Page 38 of Parallel

The two of them comb through photos while I pretend this isn’t happening. “That one,” whispers Caroline, sounding like the lead detective on a police procedural. “Zoom in.”

“Oh, Lord,” says Trevor. “Quinn, you need to lock that down.”

Caroline grins at me. “You really do.”

I huff in exasperation. “I’m engaged, morons! And you’re both in the wedding. I’m not sure why I need to keep reminding you.”

“Just look at the photo,” Caroline urges, snatching Trevor’s phone from his hand and waving it in my face.

I fold my arms across my chest and close my eyes. “I’m absolutely not going to look at a picture of my doctor in a Speedo.” In part, because I’ve already seen those photos.

“Mmm,” Trevor says, licking his lips. “You know what I’d love? A photo of him in tighty-whities. Damp tighty-whities. My birthday falls right before Christmas. Get one for me. It could be a combination gift.”

“I’m not sure how familiar you are with modern medicine, Trevor, but in this country, we don’t routinely spend time with our physicians whilst dressed in wet tighty-whities.”

He pouts. “I feel like you’re not even trying.”

19

QUINN

On Friday morning, I arrive at my office but don’t go inside. Instead I scan the street for Nick, who’s meeting me here for the trip to New Jersey. He offered to pick me up at home, but it seemed too intimate, somehow. I struggle to ignore the voice in my head insisting that the way we’re meeting, on the surface, looks a lot like cheating.

I spy him in a Jeep, idling on the sidewalk with the top down, and my heart does this dorky little skip at the sight of him.

“Hi, stranger,” I say, leaning my head in the window. “You wouldn’t happen to feel like driving me to New Jersey, would you?”

He smiles at me just the way I remember from some other time, sheepish and cocky at once.

“Sure, pretty girl in a dress. Climb in, and I’ll drive you anywhere you want.”

I open the door and hoist myself in. “You’d make a terrible abductor.”

“I am an excellent abductor, I’ll have you know.”

“You didn’t even offer me candy. Candy is the lynchpin to a successful abduction.”

He grins and reaches into the back, behind the passenger seat, and places a box of Hot Tamales in my lap. I stare at it. “This is my favorite candy.”

His smile falters a little. “Lucky guess.” Yes, a lucky guess…like knowing my favorite pasta and being so certain I was an architect when we first met. He doesn’t see a past with me the way I do, but that knowledge exists somewhere inside him anyway.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” he asks. “We could just play hooky instead.”

For a single moment I allow myself to consider it. What would playing hooky with Nick consist of? A thousand possibilities occur to me and all of them appeal. I exhale. “As off-putting as I found Grosbaum’s excitement about my inoperable tumor, I do feel like I have to check this out.”

I plug the address into the GPS while he maneuvers through the crowded back streets of Georgetown to get us to Canal Road. I’ve felt vaguely guilty about the fact that I’m doing this without telling Jeff, but he’s traveling again and it’s a sunny day—not a cloud in the sky—so I decide I’m just going to give in to the experience. I may not even be around next summer, so if I want to have one perfect day with Nick—a day that actually happened—this is my shot.

“Does Jeff know you’re doing this?” he asks.

I glance at him, wondering if it’s an accusation. “No. Did you tell Meg?”

His eyes remain on the road. “She’s at a conference.”

I guess that’s a no. “I hope it wasn’t a big deal taking off work?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t see patients on Fridays anyway, so I just got someone to cover my morning rounds. What about you?”

I shrug. “I hate my boss and she hates me, but it’s hard to say too much when your employee tells you she has a brain tumor.”