Diane stood outside in the courtyard, admiring the little LED lights that adorned the whole area. Against the dark trees and the night, they reminded her of stars. Little pinholes of light that held secrets of the universe. Maybe they held the secret of how she was gonna be a normal woman again. A normal woman who didn't get punched in the feels every time there's a random mention or memory of her dead husband. It's been two years since she had to say goodbye to him, but sometimes it just felt like yesterday they were arguing over their wedding song. Concept of time was a tricky beast. Watching another couple sit in the courtyard, she was dying for a cigarette. Or valium or any kind of vice to keep her from being fragile right now. She hated herself for it. No one wants to coddle a grown woman just because she was a young widow. She wasn't the carefree woman of the past and it was well known now. Her mom, though rarely right about anything in her life, was right about one thing she often said to her when she was young. Shit changes.

She sensed someone walking up to her. With a protected smile, she turned around. "I'm alright G--" Her words froze. It so wasn't Gina. More like a tall, cryptic male with a face that should've been in a museum next to other works of art. Sure, he looked unassuming with his hands in his pockets, but those peepers of his seemed packed with temptation. She stepped back just trying to fit all of him into her view. "Oh, hi, um Doctor..."

He shook his head. "Please, call me Will. I'm not as formal as your best friend would imply." Aware she was still staring at him, he felt prompted to speak. "Sorry, I was concerned when you left. Wanted to just know you were okay."

Diane's eyes narrowed, scrutinizing. "Did Gina send you out here?"

"No, not at all."

Her eyes softened, yet still cautious to his presence. Who comes out to check on a dramatic stranger? She wished she saw something less than genuine in him as he stood before her, but at the moment, there was nothing but...a concerned man.

Ugh. He's a doctor. They always think something is wrong with somebody.

"Oh, I'm fine," her voice was complacent. "Just needed a little air, that's all."

"You're not big on crowds?"

She nodded and looked back towards the courtyard. "No, kinda one on one person myself." Right after it left her mouth, she regretted it. That wasn't supposed to be an invitation.

Will smiled. "I can understand that. Besides, I'm familiar with Derek's family and they can be a bit rowdy. Especially his younger brother."

She scoffed thinking of the mouth-breather. "You mean the one who owns a Hooter franchise?"

Amusement curved one side of his mouth. "Yeah, the one who's been staring at you all night."

Great. Even he could see it. She folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "Yep, I guess that's the one. Now you kinda know why I needed some fresh air."

He couldn't blame her. Derek's brothers were all over the spectrum in terms of socially inept. He supposed Derek should've considered himself lucky he had some semblance of grace. At least enough for some woman to want to marry him. "I guess I can't fault you there."

She rubbed her arms as a chilly wind casually blew across them. "How did you know he was staring at me all night?"

"Because I've been staring at you all night, Ms. Howerton. I hope you'll forgive me, but I've been taken aback at not only your appearance but the little things I've learned about you I find very intriguing."

Diane felt her cheeks flush and with a nervous scoff, shook her head. But his gaze was unshakable. She couldn't escape it, but for a second, she also didn't want to break free.

Will marveled in her doe-eyed shock of him being so direct. He got that a lot. But try as he might, he was too old for games. And the women who played them, just weren't the ones for him. He could see that wall she held up and while his past should teach him to move on, he was already trying to figure out how to breach it.

She sucked in a breath, clasping her hands together. "Mr. Lamoreaux."

"Will."

"Will," she prompted, trying to figure out how to get outta this. "Listen, I'm sure you're a nice guy."

"Well, thank you."

With an exasperated sigh, she politely smiled. "Yes. And I'm flattered, but I'm not really the dating type." She began to slowly stroll.

"Oh no?" Will followed.

"No. You see, I'm a quirky widow who's busy chasing around a two-year daughter most of the time and when I'm not, I'm working insanely crazy hours working on coding. All I have bouncing around up in my brain is where I put Bumper's Legos and complex, but half-baked code and algorithms to try to make the world a better place."

"Who's Bumper?," he asked.

Diane smiled. "My daughter, Chrissy. It's her nickname." Her eyes tried to evade him, but then he smiled again, and she was locked in again. "What?"

"Well, If I'm being terribly honest, that only intensifies how interesting you are." His eyes softened. "But, I'm very sorry to hear about your husband."

Diane looked down briefly. "Thank you." She knows that's what people say when they don't know what to say about losing someone they didn't know. She tried not to think of them as empty words. Just misplaced caring words. "I didn't mean to make a big fuss or anything. Please let Gina know that I'll be in there shortly if you're heading back in."

He put his hands in his pockets. "If that's the case, I hope you don't mind that I keep you company until you're ready to go back inside."

Diane grimaced at his polite stubborness with suspicion. "Why?"

"To get to know more about you. Believe it or not, I think we have a lot in common."

She laughed. "Listen, I don't want to put out the wrong signal or be rude, but I'm quite familiar with your type."

His eyebrow arched. "Wait, I'm a type?" He took his hands out of his pockets and crosses them. "Really?"

She stopped and crossed her arms. "Yeah. Young doctors. Attractive, and smart with just enough narcissism and/or God complex to make you intriguing, but not a total asshole. You wait till that turning point of driving your favorite muff magnet, using your med school mentality to get women who are more attracted to the doctor status than they are to you as a person, therefore perpetuating your need to continue being a quasi-narcissistic lab coat hero." She raised her nose.

"Ouch." He looked down at the ground, searching for something.

Her interest piqued, Diane grimaced. "Lost something?"

He laughed. Gees, did she kill her husband with that wit? "Yeah. I think my balls were here just a moment ago. I hope I find them again before the night's up. I need to be intact for rounds in the morning."

Diane, almost against her will, laughed heartily at his graphic self-defamation.

He felt a small weight lift in hearing her laugh, even at his expense. It was music to his ears, and the lyrics whispered to him that perhaps he stood a chance with her. And if she appreciated his humor, hopefully she'd give him another opportunity to see her smile. He didn't know for sure, but something in her alluring presence told him that bright smile was a unicorn.

"Well," he shoved his hands in his pockets and took another step towards her sporting a devilish smirk. "You seem to have had me pegged, and I do appreciate that you find me attractive and smart, cause you know a narcissistic man of my nature rarely is seen as more than just a pretty face."

His persistence in turn exposed a curiosity within her. What was it about her that really intrigued him? A majority of Gina's curated would-be suitors usually gave up when she made it clear she had a child and damaged goods due to being a widow by the time most modern women get married. Didn't seem to bother this one in the least. He's saving face, she thought to herself. Diane folded her arms. "Nothing at all against you, it's just, well I used to be married to a doctor, so I've known my fair share of the like." She watched to see if her revelation deterred something within him to seek other pursuits. However, the flash of fascination in his eyes told a different story.

"I see. Your husband was a doctor." He rubbed his chin.

"Yep."

"And I take it that you already had to deal with that generic, playboy med school drama once before?"

Diane stopped. "Well, no. Christian wasn't like that."

He leaned toward her. "Neither am I."

She raised an eyebrow.

He smiled. "I'm not. Honestly, I swear." He saw the cynicism on her face. "Well, okay, I do sometimes have a bit of a God-complex, but c'mon even you have to admit it kinda comes with the territory."

"Hmm."

He held up his hands. "I'll share something with you. In my opinion, I think it's just a side-effect of loving what you do for your patients. I'm a control freak, but in my essence, I love being a healer. The honor of saving lives has always been a dream of mine. To be honest, even when a patient comes through, I don't feel like it's me that made that happen. Healing isn't all on me--I began to realize during my residency that I'm just part of an ecosystem of life-saving. I'm just one man, but the prestige belongs to everyone from the first responders to the nurses."

Diane nodded as she listened to his explanation. It was refreshing to hear a doctor give kudos to the rest of the people involved. "That is true."

"On top of that, I learned that being a healer just isn't enough. I've come to appreciate that the only way to improve is not necessarily to perform better as individuals, but to shed light on those dark blind spots within the healthcare system where my patients quietly fall through the cracks." He watched her face relax a bit more. "So, if I do get those 'God-complex moments, it's usually because of being an advocate."

She softly smiled, but it was Will's face that brightened. "Fair enough. I must admit, I don't hear that very often." She folded her arms, setting her defenses back up.

"Well, I don't often hear that I belong to an archetype of pompous, womanizing med-school playboys, but I suppose there's a first time for everything." Will rocked on his heels, anxiously waiting her retort.

Her face heated. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so--"

He put his hands behind his back. "Yeah you did." There was an air of lighthearted humor in his voice. "But I totally get it. You don't know me, so your honesty is pleasant. A single gorgeous woman meeting some random doctor that may or may not have given you a mild head injury, I'd be shocked if you didn't hit me with some skepticism." Walking up closer to her, he didn't ignore the pull between them. "But I'm hardly the playboy you talk about."

"No?"

"No, Ms. Howerton," his velvet voice cut through the tension. "Though I do love women very much..." He took a satisfying breath of air gazing at her. "I believe in giving my full attention to one woman at a time." 

She stood quiet in his gaze, looking up at him as if he managed to chip something away at that armor.

Diane, caught off-guard by his intensity, cleared her throat and took a few steps back. "I, uh, I need to get back." She pulled her stray hair behind her ear as the night wind blew. His warm, woodsy scent reminded her how real he was standing there with her. A stranger. And yet, she could almost feel his desire to be more as he looked at her as if she was the only woman on the planet. She knew that look. And she wasn't ever supposed to see it again. "Thanks for the courtesy of checking on me." She shuffled past him and made a beeline to the entrance back into the restaurant. Finally able to catch her breath, she dared not look back. What the hell is wrong with me, she chided herself.

***

Will held himself back from following her and instead took the moment to take a breath. Collecting his thoughts, he watched her escape the bubble they found themselves in. He didn't really know what came over him. Sure, he wasn't a quiet type that tiptoed around approaching women, but he couldn't remember a time he felt such a strong connection to someone he barely knew.

One of Derek's brothers took his seat, which Will didn't make a fuss. Throughout the dinner, he caught Diane looking at him, and he made a point to steal a glance at her whenever he could. He wanted to know so much more about her and convince her he was worth it. He'd imagine being a widow and losing someone so young would drive a wedge between trust and taking a chance again. He wasn't blind to the complication, and yet, she intimidated him with her standoffish behavior anyway.

After dinner was over, people scattered in the room, mingling and chatting.

Will sipped his wine standing with Derek, but had a difficult time taking his eyes off Diane. She sat with her legs crossed, nodding along to whatever chit chat Gina was making. Her oval face was gentle, golden and gorgeous. Despite the reservations in her expression, she was indeed a stark beauty. Not only that, the mention of her going to The Four Quarters signaled that she was a game nerd, which he adored as much as her programming background. Women who weren't shy about their intelligence always got him going. He had enough toying around with ladies that rather hide under their designer bag and forget the world is more than keeping up with celebrity gossip and high-end cosmetics to plaster their faces with. He could tell very quickly that Diane was not about those things. A young mother didn't have time for foolishness like that. She needed genuine. Something safe and true. For him, being surrounded by so much passion for life and risk, he admitted he could use a little of the same.

Derek slapped his shoulder. "You're gonna ask her out?," He put the glass of whiskey to his lips.

Will snapped out of staring at her and turned to Derek. "I plan on it. She's pretty interesting. How long have she and your fiance been friends?"

"Since college. I think that Diane was Gina's RA and moved in together their junior or senior year. I can't remember." Derek watched his wife to be and cut his eyes to Diane rubbing her locket. "Was a major cockblock for me when I met Gina, but I can't compete--she loves the hell outta her."

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, doesn't seem like her cockblocking efforts stopped you in the end, being a husband starting tomorrow."

Derek laughed. "True, true. Well, speaking of competition..." He shook the ice in his glass, and sipped the last, watered-down bit of liquor. "You may have a little some yourself with that one."

"What do you mean?," he asked.

"Well, Diane's a widow."

"Yeah, I know. She told me." Will's eyes drifted back to Diane.

"Yeah, but did she tell you that they were high school sweethearts?"

Will grimaced. "No, she didn't."

"She and Christian stayed together through high school, college and his med school. They were inseparable. Then bam. Drunk driver takes him out at an intersection. Guy dies instantly."

"Jesus." He shook his head. He couldn't imagine losing someone so close so suddenly. As he watched her, he realized how precious her laughter must really be after having something like that happen.

"Heartbreaking, right? And get this, two months after his death, she finds out that she's fucking pregnant."

Will's eyes dipped low in sympathy, just trying to process that as a stranger, not even a bystander or a friend.  Barely able to grieve before you had to pull yourself up to be a parent. Alone. He couldn't imagine the weight of that. And yet, there she was. It didn't break her. There was an amazing strength within her and even for a guy like him, he couldn't imagine ignoring that. Heavens help him, she was becoming more intriguing to him by the second. "That must have been devastating."

Derek nodded. "She's tough though. Guess you gotta be to go through some shit like that. She's a little weird, sometimes though. I think she still grieves. Christian was, for lack of a better word, perfect. So even if she wasn't grieving, you'd have some hella big shoes to fill. Which may be in more ways than one. I saw the guy in the shower once. Poor bastard was packing some serious heat."

Will frowned, turning back to him.

"Not that I'm gay or anything. It was kinda hard to miss." He cleared his throat.

"You're a piece of work, Derek." He quickly finished his wine and set the glass on the mantle. "I'll see you Sunday." He made his way to say goodbye to a few more folks before getting to Diane who fortunately was standing next to Gina. As he walked over, both of them stopped talking. Hmm. Were they talking about him? He smiled and extended his hand to Gina. "It's was a great pleasure meeting you. Congratulations again."

Gina grinned and shook his hand. "Thank you so much! It was great meeting you too! I hope to see you Sunday when we finally jump the broom."

He nodded as he released her hand. "Absolutely," his eyes briefly cut to Diane. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"That's great, cause Dee here will definitely be there making sure I don't go crazy. Along with her adorable daughter as my little flower girl. Ain't that right, Dee?" Her pat on the back was stronger than usual, actually pushing her towards Will.

Diane swallowed as they once again stood face to face. Earlier, it caused her to flee. Maybe she could salvage at least some of her dignity between that and being shown off like a prized pony by her bestie. Sporting a tight-lipped smile, she extended her hand. "Thanks for coming and nice to meet you, Dr. Lamoureux, um, I mean, Will."

Will covered her hand with his. "It was a pleasure to meet you, too Ms. Howerton. He kissed her hand. "Take care and I hope to see you too Sunday."

Unable to find the words, Diane simply nodded with a timid smile.

With that, he grabbed his jacket and walked out.

"So what did y'all talk about out there in seclusion?," Gina teased.

"Nothing." She picked up her wine from the little stand and tried to walk away, but Gina was right on her tail.

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily, lady. You guys were out there for a while. You guys get to chat, right?"

Trying not to make eye contact with any of Derek's siblings she diverted to sitting down at the table. "Just a little."

"And?," Gina sat next to her. "Whatcha think?"

"I'm not interested."

Gina leaned back, "Whaaaat?"

"I told you I don't need to deal with the dating scene and meeting guys. They don't get me and I don't get them. Most are immature and want mothers, not significant others. And I only have time to be Chrissy's mom, that's it."

Gina pursed her lips with scrutiny. "And that's the vibe you got from William?"

The question gave her reason to pause. "Well, no but--"

"But what?"

"I...," she dug for words.

"It's obvious he's into you. I don't think I ever saw Will so, you know, engaged at social functions. I mean, sure he's pretty assertive, but usually he ducks out early." Her confident grin annoyed Diane. "Looks like he found something to keep his attention all night long."

She rolled her eyes. "Stop it. You know, it doesn't help that you paraded me around like some mare for mounting."

Gina shrugged. "You should be so lucky.'

"And why's that?," her tone verged on irritation.

Gina stole a swallow of her wine and sat up. "Because, William is a sweetheart, Dee. He's totally worthy of your time. He's charming and terribly pragmatic like you and I'm just tired of seeing you mope around at social functions like this.

Diane gasped. "I don't mope!"

"Yeah, you do. You mope and shoot any guy down who shows any interest, like Will."

She folded her arms, taking her friend's scolding personally. Why was it so important she dated? "I don't even know him."

"Then let him know you, woman." Her eyes lit up. "He's gonna be at the wedding, so you better be nice. If I know Will, he's got gonna give up on you so easily."

Diane shrugged. "How do you know that?"

"Dee, he's been friends with Derek since college. He definitely believes in a challenge."