I took a calm sip of the porridge that had gone cold.
“You did the right thing.”
Next week, we were leaving for the overseas branch. The department had put together a farewell dinner to see us off.
“Everyone, remember to bring your other half!”
I looked at the ugly scar on my wrist, then at Head Nurse Meredith Lawson's beaming face. The refusal sitting on my tongue never made it past my lips.
I called Denys：“There's a dinner tonight. Spouses are supposed to come……are you free?”
Wherever he was, the music was deafening, loud enough to make my eardrums ache.
“Hello? Hang on……”
The background noise dropped a little, as if he'd stepped into a hallway.
“Go ahead. What is it?” A thread of irritation ran through Denys's voice, the tone of someone interrupted.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Cornelia's favorite band is on tour. I managed to get floor seats. She was supposed to go with a friend, but the friend bailed on her.”
“The venue's in a rough area. A young girl alone isn't safe.”
I gripped my phone. My left hand tightened around it.
Denys waited a beat, then sighed：
“Nellie, Cornelia's barely in her early twenties. A girl that age is most vulnerable when she's stranded somewhere alone. She's still inside waiting for me, so please don't start with me right now.”
He didn't wait for me to say another word. The line went dead.
At seven o'clock, I was standing outside the hotel entrance.
After Denys hung up, I'd still left him a voicemail explaining tonight's dinner.
The autumn rain came without warning, slanting across the steps.
I hadn't brought an umbrella. All I could do was press myself behind a pillar and watch the traffic stream past.
In that moment, a thought crept in: if Denys walked out of that concert halfway through and drove here,
even if he only sat with me for ten minutes, I would tear up the transfer agreement.
An hour passed. My sleeves were soaked through.
The damaged nerve beneath the scar began to throb, a low, persistent ache.
I turned and went inside, stopping in the restroom first to deal with my drenched pant legs.
When I pushed open the door to the private dining room, every seat was already taken.
Denys was sitting directly across from the entrance.
Beside him, radiant and smiling, sat Cornelia.
They were dressed in matching tones, looking for all the world like a perfect couple.
“Nellie! Come sit over here!” Cornelia waved me over, her smile wide and guileless.
Every table was paired off, two by two. Only I, the supposed guest of honor, stood there like an intruder who didn't belong.
Meredith faltered, glancing between me and Denys, then quickly ushered me toward the empty chair beside him.
“Denys, what kind of husband are you? How could you let Nellie walk in here all by herself?”
Cornelia looped her arm through Denys's on cue, tilting her face up with a coy little laugh：“Oh, you've got it wrong. Denys is here tonight as my ‘close friend.’”
Denys lowered his head, took a sip of tea, and offered a flat：“Mm.”
The air in the room solidified for one long second.
Meredith scrambled to smooth things over：“Well, that works too. You're all family anyway, so what does it matter who sits where?”
Denys lifted his gaze and met mine. Whatever he saw there, my face gave him nothing. For once, he lowered his voice and offered an explanation：
“Cornelia's pretty, and that makes her a target in her department. Lately there've been a few male patients who won't leave her alone. She's scared, so I'm running interference.”
“Everyone here knows you're married. Nobody would be tactless enough to bother Mrs. Henson.”
“She's never even been in a relationship. She's innocent. I have to look out for her.”
Once again, he chose, without hesitation, the person who “needed protecting more.”
The first time had been at the multi-car pileup on the highway. He'd been too busy calming a terrified Cornelia to see my messages, the ones I'd sent after a steel rebar went through my hand.
