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“Wow!” Abby shook her head. “Tom’s not doing anything remotely comparable anymore. What’s the new one about?”
Cara grinned. “Pain management in pediatric patients. Opiate use in the wake of the opioid crisis isn’t well-studied in children.”
“No kidding. I wonder if he’d consider doing some crossover work with pain management in oncology.”
Will would have been interested in exactly this kind of collaborative work, but without him to drive it, Abby wondered which of the current doctors she could approach to float the idea.
“I can ask. I’m seeing him again this weekend.”
“Again?” Abby arched an eyebrow at her best friend. “Wow, two dates in two weeks. You must really like this guy.”
“Don’t tell my dad. He’ll never let me hear the end of it when he finds out I’m seeing a guy in his field.” Cara snorted, but her smile belied her complaint.
“I’m happy for you,” Abby leaned forward, wrapping one arm around Cara in a half-hug.
Gen, ready to work, jumped to her feet, but when Abby sat back, she settled onto her haunches again, then slid down to the floor, watching as a family with two young kids found a table nearby.
“Ooh, look, Mommy. A doggie!”
The little girl pointed and Abby, attention caught by her words, asked, “Do you want to come pet her?”
It took several minutes for the parents to corral their kids back to their own table, but when they did, Cara leaned both elbows on the table and studied Abby.
“So, it’s going well, then? I don’t want to pry, but you’ve been pretty tight-lipped for all the time you spend at Scott’s place.”
Abby nodded. “It is. It’s... really good. I adore Dylan. And Scott, he’s...”
Perfect.
He wasn’t, of course. But when he always seemed to know the exact right things to say and do, she couldn’t help falling for him more every day.
Will wasn’t perfect, either, but he loved you.
She’d been grappling with Will’s ghost for months, the reality of who he had been edging uneasily alongside her grief, and the idea she should honor the dead, no matter their mistakes in life. Allowing herself to acknowledge his imperfections stopped her from comparing Scott to a paragon on a pedestal.
She owed Scott the chance to love her on his own terms, not competing with a shadow.
“... amazing,” she finished. “He’s amazing. The season starts on Sunday, but even with practices, he’s taking Dylan to school every day, and he’s making time for us most evenings. We had a talk before training camp started, and I really doubted we’d make it, especially when I had to shave Gen, but I think we’re going to be okay.”
“D’you think they’ll bring home the championship this year?” Even a non-fan like Cara knew how close the Raptors had come last year.
Abby shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think they have a shot.”
They lost the first game of the season, and the commentators went crazy. Even before the post-game press conference, they were discussing the Raptors in a one-and-done tone and decrying their chances of even making it into the playoffs. Abby shut off the TV and she and Dylan went out for ice cream.
“Dad doesn’t celebrate losses,” Dylan told her between licks.
Still hot and humid, despite being the first week of September, he caught the drips with his tongue before they ran over his fingers and fell to the ground.
Abby snorted. “We’re not celebrating a loss; we’re being defiant their whole season will be defined by one game.”
“Uh-huh,” Dylan agreed, “accidentally” letting a small dollop of ice cream fall to the ground between Gen’s outstretched paws.
Abby frowned. “She can’t eat off the ground, Dylan. It will teach her it’s okay to scavenge for food.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Abby. I didn’t know.”
Abby scooped the ice cream up in a napkin. “I know, kiddo, that’s why I told you. There’s a lot of rules, but you’re doing great.”