PENN
The alarm on my watch goes off in the middle of rounds.
I look down at it, and for the first time in a long time, I don’t silence it and keep going because today is family dinner.
I set the chart in my hand down and take a breath.
Dr. Harris looks over at me. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I look at the patient’s notes one more time and then hand them to him. “I need ten minutes to pass everything off to you.”
His eyebrows lift. “You’re leaving?”
I don’t blame him for sounding surprised because I’m usually the one that stays. Not today.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “I’m leaving.”
He waits like he expects me to explain, but I don’t.
I go over the last three patients with him, make sure he knows who needs labs checked, who is waiting on imaging, and who needs a follow-up before morning. I answer two questions from a nurse, sign one more order, and then I stop. That’s it.
There will always be a reason to stay, but Aria asked me to come to dinner with our family, so I’m going.
I step into my office long enough to grab my keys and bag. For a second, I look at the couch against the wall. The same couch I slept on too many nights while my wife was home alone, hurting because of me.
My chest tightens, but it doesn’t crush me the way it would have a week ago.
Because I finally told her the truth and she didn’t leave me. She’s giving me another chance to be open and honest with her, and I’m going to give it my all.
I leave the hospital with a lightness in my step I haven’t felt in months.
Outside, the air is warm, and for once, I don’t feel like I’m rushing toward something I’m already late for. Because I’m not late. I set a schedule, and I’m following it.
I stop at the diner first. The second I walk in, the woman behind the counter smiles. “Dr. Brody.”
“Hey, Violet.”
She smiles at me. “What can I get you?”
“A whole Blaze cinnamon cake, if you have one.”
Her smile widens. “For Aria?”
I pause, then I nod. “Yeah. For Aria.”
“I think we have one boxed in the back. Give me just a minute.”
While she goes to get it, I stand there with my hands in my pockets, looking around the diner.
Aria loves this place. She loves the cake, especially.
I still remember the way she took it from my office the other day, mad at me, saying she was going to eat it herself, but I knew she wouldn’t eat it.
She was upset, and she probably ended up giving it away.
Violet comes back with the box and sets it on the counter. “Fresh this morning.”
“Perfect.”
I pay for it, then stop at the small flower shop a few blocks over and grab a bouquet. Not roses. Aria has never been a roses kind of woman. I choose her favorite: daisies.
By the time I pull into Miller’s driveway, there are already a few cars parked out front. Logan’s SUV. Ozzy’s truck. Lindsey’s car. Bree’s minivan.
I park beside Logan and sit there for one second with the cake in my lap and the flowers on the passenger seat. A month ago, I would have been late or I would have disappointed my wife by not showing up at all and not even calling. But not tonight.
I grab the cake and the flowers and walk up to Miller’s front door. Before I can knock, it opens, and Aria is standing there.
The surprise on her face hits me straight in the chest. She’s wearing jeans and a soft blue shirt, her hair down around her shoulders. She looks beautiful, but it’s the look in her eyes that gets me.
“You came,” she says without even trying to hide the pleasure on her face.
I nod. “I told you I’d be here.”
“I know, but…” Her voice trails off.
I step closer, careful not to crush the flowers or the cake between us. “But I’ve said that before.”
Her eyes soften, and she tilts her head. I lean down and rub my nose against hers. “I’m a changed man, Aria, and I’m not taking one second of my life for granted.”
Her breath catches, and I hand her the bouquet first. Her eyes drop to the flowers, then come back to mine. “Penn.”
I gesture to them. “For you.”
She touches one of the petals and smiles. “They’re beautiful.”
“So are you.”
Her cheeks turn pink, and then I lift the cake box. “And this is also for you.”
She looks at it, and her eyes widen. “You got me my favorite cake?”
“Yeah.” I shift the box in my hands. “I know you didn’t eat it the other day. I know you were too upset, and you probably threw it away, so I figured I owed you one.”
For a second, she just stares at me, but then she surprises me when her eyes fill.
Fuck.
“Hey.” I lower my voice. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She shakes her head and takes the cake from me. “I’m not crying.”
I nod at her. “You are.”
She rolls her eyes, smiling at me. “I’m emotional. There’s a difference.”
I smile. “Okay.”
She looks down at the cake again, then back at me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Are you two going to stand in the doorway all night?” Miller calls from somewhere inside. “Because some of us are hungry.”
Aria laughs and steps back. “Come in.”
I follow her inside, and the smell of food hits me immediately. Miller and Lindsey’s house is warm and loud, exactly the way family dinner always is.
Logan is in the kitchen with Bree, setting out plates while Bree directs him like she’s in charge, which we all know she is. Miller is at the counter slicing bread, and Lindsey is pulling a casserole dish from the oven.
Ozzy is outside in the backyard with Eli, who is running in circles around him with a plastic bat in his hand.
I look around. “Where are Mom and Dad?”
“At Zach and Skyler’s,” Aria says, setting the flowers on the counter and the cake beside them. “They’re helping with Grace so Skyler can rest.”
I reach for her hand, and she lets me take it.
“Guy?” I ask.
“West Coast,” Miller says. “Training camp.”
Logan snorts. “Also avoiding questions about that article.”
Bree shoots him a look. “Logan.”
“What? He is.”
Aria leans closer to me and whispers, “He is.”
I look down at her. “You’re enjoying that a little too much.”
Her smile gets bigger. “I’m not.”
I point at her. “You are.”
She shrugs. “Maybe a little. I’ve never seen your brother like that.”
I smile and squeeze her hand.
Lindsey turns and sees the cake. “Oh, you brought Blaze cinnamon cake.”
“For Aria,” I say.
Aria points at me. “He’s learning.”
Bree grins. “Good.”
Logan looks at me. “Did you actually leave work on time?”
“I did.” The room goes quiet for half a second.
Then Miller sets the knife down and gives me a look. “Seriously?”
I pop my shoulders. “Yes.”
Bree’s eyes move to Aria, then back to me. “Wow.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t make it weird.”
“Too late,” Logan says.
Aria laughs, and I love the sound. It feels like it’s been way too long since I’ve heard it.
Eli comes running through the back door a few minutes later out of breath and carrying the bat.
“Uncle Penn!”
I crouch just in time for him to launch himself at me. I catch him and make a show of groaning like he knocked the wind out of me. “Man, you’re getting heavy.”
He grins and then runs around to his spot at the table just as Lindsey reminds him to wash his hands.
Dinner is loud. It always is with this family. Everyone talks over each other, passes food, laughs, argues about who gets the last roll, and somehow manages to make a simple meal feel like an event.
Aria sits beside me, close enough that her knee presses against mine under the table. Every so often, she looks at me like she’s checking to make sure I’m still here.
We talk about Grace through most of dinner. How tiny she is. How Zach is already losing his mind. How Skyler sent a picture of him asleep in the chair with Grace on his chest and one hand still holding the baby monitor even though they were in the same room.
And the whole time, both Aria and I are smiling and laughing because even though we have some tough decisions ahead, we both feel lighter. I slide my hand under the table and rest it on her thigh, and she covers it with hers.
Aria squeezes my hand, and I lean closer.
I ask quietly. “You okay?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
I give her a pointed look. “Really?”
Her eyes shine a little, but her smile stays. “Really.”
After dinner, Lindsey cuts into the cake, and Aria takes the first bite. She closes her eyes like it’s the best thing she’s ever tasted.
I lean back in my chair and watch her.
“What?” she asks.
I stare at her mouth. “Nothing.”
She tilts her head. “You’re staring.”
I nod, already thinking about what I want to do to her when we get home. “I know.”
Her smile grows. “Why?”
“Because I can.”
Her cheeks turn pink again, and I’ve decided that I love making her blush.
Miller groans from across the table. “Can you two not be like that over dessert?”
Logan points his fork at him. “You’re one to talk.”
Lindsey laughs, and Bree joins in, and soon everyone is giving everyone else a hard time.
I take all of it in. My wife is sitting beside me, eating cake with one hand while the other sits on my thigh. I get to see her smile and laugh and cut up with my family. To think that I almost lost this makes me pause. I’m not sure what I would do without Aria, but I hope I never find out.
No, I’m not going to take a second of this life for granted. I’m going to live it, loving my wife and doing my best to give her everything she wants. Whatever that may be.