Page 94 of Perfect Composition

“So what? You’re going to keep Austyn from me?”

I look back over my shoulder and really take a good look at his haggard face. “No, you did that all on your own.”

I open the door. I’m just about to step through when I ask him a final question. “How do you think Mama would have felt if she’d have lived and I’d have died?”

I don’t wait for him to respond before I shut it firmly behind me. Instead, I walk directly to the nurses’ station. My voice sounds husky to my own ears when I declare, “Mr. Kensington may need to be checked on in a few. He may be experiencing a bit of pain.”

“Thank you for letting us know, Dr. Kensington. Should we let you know if his condition worsens?” the nurse asks me.

I shake my head. “Contact my brothers. I’m off duty.”

And I hurry as fast as I can to the elevator. I need to get out of this hospital and get home.

An hour later, tucked under a blanket with a glass of tea in my hands, I’m finally able to discuss what happened. Austyn is curled next to me, and Beckett? He’s pacing in front of us like a caged lion. His fury is a living, breathing thing. I’ve just finished relaying what happened in my father’s hospital room.

“So, what are you going to do, Mama?” Austyn takes my free hand.

I set my tea aside. “I’ve been giving that a lot of thought. I’m definitely leaving Kensington. But I need to determine where to go. I mean, I could move to the city.”

Beckett’s face brightens before falling considerably when I murmur, “I’d get to keep my patients that way.”

“You meant Austin?” he says flatly.

“Well, yes. What did you think I meant?” I stammer.

He opens his mouth and then closes it. His eyes drift to Austyn, who issues him a defiant look.

“If you want to ask her, ask her.”

I rub my temples. “Will one of you stop talking in riddles? God, it’s like having two children right now.”

Beckett squats down in front of me. “We…”

Austyn clears her throat loudly.

He amends. “I think you should give serious consideration to changing your plans.”

I frown. “You mean, don’t sell the business?”

“No. I understand why you feel the need to disassociate yourself from something your father loaned you the capital for once you had the right buyer.”

“It isn’t an easy decision to make. But I can’t be here having built my life around lies and not become bitter about everything in it. Including medicine.”

“Of course not. You have too big of a heart for that, Mama.” Austyn dismisses my concerns.

The tightness in my chest begins to ease a bit. “Thank you, both.”

“For what?” Beckett takes my free hand.

“For at least trying to appreciate what I’m feeling.”

His eyes sparkle much in the same way Austyn’s do when she’s about to propose a half-baked plan I’m going to shoot down in 0.2 seconds. Uh-oh. I brace when his beautiful lips open. “Then why don’t you consider this. Come with us.”

“And do what? I need to work for a living.”

Frustration crosses his face for the briefest of moments before it disappears. “I know. Come to the East Coast and look for a job.”

My mind blanks. All I can do is stare at him. Then he says something that shakes me to my core. “It’s time for you to live the life you were meant to live. Not the one Tyson Kensington wanted to control. So, take the pen. It’s time for you to write your own life song.”