Page 19 of Wild
"I've already made up my mind, but I want your opinion anyway—just to make sure I'm not doing something completely stupid."
Barry huffs through his nose and picks up his fourth donut. She watches him finish it in under a minute.
"My opinion, Dooley, is that if I'm your only friend, you're way too alone. I don't know your story—though I'd love to hear it whenever you're ready—but life isn't just work, Doctor. It's not picking up event shifts to fill the dead hours, either."
Erin looks down, feeling seen in a way she doesn't quite know what to do with.
"Take the offer," Barry says. "Go on tour with the girl with the flower-colored hair." Erin can't help but laugh. "I think it'll do you good to get moving. You'll meet more people out there than you ever would in a hospital ER, that's for sure. And if it turns out to be a total disaster, you can always come back. We'll keep doing events, and then we'll get drunk somewhere."
"Would you have taken it?" Erin asks, more out of curiosity than because she needs to know whether he's as crazy as she is.
"I'm fifty-two, I've got two kids in college, a mortgage, and a wife who adores me." He winks, amused. "Nobody's ever going to offer me a gig like that."
Erin raises an eyebrow.
"But say they did."
"If they did, and I were your age, and I was single—I wouldn't think twice. Now tell me: what did you decide?"
"I don't know if I'll regret putting up with the girl with the flower-colored hair, but I've decided yes. Tomorrow I'm going to Toronto with them."
Barry claps so hard that the women at the next table startle and let out a little shriek.
"Sorry, ladies, I'm just excited," he says, and they smile back at him, charmed.
When they step outside, Barry pulls her into a bear hug in the doorway to say goodbye.
"Take care of yourself, Dooley, and call me whenever you need to. I'd rather you think of me as a friend than as something like a friend—that doesn't sound as good," he says, squeezing her until she can't breathe.
"Thanks, Barry," Erin manages, her voice coming out strangled.
She watches him disappear down the sidewalk and stands there for a moment, thinking that she made the right call not getting a cat. She turns and walks back toward her apartment. Violette told her to pack light—just the essentials, to make traveling easier.
"If you need anything, we'll buy it. Don't worry," she'd said.
Erin doesn't have much to bring anyway. Some clothes, her headphones, and her e-reader. That's enough.
Chapter 7
Erin follows Violette Hadford down a jetway at JFK that leads straight to the private plane she'll be traveling on with Mia Wilder and the rest of her team. When the doctor's jaw nearly dropped at the mention of it, the lawyer clarified that the plane was rented and that this wasn't their usual way of getting around — just the most practical option given the schedule. They step out onto the tarmac through a pair of heavy iron doors, and Erin spots the plane with the stairs already in place and a few people who haven't boarded yet milling around outside.
"Go ahead and board, Doctor. Make yourself comfortable — we'll be leaving in twenty minutes," Violette says as someone stops her at the foot of the stairs.
Erin walks past and heads up, where a flight attendant greets her with a warm smile.
"Dr. Dooley?" the young woman says.
Erin raises an eyebrow and decides not to ask how she knows who she is, because the answer will probably alarm her.
"Yes," she says.
"Ms. Wilder asked that you sit with her. She's right over there." The flight attendant gestures toward two pairs of facing seats on the right side of the plane — cream leather, so thickly cushioned that Erin feels drowsy just looking at them. "If you'd like to hand me your bag, I'll put it in the overhead compartment."
"Sure, thanks." Erin hands it over and moves past the attendant toward the back of the plane.
As soon as she reaches the first row of seats, she runs into Noah, who stands up with a sleepy-puppy grin and pulls his headphones down around his neck.
"Dr. Dooley, I'm really glad you took the job."
