My student loans had not disappeared.
The inheritance was gone.
My reputation had been damaged, and there were people who would continue to believe the worst about me.
I could not control all of that.
What I could control was what I did next.
I took out my new hospital badge and held it against the reader.
For a second, my hand shook.
Then the machine beeped, and the door clicked open.
Dr. Patel appeared at the end of the corridor.
“You’re early.”
“I didn’t sleep much.”
She gave me a measured look.
“That will have to change. Exhausted doctors make mistakes, too.”
“I’ll remember that.”
She glanced at my badge.
“And Lucas?”
“Yes?”
“No more weddings.”
Her expression was stern, but there was the faintest hint of a smile.
I nodded.
“No more weddings.”
Then I walked through the door.
I had returned to the career I had worked so hard to build, but I was not returning as the same man who had stood beside Alicia’s bed and convinced himself that saying yes was the kindest thing he could do.
