Nick: Hey. Fucker.
Riley: Is that what we're calling me now?
Nick: Just got home from biking with Matt. Funny conversation we had this morning.
Nick: He wants to know why he should keep a SHOTGUN handy around me
Riley: Yeah…
Nick: And…?
Nick: What the hell did you say to him?
Riley: He would never actually suspect anything. He thinks I'm just riding your ass.
Riley: Honestly, he's fine. He doesn't listen to half of what I say.
Nick: WHAT DID YOU SAY
Riley: Nothing
Riley: He just mentioned that Erin was flying in for the holiday
Riley: Which was news to me
Riley: Perhaps you two could loop me in, you know? It's easier to keep a lid on the shit when it's not flying at me blind. I don't appreciate getting my news from Matt.
Nick: …and?
Riley: And I offered some humorous commentary along the lines of him keeping an eye on you
Nick: Oh. Awesome. Thanks for that.
Riley: I was joking!
Nick: Yeah, well, he took it seriously enough to ask if there was something he needed to know
Nick: And it was five in the fucking morning so no, I didn't handle that one well at all
Riley: Sorry man. My bad.
Riley: For what it's worth, he always assumes the best.
Riley: It's really fucking annoying
Nick: Are you all good?
Riley: You mean, am I still in love with my brother's wife? Because yeah. I am.
Riley: Nothing new on that front. Same shit, different day.
Nick: You need to get laid. Get under someone and get over her.
Riley: Tried. Failed.
Nick: …failed? Do you need a urology referral?
Riley: Shut the fuck up
Riley: It was a good time for all involved until I called her Lauren.
Riley: And not, like, over dinner. On the precipice of a rather pivotal moment.
Nick: Don't tell me you called her Lauren during
Riley: Fuck yes during
Nick: Shit
Nick: Dude…
Riley: Yeah, you really don't have to explain to me how fucked up that is. I get it.
Nick: What did she do?
Riley: Asked if I called her Lauren, then asked if I knew her name
Riley: I did not.
Riley: I'd been calling her Lauren in my head since I met her
Riley: Then she took my phone and deleted her number
Riley: All I knew was that if I looked at her from the right side, she looked enough like Miss Honey
Nick: STOP WITH THE CALIFORNIA GIRLS
Riley: I know. I know.
Riley: But then I see a little blonde, and my penis starts plotting
Nick: Does it help? Finding girls that look like her?
Riley: Oh, fuck no.
Nick: Then stop trying to find a Lauren stand-in
Riley: All these things you say, they make easy words but not so easy practice.
To: Nick Acevedo
From: Erin Walsh
Date: November 23
Subject: check the weather…
There's a winter storm headed straight for me. Snow, ice, winds, storm surge. Flying out tomorrow night isn't looking good.
To: Erin Walsh
From: Nick Acevedo
Date: November 23
Subject: check the weather…
We're not going to assume the worst just yet…but see if you can get out on an earlier flight.
To: Nick Acevedo
From: Erin Walsh
Date: November 23
Subject: check the weather…
I'm going to the airport. I'm small enough to be a stowaway.
To: Erin Walsh
From: Nick Acevedo
Date: November 23
Subject: Do not get arrested
No sneaking onto airplanes, wife. I want you back here, but not because an Air Marshall found you in a cargo hold and you're being repatriated. You're tough, but not the kind of tough required for federal prison.
"Goddamn cuntsucking bullshit blizzard," she yelled. I had to hold my phone away from my ear.
"Slow down, Skip," I said. I was jogging downstairs, on my way to meet my first-year residents in the emergency room to weigh in on a new case. "What's going on?"
"My motherfucking flight's been cancelled," she said. There was a sniffle, too, one that sounded like she'd been crying.
"It's fine," I said, attempting some calm in this conversation. "You can get another flight."
"The airport's been closed," she said. "There are no other flights."
"Okay, okay, what about…" I came to a stop at the ground floor and leaned against the stairwell wall as I searched my mind for alternatives. I had nothing, just a mental montage of the Mission: Impossible and Taken movies. None of that was going to work in this situation, and I was no Liam Neeson.
"Nick," she said, her voice soft and sad. "I'm not coming."
My head dropped back and bumped the cinderblock wall as I sighed. This wasn't just a weekend with Erin. This was the weekend when everything was going to change for us, and now…fuck. It was fucked. "The storm will pass," I said, desperate now as I felt it slipping away like sand through my fingers. "The airport will reopen. What about later in the week?"
"They're saying everything will be shut down until Friday morning. Even if I was able to get the first flight out and it was going directly to Boston, I'd be turning right back around. I was going to give you an early birthday blowjob, too."
My pager vibrated on my hip. "I'm so sorry, Skip. I have to get to the ER," I said, choking down my frustration. We couldn't lose this weekend. Not when she had a jam-packed calendar this winter, and I was leaving for Kenya in February, and even the most liberal reading of our schedules had us on different continents straight through the summer. "Go back to your apartment. I don't care how many mountains and glaciers you've climbed, I don't want you out in the middle of a blizzard. I'll call you tonight."
"This one isn't even my fault," she murmured, and there would never be a time when the vulnerability in her voice wouldn't cut right through me. "The one time I was ready to go home, and I get an extratropical cyclone thrown at me."
"This changes nothing. You're still ready." My pager buzzed again. "I'm sorry, darlin'. My residents need me," I said, groaning. "If I leave them alone long, they interpret it as permission to perform procedures without me, and that's not good for anyone."
"Okay," she said. "But this storm? If I believed in anything, I'd tell you it's a sign that this was a terrible idea. That I shouldn't go home, that we shouldn't tell them that we're together, that everything I touch turns terrible."
"Stop. That's bullshit. Go home, lovely. Stay warm, and we'll talk later," I said. "And don't tell me you don't believe in anything. You believe in everything, and that's only one of the reasons I love you."
I hung up before Erin could argue with me, and sprinted toward the emergency room. I wasn't going to listen to her telling me that I was wrong, that I didn't understand how she couldn't be loved, but I couldn't bear to hear her say it back either.