Desiring Dylan - Suzanne Jenkins Page 0,3
love us together. I care about you, Landon. I want you. I love having sex with you. When we’re together and we’re not fighting, it’s wonderful. I can chill with you, and it’s the only time I chill. But that’s all that I’m capable of right now.”
“I always wondered how people got through residencies married and with children. It dumbfounded me,” Tina shared. “I had a colleague who gave birth, a C-section no less, on Friday and came back to work on Monday. They let her sit down whenever possible, and granted, a neurology residency isn’t as physically demanding as a surgical residency, but I knew I could never do that. I could never leave my newborn baby.”
No one said anything, it didn’t have anything to do with the conversation and made Landon feel worse. No one would bat an eyelash if someone at her job took two months off to have a baby. So, give them a gold medal for risking their lives to return to work.
“Look, I appreciate your concern, but I’m done. Dylan has made it clear that he is focused on his job, and that’s fine. But in the meantime, stop wasting my time. You guys finish up. Thanks for everything and whatever.”
It was up to her if she could keep going. But she was through. He asked her, “Where do you think you’re going? What’s wrong?”
“Ha! We’ve talked in a circle. I don’t need a reason to go. I’m not staying here.”
“So just like that, you’re going to leave me?”
“I’m leaving now, before you break my heart, Dylan.”
“What about me?”
“What am I saying?” she cried. “My heart is already broken.”
She got up and walked away, aware of the eyes on her back.
Tina cried out, “Landon, don’t leave me with these two knuckleheads!”
“You gonna let her go off like that?” Arvin asked.
“Yeah, let her go. She’s right. I took advantage of her because she was willing to stay in a relationship with me and get nothing back. She’ll be fine.”
“I liked her,” Tina said wistfully, watching Landon cross the street in a crowd of people. “She was the only woman in our group who wasn’t in medicine or a lawyer.”
“You’re nuts, buddy,” Arvin said. “All you had to do was throw her a bone once in a while. What’s so hard about that?”
“Arvin, no offense, but you should talk,” Tina said, laughing. “Dylan, you do what you have to do, but I think you’re going to regret this in the future.”
“You might be right, but all I feel right now is relief. You guys know what my life is going to be like starting Monday, twice as much call as before, longer hours. I might as well live at the hospital. Yeah, it’s better that I let her go.”
With tears streaming down her face, Landon knew the next few days were going to be difficult, leaving him alone, not calling him or texting. It had to be a clean break. Cold turkey. She dug in her pocket for a tissue and patted her cheeks, forcing herself to pull it together. Dylan wasn’t worth ruining her makeup. Not anymore.
The band shell was abuzz with excitement as the latest hot group out of New York made the trip to play there in Philadelphia; the lead singer happened to be a native Philadelphian. The activity caught her eye, and at the last minute she decided to stay and listen. They were in the process of checking sound. She approached the standing-room-only crowd and waited with the masses. And then out of nowhere, she was rushed to the front by one of the security men who saw her wiping her face.
“Aw, sweetheart, no need to cry. Beautiful girl like you needs to be right up front. The cameras will have something worthy to see when they sweep the crowd.”
Flattered, she let him lead her to the very front of the stage. And in that second, the lead singer caught her eye and smiled.
Chapter 1
A Year and a Half Later
After their final concert of the Philadelphia tour, the band, with significant others, took a limo to Vaspar, the latest restaurant craze in town.
“Hey, all they serve is health food shit?” Kenny Rider asked, nostrils flared. “And why the hell are there treadmills in the dining room?”
“Ignore that, Kenny,” drummer Terry said. “They don’t use the exercise equipment during dinner.”
It was after eleven, but it was open until midnight, and to have the band and their entourage come in on a week