“It’s okay,” Caroline said in a thin but steady voice as she studied the incision. “Just a red line with…” She leaned down, her eyes narrowing. “Blue stitches?”

KT laughed. “Prolene. They only come in blue.”

“Cool,” Caroline and Bri said simultaneously.

Still laughing, KT gently palpated Bri’s neck, checked the carotid pulse and the function of the facial nerve branches running through the area, and declared Bri “doing fine.”

“So,” Bri said again. “Can I go back to work before the stitches come out?”

“Ah, no.” KT glanced at Tory, who was shaking her head and muttering something about having heard this story before. “You’re looking at about ten days before you’re ready for work.”

“Ten days!” Bri croaked. “But I…”

“If she says ten days,” Reese interrupted from the doorway, “it’s ten days.” She entered carrying a tray with a plate of pasta and a glass of iced tea and set it down on the bedside table. Then she asked, looking at Tory, “What about desk duty? If she doesn’t drive or leave the building?”

“KT?” Tory punted, having no desire to negotiate with both her lover and her stubborn young protégé.

“One week. Nothing before then.” KT’s tone indicated it was not an issue open to discussion.

“Good enough,” Reese pronounced. She turned her attention to Bri. “Try to eat something and make sure you at least drink. And take advantage of the fact that Caroline is here for a few days. Work will keep.”

Bri reached for Caroline’s hand and nodded as much as she was able. “Yes, ma’am. I got it.”

“Very good.” Reese smiled at Caroline. “Tory and I want both of you to stay here while Bri’s recuperating.”

“Thanks,” Caroline said softly as she reached for the plate and silverware. “For everything.”

“What about my black belt test?” Bri asked suddenly, ignoring the food that Caroline offered. “It’s next week. I need to train.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Reese replied.

“But”

“Honey,” Caroline chided gently. “You have to get well first”

Bri looked as if she were about to protest, but as she focused on the faces of those around her, she seemed to accept that she was outnumbered. Grouchily, she muttered, “Okay. Right. Fine.”

Caroline prevented her from saying anything else by sliding a forkful of pasta into her mouth.

KT and Tory walked out onto the deck where they could discuss Bri’s case in private.

“What do you think?” Tory asked. “The incision seems fine, don’t you agree?”

“I do.” KT leaned her elbows on the railing and studied the harbor beyond the low dunes that separated the house from the beach. “The only real danger at this point is delayed bleeding. As long as she’s relatively quiet for another day or two, that shouldn’t be a problem. I said a week because it’s been my experience that the young, aggressive types like her are hard to hold down.”

Tory laughed. “That’s an understatement. But let me tell you, it has nothing to do with age. Reese is the same way whenever she’s injured.”

KT glanced at Tory. “You sound as if that’s a common occurrence.”

“Unfortunately,” Tory said with a wince, “it is.”

“That’s hard.”

“Very.”

“And I guess there’s nothing you could say to make her give it up.”

Tory shrugged. “She would, if I asked her to. But I can’t. It would take too much from her.”

“You’re happy with her, aren’t you?”

“More than I can say.”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

“And how are things going for you?” Tory inquired gently.

“At the rate I’m going,” KT said quietly, “I’ll know in another month or two if I’m going to be able to operate again.”

“And then?”

KT blew out a breath. “I guess it depends on what the answer is. If I can operate then I’ll go back to work.”

“In Boston.” Tory said it as if it were a given, not a question.

“Well, yes.” KT sounded far less certain. She kept her eyes on the water. “But there’s Pia.”

“Yes. I noticed.”

“I know what you think about me and her, but”

“I was wrong.” Tory lightly grasped KT’s forearm. “I was wrong to make judgments concerning something I knew nothing about. About people I don’t know as well as I thought I did.”

KT turned, her eyes searching Tory’s again. “You know me. The good and the bad.”

“Yes, I do.” Tory smiled faintly. “But not as well as I once did. And for a while, I couldn’t see the good. Or maybe, maybe it’s that falling in love with Pia has brought all those good things out.”

“How did?”

“I know?” Tory laughed. “It’s pretty obvious to anyone who’s looking. Pia is a wonderful woman. She’ll be good for you.”

“She already is.”

Startled by KT’s humble tone, Tory spoke without thinking. “Then why are you thinking about going back to Boston?”

“I what would I do here?” KT asked in frustration. “You have to admit, I’m only a passable family doctor.”

Tory laughed. “The patients love you.”

“Well, it takes more than personality to do your job, and I don’t want them to find out the hard way.”

“KT,” Tory said gently. “Don’t lose her because of a job.”

“Like I did you?”

Tory shook her head. “Maybe I don’t know, and even if I did, it doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is now. I don’t know what you want in your life. I don’t know what Pia wants. But you need to find out before it’s gone.”

KT closed her eyes for a second, then slowly nodded. “Thanks. I’ll try.”

“I’ve never known you to fail at anything you’ve tried.” Tory leaned close and kissed KT’s cheek. “My money’s on you.”

An hour later, Pia backed out of Tory’s driveway and headed west on 6A toward town. She reached across the space between them and stroked KT’s thigh. “You’ve been awfully quiet. Something happen with Tory?”

KT turned on the seat, covering Pia’s hand with her own and holding it against her leg. “What do you mean?”

“The two of you looked like you were having a very serious conversation out on the deck. Since then, you’ve been somewhere else.”

“Sorry.”

Pia glanced at her quickly and then back to the road, shaking her head. “You don’t need to apologize. Is there something wrong?”

“No,” KT said solemnly. “Everything is…great.”

Pia laughed quietly. “You don’t sound like it.” She rubbed her hand in a gentle circle on KT’s thigh. “Is it Tory?”

“Tory?” KT’s voice held a hint of confusion and surprise. “Why?”

Still staring straight ahead, Pia asked, “Are you still in love with her?”

“I’m in love with you, ” KT said immediately. “Only you. And that’s the problem.”

Pia frowned and looked at her quickly. “Why?”

“Because it isn’t simple. Because for the first time in my life, when I try to see my future, I don’t see anything.”

“Do you see us?”

“I want to.”

“Then that’s enough,” Pia said gently.

“How can that be?” KT’s frustration made her voice harsh. “I’ve always known where I was going, what I needed to do to get there. Now I…I’m not even sure where I’m going to be in two months. Who I’ll be.”

While they’d talked, Pia had driven through town. She pulled into the parking lot at Herring Cove and stopped on the long stretch of blacktop that fronted the beach. It was sundown, the air had grown cold as it did near the water at night, and only a lone walker far up the beach shared the solitude. Pia turned on the seat, wrapped her arms around her raised knee, and regarded KT seriously. “Who are you, KT?”

KT ran a hand through her hair distractedly. “I used to be a surgeon.”

“And if you can’t be?”

“I don’t know.” KT shrugged her shoulders. “That sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?”

“No. It just sounds like you haven’t been paying attention to much of anything else for a while.”

KT laughed shortly. “For a while? Try fifteen years.”

“Maybe.” Pia regarded KT evenly. “You’re also bright and determined and focused. You could do almost anything you wanted to do,” At KT’s expression of dismissal, Pia laughed, “I know. Medicine is what you do. Would you consider working with Tory at the clinic?”

“Oh man, I don’t know. It takes a certain kind of person to be good at that. Not just the medicine part, but the people part. That’s never been my strong suit.”

“Everyone has their own style. Some of us like the strong, self-assured type.”

The corner of KT’s mouth twitched. “I thought we were talking about doctoring.”

“I am among other things.” Pia stretched out her arm and ran a finger along the edge of KT’s jaw. “You could work in the ER in Hyannis.”

“I’ve thought of it. I could probably work in the ER in Boston, too.”

“But,” Pia reminded her, “you and I still have a long way to go on that hand, and I think you’ll be operating again before the beginning of the year.”

“If that happens, I think I want to go back to the trauma unit.” KT said it quickly, as if to get the words out before she changed her mind.

Pia was silent for a few moments, and when she spoke again, her voice was carefully neutral. “That makes sense. You’ve been there a long time, and that’s what makes you happy.”

KT’s head snapped around. “You make me happy. Being a trauma surgeon satisfies a need in me to do what I’m good at, to make a difference with my own hands. But you…you make me happy.”

Pia smiled. “I’m glad. You make me happy too.”

“Well hell, then. What are we going to do? You live here.”

“Are we talking about that future that you can’t see clearly now?”

KT laughed. “Yes, God damn it. I’m not comfortable unless I know where I’m going.”

“I want you in my future. I want to be in yours.”

“I want that too.” KT’s gaze was fierce. “I want you, more than anything.”