Page 101 of The Callahan Effect

Jack's fingers tightened around mine.

"I kept trying to tell myself that."

"But you couldn't believe it."

He lowered his eyes for a moment before looking back at me.

"I wanted to. I just couldn't risk seeing disappointment on your faces because of me."

Coach rested his hand over Jack's.

"You know I've always been proud of you."

Jack nodded without hesitation.

"I do."

"Then don't ever think you have to protect me from disappointment over something you can't control. I'd have been disappointed if the operation hadn't worked. Of course I would've. I wanted this for you every bit as much as you wanted it for yourself." His voice softened. "But disappointment would've lasted a little while. Loving you will last your entire life."

The room settled into a different kind of silence than the one we'd lived with since I'd met him. This silence wasn't born from absence. It was filled with understanding, gratitude, and the slow realization that the life sitting across the table from us had quietly changed forever without either Coach or me having the slightest idea it was happening.

I found myself studying Jack in a way I never had before.

The confidence I'd watched growing over the previous few weeks suddenly made perfect sense. I'd noticed the subtle changes without understanding where they came from. He'd carried himself differently. There had been a quiet certainty replacing the hesitation I'd first fallen in love with, and I'd assumed it came from succeeding in medical school, from helping me through my recovery, or simply from becoming more comfortable in our relationship. Now I understood that every one of those changes had been happening while he fought one of the biggest battles of his life completely alone.

Coach leaned back in his chair, studying his son for a long moment before the corners of his mouth lifted.

"How on earth did you disappear for surgery without either of us suspecting a thing?"

Jack looked almost sheepish.

"I told you I was attending a medical conference."

Coach stared at him.

"The airway reconstruction conference?"

Jack nodded.

"I made it up."

I burst into laughter.

"You lied to both of us."

"I did."

"And Dr. Juneau was part of it?"

"She drove me to the hospital, stayed with me the whole time, and brought me home afterward."

Coach let out a slow breath and shook his head.

"I'm going to have a conversation with your doctor friend."

Jack's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"She said you probably would."