The Exception by Lauren H. Mae
Nineteen
“So, do you come here often?” Trav held the door for Sonya at the pub she’d chosen, and she passed him, shrugging off her shawl to expose her bare shoulders.
“Stop with the cheesy lines,” she groaned.
He laughed. “Sorry. I’m still feeling awkward about asking you if you wanted to get out of there, so I’m using humor to cope.”
“Very psych 101 of you.” She walked straight to the bar like she owned the place, and climbed onto a stool. “And yes, I come here a lot. My friends and I.”
“Is the food good? I didn’t eat.” He took the stool beside her and looked around. It was busy, most people dressed like they’d come from work even though it was past eight now. It must be good enough to stick around.
Sonya looked him up and down. “I forgot you’re new here. You should definitely add this place to your list. The wings are great and the drinks are strong.”
“Thanks for the tip. Maybe I’ll add it to my ‘takeout on the couch’ list.” He took off his jacket and hung it on his chair. “This is actually my first time out with another person since I’ve been back. And I’m not actually new to the area. I grew up here. In Fairfax.”
Her eyes narrowed in a way he hadn’t seen in weeks, and he held his hands up. “Now before you go accusing me of lying, I never told you I was new here, just that I didn’t know anyone.”
The bartender came over and Sonya ordered a beer without looking at the list. He asked for the same.
“So tell me how those two things coexist,” she said. “Not being new and not knowing anyone.” She crossed her legs and let her high-heel dangle from her toes.
He’d probably tell her that story another time if she asked, but tonight he liked that they both seemed to be enjoying themselves already. Something about her expression had changed the moment they’d walked through the door, like she’d put down a whole bunch of heavy things.
Their conversation last week still played on a loop in his brain. He hadn’t told anyone that story. He’d skimmed over it with his therapist, kept it completely from Marielle. But in that moment all he cared about was making sure Sonya knew she wasn’t alone in that feeling of helplessness. Even if it meant opening an old wound. And then it had taken a different turn.
“The crowd I ran with when I was younger, they weren’t exactly a good influence.” He took a sip, remembering. “Not that I was without blame—I made my choices—but there came a time when I needed to make a decision and it had to be all or nothing.”
She studied him, probably picking up that he was leaving out some details. Can’t bullshit a psychologist. He’d learned that early enough.
“And that decision involved moving away from here?” she asked.
“To Afghanistan, to be exact. Well, first Fort Bragg. Bootcamp has a way of turning off that little switch in your brain that wants to get into trouble. It took a lot of push ups and latrine duty, but mine got sorted.”
Sonya swallowed from her bottle, pointing it at him. “That switch was the first thing I noticed about you.”
He laughed. “Oh, really?”
“Yep. I took one look at you, Doctor Ben, and I said this one’s trouble.”
He might have been offended at yet another snap judgment made against him if she wasn’t smiling at him. “My first inclination is to say takes one to know one, but I get the strong feeling that’s not the case with you.”
She pressed a hand to her chest and let her mouth drop open. “Are you saying I’m boring?”
“Not at all.”
She blew out a breath then took another chug from her bottle. “No. You’re right. Sometimes I bore myself to tears.”
He felt the smile slide off of his face. “You can’t be serious.”
“Did you know I was supposed to be married right now?”
He blinked at her, caught off guard. “Um… I heard a little—”
“I flew all the way to Hawaii without telling a soul that I was going to elope.”
Wait. Hawaii? The flight they met on…
He rubbed at the back of his neck, replaying that interaction in his head. He’d done it a few times since they’d become friends, punishing himself for not seeing a good thing coming. Thrown together with one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met, and he managed to screw it up by slipping into that cocky facade that kept him from having to connect.
Sonya had let him off easy compared to what she could have done, and he’d thanked his lucky stars for it, but now he knew what a kindness it really was. Sonya wasn’t the type to take her shit out on someone else, though. She was a lot better than that—than most people, really.
“But it didn’t happen,” he said. “The wedding.”
“It didn’t.” Her shoulders sagged and she blew out a breath. “The one time I try to go off script, it comes crashing down.”
“Is that something you struggle with?” he asked. “The need to control a situation?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Don’t psychoanalyze me, intern.”
He laughed, unoffended. “I’m not. I swear. It’s just, I get that, or at least the general idea. I’ve always had trouble with the opposite. Structure scares the hell out of me.”
“And yet…” she gestured to his front.
“What?”
“That just surprises me, is all. You still sit like a soldier. You march around like one too.”
He leaned back in his stool and rubbed at his chin. “Running off to get married was your parachute moment. Signing up to be told what to do every day of my life was mine.”
“What’s a parachute moment?”
She scrunched her nose and it was so adorable, he laughed under his breath.
“You know, the minute where you feel yourself crashing and decide you have to eject. Then you say “Oh, fuck. I hope my parachute works.”
She snorted a laugh, nearly choking on her beer, and damn if it wasn’t the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
“That’s a good one.” She pointed her bottle at him again, and even though it was only half empty, the vodkas she’d had at the gala must have been kicking in because this was the most he’d gotten out of her since they’d met. Something told him if he shut up and let her talk, he was going to get to see a whole other side of nurse Sonya.
Considering the way seeing her in that dress had affected him, it was possible that he should change the subject before he saw any more sides, but his discipline was waning.
He leaned an elbow on the bar getting closer to that pretty smile. She was full-on giggling now and it was like he’d entered the Twilight Zone.
That evening she'd come into the break room wearing sneakers and scrubs flashed in his brain. The first little glimpse of what he was now seeing was the Sonya her friends probably got. Here in this place she felt comfortable in, a little booze in her blood making her loose. He wasn’t sure if he was excited at the idea of seeing this side, or disappointed that now he’d have to go back to the way things were knowing this existed just out of reach for him. Getting just this little glimpse had his brain reeling with all of the ways Sonya was still a mystery to him.
“Whew,” she said when she’d calmed her laughing fit. “This is getting intense.”
He cracked a smile. “Is it?”
“Let’s play darts.”
He turned over his shoulder to see a pair of boards in a corner. Sonya was already out of her seat.
He scooped up both of their beers and followed her. “I’m not sure I’m ready to give you sharp pointy things to throw in my presence, Nurse Ratched.”
She gasped, slapping him on the forearm. “You did not.”
He smiled at her expression, and the touch. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve heard that one before?”
“Adam called me that all through college.”
“Who’s Adam?”
“My friend Emma’s husband. They were college sweethearts.” She picked up the darts and handed him half. “And then Dylan started in with it because he’s about as original as a frat boy drinking from a red Solo cup.”
Trav scratched at his jaw, trying to keep his smirk from growing. “And Dylan is?”
“Dani’s boyfriend. Though, at first he was just Josh’s business partner.” She stepped to the line and closed one eye, making a throwing motion with her wrist. “Then Dylan and Dani hooked up and fell into some weird love affair that’s eighty-percent sarcasm and twenty-percent these sweet smiles I didn’t think either of them had in them.”
“Dani is a woman?”
“Mm-hmm. Danica.” She seemed to consider something. “You’d like her, actually. She has that same trouble switch.”
“I don’t know about that.”
Sonya winked at him. “She’s also super hot.”
He watched her throw her dart, unsure of how he felt about that comment. For some reason it rubbed him the wrong way, Sonya insinuating he might be attracted to her friend. Obviously she hadn’t meant for it to go anywhere since this woman was clearly in a relationship, but there were all sorts of lines forming tonight that he hadn’t seen before and that one was one he didn’t like crossing.
He stepped into the small space between her and a table. He set the beers down and let his arm brush hers. “In my experience, it’s opposites that attract.”
“That would be Josh and Cat,” she said, oblivious to his point.
“More friends?”
“Yes. Now, they are the mushiest couple you’ll ever meet but they’re nothing alike. Cat’s like a little bulldog, five foot one, always growling, and I don’t think Josh has ever met a person he didn’t like. Except maybe the bartender here. Now that is a story.”
Trav watched her fall into another fit of giggles over what was clearly an inside joke. Even though he had no idea who or what she was talking about, he laughed along. Her laugh was contagious.
“How did you and your ex fit in with all of these couples—the college sweethearts, the mushy ones, the sarcastic ones—what was your superlative?”
Sonya’s shoulders fell on a sigh. “Marcus and I didn’t have one.” She picked up her beer and drained it, and he caught the attention of a waitress, gesturing for two more.
Sonya pointed at her chest. “Me? I’m the responsible one. Sometimes the tough love one. I’m the one who always has my shit together. But we? We were never anything together.”
Trav leaned back into the table, watching something play out on her face.
“It’s funny, I never noticed until I took off that damn ring that wearing it somehow made me feel like I fit into some “got my life together” club. But the man, the one who that ring was supposed to tell the world was mine, he had nothing to do with it. It was just something to check off my life list.”
She looked over her shoulder at him and a sad smile crossed her lips. Somewhere deep inside his chest, a screw tightened. Sonya was stunning, sure, but more than that, she was a brilliant nurse, compassionate in a way he’d forgotten existed after having his dad for a medical role model all those years. It was clear she was a good friend to everyone, and to think of her lonely all this time, trying to be strong, made him thankful for every time he’d pushed her buttons and made her crack a smile. He wondered what it might be like to have that opportunity outside of work. He wondered if he could maybe get a couple more in tonight.