend my whole life tangled up with, you know?”
Brandy certainly didn’t sound like someone Mia would expect Connor to be involved with. But she supposed everyone made a few mistakes when it came to youthful romantic relationships. She had certainly made a couple, herself. She nodded. “Go on.”
He moistened his lips. “I got involved with Gretchen a few months later as sort of a rebound from Brandy. Gretchen was everything Brandy wasn’t. She was focused and normal and completely predictable. I thought we were perfectly matched. She was a dental assistant and she seemed to be content to be that and a coach’s wife. She didn’t encourage me to pursue a medical degree and I guess I used her as an excuse not to do so. I think the whole idea scared me at the time, even though it was something I’d always fantasized about. You know how it goes. I was twenty-two, been in school since I was five, thought I was ready to get on with my life…I won’t say Gretchen and I were deliriously happy, but we got along well enough during the three years we were married. Until she ran off with the dentist, of course,” he finished with a grimace.
Mia had met him not long after that humiliation, when he was still stinging from his wife’s betrayal. She’d never met Gretchen, but from the few
