Page 1 of Yours to Keep

1

BREE

The champagne tasted sweet, like victory. Earlier in the day, I had signed my name on a five-year contract that officially made me a nurse practitioner at the hospital I had always wanted to work at. It was my forever dream, and it all still felt entirely surreal, even when Ellora slammed into me, hugging me like I might disappear if she let go.

“I’m so proud of you,” Ellora gushed, still holding on tight. “I knew it,” she said into my hair before pulling back to wipe tears from under her eyes. “Saint Raphael’s was never going to be stupid enough to let you go.”

Mercedes flagged down the waiter, ordering another bottle of ludicrously priced champagne. Then she raised her glass to me. “To Bree. Here’s to finally being able to boss the doctors around when you prove them wrong. Maybe one of them will have a kink for hot bossy nurse practitioners.” She pumped her eyebrows and brought her glass to her lips. “Hubba hubba.”

I laughed and took another sip of my champagne. “Thanks, guys, and thanks for dropping your husbands like hot potatoes tonight to come celebrate with me on no notice at all.”

“A few hours away from home will make it so much more fun when I get back there,” Mercedes said, her cheeks flushing and a definite twinkle sparking to life in her eyes.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “Why is that?”

“Welllll,” she hedged. “You see, when a mommy and a daddy really love each other⁠—”

“She and Kody are trying for a baby, remember?” Ellora said bluntly, smirking as she glanced at me. “No luck yet, but apparently, the fun is in the trying. So they’ve been trying. A lot. And talking about it even more. Which doesn’t result in babies, for the record,” Ellora added in a pleading tone.

“It is fun.” Mercedes let out a content sigh. “Seriously, Kody has been insatiable these last few months. It’s been awesome. You should try it.”

“Holden and I have only been married a year.” Ellora laughed, but her cheeks flushed in a way that made me think she wouldn’t be opposed to all that trying. “Besides, we’re pouring every spare minute into the foundation right now, but we’ll get there.”

Despite the lighthearted mood around the table, my heart gave a pang when I thought about Holden starting a foundation in honor of Ellora’s mother. Sara had been Ellora’s best friend and her number one supporter, until she’d been diagnosed with early onset dementia and everything had changed.

For a few months, I’d been her nurse. That was how I’d met Ellora, and I would never forget her mother. Thanks to Holden, many people out there would never forget her either. Through their foundation, they did all sorts of charity work to support dementia patients and their families, and their efforts were making a massive difference in the lives of people who needed it most. I knew the work they did brought Ellora some peace, but I also knew the deep ache she still felt over the loss of her mother.

Ellora took a deep, steadying breath and smiled as she set her glass down. “More to the point, I still can’t believe you’re going to be at Saint Raphael’s permanently. This is huge. You’ve wanted that since, well, forever.”

I blinked away the tears that had jumped into my eyes at the thought of Sara and refocused on my friends, the here and now. “Some people have vision boards. I had tunnel vision.”

Mercedes wrapped her manicured fingers around her glass and studied my face. “You know, I don’t think I actually know why you’ve always wanted that hospital so bad. All I know is that it was the goal, but why?”

The noise of the restaurant faded a little as the question settled in my brain, and I traced a finger through the condensation on my glass as I thought about my answer. “When I was a kid, my dad had a heart attack. He collapsed one night in the kitchen, out of nowhere. I remember the sound my mom made when he went down. It was the most awful moment of my life, but the ambulance took him to Saint Raphael’s and the staff there saved his life.”

Ellora’s expression softened. Mercedes reached over and squeezed my hand, and I nodded slowly as I glanced between them. “I never forgot the nurses who sat with me in the waiting room. One of them let me color on her clipboard because she said it made me look official, and I decided that when I grew up, I wanted to be them. Someone who shows up on the worst day of a stranger’s life and makes it survivable.”

For a beat, neither of them spoke. Then Mercedes sniffed. “Okay, wow.”

Ellora nodded solemnly. “I was about to say something inspirational, but now I just want to cry into the breadsticks.”

I laughed. “Please don’t. These are garlic.”

Ellora leaned back. A smug little smile spread on her lips as the mood around the table lifted again as naturally as it had dipped. “Well, now that you’ve got your dream job with your ultimate employer, there’s only one thing missing.”

I narrowed my eyes. “If you say all you need now is a man, I’m leaving.”

Mercedes shot me an excited, beaming grin. “All you need now is a man.”

I groaned and dropped my forehead onto the table. “Why are you like this?”

“Because we’re married,” Ellora said as if she was explaining gravity. “And marriage is amazing. You’d love it.”

“You really would,” Mercedes agreed. “Because of Kody, I basically live in leggings and optimism. What more could a girl ask for?”

I lifted my head. “Affordable scrubs and orthotics. A laundry fairy. A chocolate cake recipe that magically has no calories. Should I keep going?”

Ellora laughed. “We’re just saying, your life is perfect now. Dream job. Awesome best friends. You deserve love too.”