If you follow along here on my blog at all, you’ve probably seen that I’ve got a little series of posts where I’m rewriting the flashback scenes from ’Til Death Do Us Part to be from Sam’s POV (FYI, there’s another one scheduled for tomorrow).

Although To Love and To Cherish does have a couple flashback scenes, they’re in the form of Nash’s dreams, and they don’t involve the other MC. However, the entire story is told from Nash’s POV, and I thought it would be fun to pick some scenes to redo from Myles’ POV.

I’m starting with the opening scene. In the book’s opening, Nash interacts with a patient in a manner that brings readers who are new to the series up-to-date on what they need to know regarding what happened to Nash in ’Til Death Do Us Part. After dropping the patient off in radiology, he meets up with Myles (aka Emmitt). Here I’ll show what Myles was up to in the minutes leading up to their encounter at the elevator.

Scene 01

Dr. Myles Burlingham kept his eyes focused on what he was doing and avoided locking his gaze with anyone else drifting through the cafeteria. He knew the hospital grapevine had its spotlight shining on him lately. Not that he could blame them, but still, he hated the notoriety. Hated the sharply ended conversations and the phony smiles.

It was worse than dealing with his divorce—the topic of the gossip. In fact, he was quite relieved the marriage was over, even if he was ticked off at how Crystal had gone about it.

He stared at the text message from his divorce attorney. The judge had signed the order this morning. It was done.

There would be no hiding Crystal’s pregnancy. His personal business would jump back to center stage as soon as that became known. And it would. She still socialized with some of the other physicians and/or their spouses. Same with the news that she’d be remarrying later this week, within days of the divorce becoming final. At least that meant he wouldn’t have to pay any alimony, so maybe it was worth the temporary infamy.

He grabbed a sandwich from a vending machine then glanced at his watch. The patient he’d just operated on would be heading up to the surgical floor shortly. He sighed and pushed through the double doors to exit the cafeteria.

He shoved the wrapped sandwich into the pocket of his white coat as he approached the bank of elevators.

The way his luck was going today, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Nash Marino was standing in front of the elevators. Myles nodded in greeting, and his jaw tightened reflexively, which was ridiculous. He needed to get past this pathetic infatuation he had with the nurse. It was unprofessional.

He was constantly torn between wanting to be near the man, and needing to keep his distance before he exposed himself. He had no intention of hiding his sexuality. He’d figured it out early in his marriage, although he’d tried to make it work anyway.

Obviously, that had been a miserable failure, but his best friends Gil and Julia had accepted his announcement without even blinking. Like Grampy, they’d probably already had him figured out. His brothers were less than thrilled—mostly confused since he’d married a woman—but they weren’t going to make it an issue.

So, yeah, he wasn’t going to retreat into a closet, but neither was he planning to date anyone he had to work with, no matter how attracted he was to the man. No matter how much he admired the man’s integrity. No matter what. It was unethical and could create a conflict of interest.

The elevator doors opened and he stepped on. He could probably make time to visit with Grampy while he was on the surgical floor, anyway, getting his new patient set up. Stop in and say “hi,” and let Grampy know about the appointment he had this evening with that home health agency.

Myles startled when he realized Nash was looking at him expectantly. Nash had already pushed the button for the twelfth floor, where they were both heading, but of course, Nash wouldn’t know his destination. Myles nodded and stepped back.