Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,46

it allowed Aislynn some time to calm down.

"Tell me what you've been doing this past year. What happened to the practice?" he asked.

Aislynn forced a deep breath in and out before she answered. "I couldn't stay in Texas. It was very difficult for me to be there after you left. My head wasn't into my work anymore, so I packed my things and left."

"How did Pam handle that?" he said, wincing.

"I'm still getting burned for it, of course. You remember her knack for only bringing up the negative."

"Yes, she always was good at that," he said with a laugh. "What are you doing now, if you're not practicing?"

"I'm writing," she said with a small smile. Wow, it feels good to smile with him.

"You finally did it, huh? You had been talking about doing it for so long. Good for you, love."

It was incredibly hard for Aislynn to hear him use his pet name for her after all this time. Her chest physically ached, but she tried to ignore it.

"It was one of the first things I told you about myself, remember?" she asked, reminiscing about the day they'd met.

She had been an intern at the time, and he had been a lawyer who had come to lecture the residents about the financial aspects of setting up a private medical practice. As part of his lecture, he had made every doctor tell the group what other profession they would've wanted to pursue if they hadn't gone into medicine.

"Writer," Aislynn had said.

"Why a writer?" he had asked.

"Because sometimes I can't shut my brain off, and it helps to write things down. And I can write from anywhere and under almost any condition. That's your point, right? We need to have a plan B in case this medicine thing doesn't work out? I get it," she had said, at first not caring that she was being rude. He stared at her with a smug smile on his face, clearly amused by her rant.

He had gone on to explain that all doctors needed to prepare themselves for the possibility of pursuing a different career if they were to find themselves injured and unable to practice medicine for a living. They needed to secure malpractice and disability insurance that had ample coverage. They also needed to learn how to negotiate contracts so they worked on their advantage if something were to happen to them.

The more Christopher talked, the more mesmerized Aislynn became. The fact that he seemed to direct all his attention to her made him seem even more enticing. He was tall, confident, handsome, and incredibly intimidating. He was also older than Aislynn, she guessed at the time, by ten or fifteen years.

Aislynn had purposely stayed behind after the lecture was over and waited until the conference room had emptied.

"Mr. Sparks, I wanted to apologize for being rude before. I'm post call. Please allow me to blame my behavior on thirty-eight hours without sleep and hardly any food."

"No harm done. I understand, Doctor..."

"Currington. Aislynn," she said nervously.

"Aislynn, you can call me Christopher. How about you allow me to get you some lunch?"

A few days later, they had gone out on their first date; six months later, she had finished her intern year and he had asked her to move in with him; three years later, they had become engaged.

"Are you happy, Aislynn?" he asked, bringing her back from her reverie.

"You care about that now? It's a bit late for that, Christopher," she said, suddenly feeling very angry. There were so many things she still wanted to ask him about the last few months they had been together, but just thinking about them made the pressure in her chest become intolerable.

"I deserve that," he said softly, eyes down to the floor.

Somehow, seeing Christopher that deflated made her feel even worse. She decided then to give him what he needed, but no more. That was as far as she could take things at that point.

"I haven't been happy for a long time, but I'm working on it. After everything you put me through, I think I deserve some happiness," she said with confidence. In reality, she was not only trying to convince Christopher, but herself as well.

Fake it till you make it.

"Does he make you happy, love?"

It was very critical that Aislynn answer that question honestly. "He does. Although, I think I need to do a better job of letting him. He's a very patient man, but I know he won't put up with my crap