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“Thanks, baby. I’m not there quite yet. Maybe I will be soon.” She refills our glasses. “How about you? Are you dating?”
I shake my head. “I don’t have any time for that right now. I went on a few dates this year. No one really did anything for me. I’m kind of sick of all the guys from medical school. Maybe I’ll have more interest in the fall once studying is behind me. I’m sure I’ll meet new people when my residency begins.”
She nods. “That makes sense. Just make sure you enjoy yourself, Harley. Trust me, life goes by very fast.”
She’s drifting. “Mom, can I grab my letter.”
“Yep, let me get it from the safe.” She comes back a few minutes later and hands it to me. I head into the guestroom so that I can read it alone. I sit on the bed and look at the front of the envelope.To Harley Madison Lawrence Upon Your Medical School Graduation. I open it and start to read.
Harley:
Congratulations, baby girl! I’m so proud of you. Twenty-six years of studying your ass off has finally come to a successful close. There was never a doubt in my mind that this day would come.
When you pass your Boards, and officially become a doctor, I’ll have a lot more to say about what you’ve accomplished. Today, your dear old Dad wants to talk to you about life. Of course, you’ve been an adult since you turned eighteen years old (and have acted like one since you were about three), but you’ve been in school until now, so your actual adult life really begins today.
Baby doll, stop and take a breath. Smell the roses. Enjoy your life. For so many years, you’ve been entirely focused on the goal of becoming a doctor, that I think you’ve missed out on life a bit. I don’t want that for you. Spend time with your mother and sisters. Enjoy one another. Go to the shore more. I know you love that. Smell the ocean. Take long walks in the sand. Go out with friends. Drink too much. Laugh too much. Go out on dates. I won’t elaborate on what you should do on those dates, but I imagine you catch my drift at this point.
I’m thrilled that you are about to achieve your lifetime goal of becoming a doctor, and I’m incredibly proud of you, but there’s more to life than that. Do you think my successful business career would have meant anything at all to me if I didn’t have you girls and your mother? Find someone special to share your life with you. My wish for you is to find the kind of love your mother and I had, and to create a family together. You’re a 21st-century woman. You can have it all.
I know you’re going to spend the next several weeks studying for your Boards. That’s what you have to do. Once that’s behind you, live it up. Find happiness.
I’ll talk to you again in a few months once those pesky Boards are behind you.
I love you always,
Dad
I’m crying. I cry at all his letters. He’s not wrong. I know it in my heart. Maybe that’s why I’ve been so down. I thought that finally achieving my lifetime goal would make me happy, and make me feel fulfilled, but that’s not how I feel at all. I feel like something’s missing.
I’m hesitant to show Mom my letter. She’s having such a good day. I hate to make her cry, and she’ll most definitely cry from this letter. I wipe my tears, so she doesn’t see them. I put a smile on my face, and walk back into the kitchen, where she’s anxiously waiting.
“Hey, Mom. It wasn’t really what I thought it was going to be. It wasn’t as much about congratulating me on my graduation. It was him giving me some good life advice. I think I needed to hear it. Would you like to read it?”
She looks at me with trepidation. “You don’t mind?”
“Of course not.” I hand it to her. I watch her read it. She has tears in her eyes as she finishes it, but she’s not hysterical.
She grabs my hand. “He’s right. You do need to start having things in your life that are more than just school and medicine. You need to find happiness, Harley.”
“I know he’s right.” I look at her. “I think it applies to you too, Mom. You’re too young and too beautiful to sit here alone all the time. You need to find happiness too.”
She wipes her tears and stands up straight. She gives me a big smile and holds out her other hand. I take it. “How about you and I both pledge to push ourselves out of our comfort zones over the next year?”
I remove my hands from hers and hug her. When I pull back, I squeeze her hand and shake on it. She shakes mine back. “Mom, we have ourselves a deal.”
CHAPTERTHREE
THE PAST
BRODY
“Good morning, class. Today I want to tell you the story of a man we’ll call Phillip. Phillip was a high school football player who was injured in a helmet-to-helmet collision. The C-3 and C-4 vertebrae in his neck were fractured. In fact, the vertebrae literally exploded, as he crushed the front of his spinal cord.” Harley raises her hand and I nod toward her.
“Professor Cooper, that sounds a lot like the same injury as the actor Christopher Reeve.” She’s so damn smart. I’ve had her in my class for nearly three months now. Liz was right. She’s got a brilliant mind. She works harder than any of the students in the class. She sees things that others just don’t see. She’s always at least one step ahead of everyone else, me included.
I’ve also had to bear witness to every man, and even a few women, in this class hitting on her. She does absolutely nothing to encourage it, yet it’s a daily occurrence for her.
Though she shouldn’t have to, she goes so far as to wear baggy clothes to hide her sensational body. It’s in such contrast to what I saw her wearing the night we met. If possible, she’s sexier like this. I haven’t seen her wear a speck of make-up since that night, and her face is simply flawless. She’s the epitome of effortless beauty.
