“Oh, yes!” she cried. “I can’t really believe that we’re actually going to be married!”
Gerald smiled wistfully. “He’s a very nice fellow,” he said. “Even now I have a little twinge of conscience when I think about trying to cut in on him.” He laughed. “Guys like me are always the worst. If anyone tried to date Eileen, now, I’d really be sore.”
“She’s a wonderful girl,” Jean agreed. “And I don’t think you have to worry.”
“It still seems too good to be true,” Gerald said.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I acted like such a jerk when I first came. Things are different with everyone now. I’ve got my girl, and I’ve made good friends with the doctors at the clinic. You know, I graduate, myself, pretty soon.”
“That’s right,” Jean said. “Your internship is almost over.”
Gerald fought back a lump in his throat. “But the thing that gets me is that they want me to stay on. Dr. Barsch, Ted Loring ... Daley, Jenkins ... all of them. Jean, you know, this is the first time in my life I realize that people like me just because of myself.”
Jean squeezed his hand in quick sympathy.
Gerald cleared his throat. “And that poses a problem,” he said in a very business-like voice. “Dr. Barsch is trying to convince me to go into surgery. I’ve always been interested in psychiatry. But I think I’ll stay on for a while and see what surgery is all about. After all, they’re sort of my family, now. And I’ve been away from home too long.”