Our Finest Hour (The Time #1)(33)

I level narrowed eyes on the man who just told me his lips were sealed.

“He’s my closest friend.” He’s giving me a come on look.

“Fine.” I mutter. I can give him that one. Britt knows. It’s the same thing.

Isaac’s eyes light up. “Can I take Claire to the zoo this weekend?”

The word no springs to the tip of my tongue. Claire on her own. At the zoo. Without me. No way.

“Yes! Mommy, please? Can Isaac take me to the zoo?” Claire’s eyelashes crawl up her brow bone as her eyes widen, her face excited and expectant.

“Isaac and I will talk about it.” I smile at Claire, a competent don’t worry kind of a smile. She looks back down to her drawing.

I grab my phone from the purse hanging across my body and type out a message. Isaac’s pocket vibrates a second after I hit the send button.

He pulls out his phone and reads, nose scrunching on one side as he makes a disbelieving face.

His sigh is a slow, steady stream of air pushed through a slit in his lips. I stare behind him, at the sink, the cabinets below the counter, the iPad lying closed on the counter. I just don’t want to look at him right now. I can’t help the way I feel. My dad once told me that sometimes you have to piss people off to take care of your child, but I never knew just what he meant until right now.

A message pops up on my phone. First do no harm. I took an oath.

I can feel Isaac’s gaze on me, imploring me to look at him. Under his scrutiny I type, then delete what I’ve written because it’s too harsh, and type again.

Even doctors can be sickos.

Isaac reads the message and shakes his head. “Come with us.” His voice is soft, a silk scarf wrapping over me.

The paper covering the exam table crinkles beneath my touch. Claire’s hand has stopped moving across the board. Now she’s singing. It’s a song she learned last year in her three-year-old classroom.

I pick my phone back up and respond to Isaac. Before I let you even further into Claire's life, I need to know you better. I need to see where you live. And yes, Claire and I will go to the zoo with you.

He looks at his phone, waiting for the message to appear, and when it does, he reads it. I like the smile spreading across his face. Knowing I put it there makes me happy.

“Friday night,” Isaac says, sliding his phone back into its clip. “After work. Come over and see for yourself that I have a normal home. You can even look through all my drawers.”

I smirk. “Sounds great.” Mollified, I slide off the table and load Claire onto my hip.

For a second Isaac slips back into Dr. Cordova as he gives me instructions on how to wash Claire with the cast. Just as quickly, he sheds the role.

He leans in to hug Claire, and I lean away to give him the space he needs.

Let’s be honest, though. I’m giving me the space I need too.

“See you Friday night.” He holds open the door for us.

I echo his words as I pass him. Claire stays planted on my hip as I walk down the long, white-walled hallway. I don’t need to turn around to know Isaac is watching us leave.

The sound of my dad’s key in the lock takes me by surprise. It’s too early for him to be home from his date.

He walks up behind the couch where I’m sitting. I turn off the TV and twist my upper half so I’m facing him.

“You’re home early,” I say cautiously. He’s been an adult for a long time, but in dating years he’s a toddler. My mother was his first serious girlfriend, and we know how that turned out.

“Yeah.” He grips the back of the couch. “Didn’t work out too well.”

“What happened?”

“She wasn’t my type.”

My head tips to the side. “Do you have anything more to say than that?”

“No.”

I throw my hands in the air and turn back around. He shuffles out, his boots giving away every step of his retreat.

I lean back on the couch and gaze at the picture on the side table. Me, my dad, and Claire, smiling. Two of the people in the picture are stunted, suspended by a moment in time. But the third has managed to escape damage. And she’s the one I have to think of now.





It's amazing how I can be calm in surgery, hands so steady and certain of every slice through skin, every manipulation of bones until they fit back together. But knowing Aubrey's coming over tonight has me hyper.

My apartment couldn't be any cleaner. I could eat off the floor if I wanted to. My favorite carbonara, noodles twisted in a pile on the dark wooden planks, would be like eating off one of the shiny white plates from the set Jenna brought over to replace the colorful ones my mom gave me. That's how much I've cleaned since I got home late this afternoon.

Wait. Does it smell too much like cleaner?

I search the cabinets until I find candles. Also chosen by Jenna. I light one and place it in the center of the kitchen island. Far away from the edge where a child could grab it. See, Aubrey, I can be trusted with Claire.

Tonight is a big deal. Tonight I show Aubrey I can take care of Claire by myself. And for longer than a few hours. It's only been two weeks since Aubrey showed up out of nowhere, dark hair spilling down her back, her eyes fearful. She was worried about Claire's break, sure, but then she saw me, and that's when the real fear took over.