The deliveries arrived while Leilani was in her consulting room with a patient for a follow-up. Her phone suddenly vibrated.
She glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number.
"Excuse me, I have to take this," she said to the patient with a nod, stepping aside to answer. "Hello?"
"Hi, your food delivery is here. Could you please come to the door to pick it up?"
Leilani paused. "Food delivery? I didn't order anything. I think you have the wrong number."
The delivery driver on the other end sounded surprised as well. "Sorry, let me double-check." There was a brief silence as he presumably looked at the order. "No, ma'am. The order has your address and phone number on it. I didn't make a mistake. I'm at the door now, are you able to come out and get it?"
Leilani frowned. "But I definitely didn't order anything. Are you sure it wasn't delivered to the wrong place?" Suddenly, a thought struck her, and the words caught in her throat. She had just finished with her patient, so she gestured for them to wait and went to see what was going on.
"Dr. Sloan, your food is here!" one of the patients waiting in line called out cheerfully as soon as they saw her. "And it looks like there's more than one order." Leilani noticed a hint of amusement on several of their faces.
Confused, she walked to the clinic entrance and stopped dead in her tracks. A dozen delivery drivers were lined up, each holding exquisite food containers. Braised short ribs, steamed sea bass, napa cabbage in a light broth, slow-simmered chicken soup... there was even her favorite mango cream dessert from that little shop she loved.
One patient whispered, "Dr. Sloan, did you... order all of this?"
Leilani was speechless. Before she could answer, her phone rang again.
Leilani gave up and changed the subject. "I've reviewed your test results. You're recovering well. Just continue with the medication for another week."
After the last patient left, Leilani stared at the feast spread across the table and finally pulled out her phone. She stared at her chat with Callahan for a long time, her finger hovering over the screen, but ultimately, she didn't send a message.
Did he order this? Why so suddenly? Was it a peace offering, or…
Leilani bit her lip, let out a soft sigh, and picked up a fork to try a piece of the sea bass. It was delicious.
While Leilani was enjoying her lunch, Callahan was suffering in his office far away. He sat at his desk, surrounded by piles of documents. For a workaholic, he was uncharacteristically slacking off. He was holding his phone, the screen lit up, displaying the delivery platform's order details.

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