The Spire: The Walsh Series by Kate Canterbary

Author:Kate Canterbary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vesper Press

19

Nick

A nonstop flight from Boston to Reykjavík clocked in around six hours. Of those six hours, I spent only seven minutes without Erin on my mind. I wondered whether she preferred aisle or window, and if she was an anxious traveler. She couldn't be, not after years chasing volcanoes around the planet. Once, over a late night video chat, I'd asked her to tell me about the places she'd been and everything she'd seen. She'd flipped through her dog-eared passport, offering up stories to accompany each stamp. Portugal, Japan, Indonesia, Norway, Mexico. This world, she knew all of its corners and crevices.

I debated the likelihood that Erin would want to do things this weekend. Yes, I desperately wanted to enjoy some normal coupledom with her, but my only desire was to put my hands all over her naked body and remind her to whom she belonged. Coupledom could wait until my next visit…or whenever we'd be able to find a more grounded existence.

Then I pictured her in an endless combination of leggings and long-sleeve shirts, and imagined stripping her out of them. At one point, I had to press my iPad to my lap to avoid public indecency charges. To snap my attention off the creamy skin I'd find when rolling those stretchy leggings down, I puzzled through the conversation I wanted to have about Doctors Without Borders.

At her ceaseless urging, I'd applied to the medical relief organization that worked primarily in conflict-ravaged regions. They were willing to accommodate my schedule at the hospital, and that was a blessing, considering that I was only able to commit for two eight week tours. It helped that before specializing in neuro, I'd completed surgical rotations in neonatal and obstetric surgery, as experience in both were desperately needed.

This time, I'd be the one going off the grid for months. I was looking forward to the experience, but not the separation. I was a wuss when it came to separation, and I'd only survived these past months because I was too exhausted to make sense of it all. My tolerance for distance wasn't the same as Erin's, and while I respected that Boston wasn't the warmest, friendliest place for her, I couldn't do this much longer if our contact was limited to email and video chat.

I wanted more, and I couldn't gather the right words to express that to Erin. It was tricky with her, knowing when to broach subjects like home and family. To her, both were on par with a swimming pool full of snakes supervised by evil clown lifeguards. Okay, maybe not that terrible but certainly not her favorite things.

Erin believed there wasn't a home for her there, and there were moments when it sounded as though she didn't believe she deserved one either. Regardless of where the research took her or how many doctorate degrees she wanted to collect, I'd find a way to give her a home. And I wasn't talking about Boston, or even her siblings. Home had nothing to do with place.

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