Page 97 of My Fake Dating with the Grumpiest Highlander
The contact is warm.
Comforting.
“Tonight, you saved a child,” she says quietly. “Without hesitation. Without letting fear stop you. You did exactly what needed to be done.”
“This time.”
“Every time,” she corrects softly. “Because you’re a good doctor, Finn. And being a good doctor doesn’t mean never making mistakes. It means continuing anyway, despite the fear.”
I stare at our joined hands.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’ve seen the way you treat your patients. The way you listen to Old Angus even when he invents symptoms. The way you reassured Mrs. Campbell tonight even after she rejected you. The way you knelt beside Robbie and spoke to him like he was the most important person in the world.”
She squeezes my hand lightly.
“That’s what makes a good doctor.”
A long silence settles between us.
“Thank you,” I finally say. “For helping tonight. And for... this.”
I gesture vaguely toward our hands.
Mary smiles and gently pulls hers away.
“You’re welcome. That’s what fake boyfriends are for, right?”
“I don’t think that was part of the agreement.”
“We can renegotiate the terms.”
I laugh despite myself.
A brief laugh.
But real.
We finish our tea in silence.
A comfortable silence this time.
When we finally stand to go upstairs, Mary pauses at the bottom of the staircase.
“Finn?”
“Yeah?”
“What Mrs. Campbell said about McKinnon... she was right.”
I don’t know how to respond to that.
Mary heads upstairs.
I watch her go before turning toward my own room.
The next morning,I wake feeling like I barely slept at all.
