Page 14

I set down my phone after putting it on silent and stare at the beige walls. It was one thing to be a single parent to one child… but now it’ll be two. I’ll definitely have to hire a nanny now. Or I can work from home or something.

I’ve heard that I can do insurance or chart audits, or those online doctor sites where I can video call patients.

Fuck my life.

Brenton knocks on the door and steps in with a smile. “We’ll have all of your labs back in a couple of days. Are you taking prenatals?”

I nod and spout off the brand name, along with the other slew of supplements I’m taking.

“Good. I’ll have Marissa call you with the test results…

With twins I would suggest seeing a high-risk doctor depending on how everything is going in the next few months.

You’ll be my first patient that’s having multiples.

” He smirks at me, leaning up against the counter.

“Any questions? I imagine as a PA you know what you should and shouldn’t do. But I can still give the spiel.”

I shrug and pull out my phone and wave it around. “I definitely had to refresh my memory… It’s been a few years since I did an OB rotation. I know what not to eat or drink, all that good stuff at least.”

He nods and claps his hands together once. “Well, good. I’m going to give you my personal number, not for anything medical related.” He narrows his eyes at me. “But let’s set up dinner at my folks’ place. I’m sure they’d love to see you.”

I nod and shake his hand, collecting my purse, phone, and the ultrasound images. I make my next appointment before racing out of there and breathing in the cold air before I hop into my car and drive.

I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it for one second.

Two babies.

I head back to the office and throw myself into work. Appointments, patients, charting, anything to take my mind off of the shit show that is my life. I still can’t comprehend this. It’s so much more real now.

Shit, I forgot to ask about skating at the rink. I pull out Brenton’s card and shoot him off a text.

Me: Shit, sorry… this is sort of medical related, but I forgot to ask.

It’s Marie Edwards by the way… anyway, I work in sports medicine and my practice is usually on site for the hockey games.

Would I be able to skate when needed on the ice?

It will be for a few months until our second location opens.

I set down my phone and check the clock, definitely time for me to get out of here and cook dinner for the girls. I hear my phone go off as I’m packing up and shutting off my computer.

Brenton Evans: Let’s wait for your bloodwork to get in, I want to know what’s causing the swelling first.

I blow out a slow breath before grabbing my purse and heading down the hall to knock on Dr. Patterson’s door.

“Come in!”

I smile as I walk in and sit down in the chair in front of his desk.

He’s happy, smiling widely. Like always.

I don’t think anything can piss this man off.

“Hey, I had my first appointment today… The doctor wants to wait for my test results from my blood and urine to come back before he approves me to go out on the ice. Turns out there’s more than one cooking in there, too… ”

He coughs and shakes his head. “Yeah, forget it, Marie. You’ll come to the rink with me but only I’ll go out on the ice. You can stay back, work on them from the benches or in the locker room. How’s that?”

I nod and stand back up. “Wonderful. Please let me know when Annika needs help at the second location, I would prefer not to be anywhere near James for the time being.”

He narrows his eyes at me and glances down at my stomach. “Are you ever going to tell me why?” He points at my belly with his eyebrows raised. Obviously that wasn’t very subtle.

I narrow my eyes back at him. “Don’t ask questions that you don’t actually want the answers to, old man. See you on Monday. I’m on-call this weekend.” I wave and head out to my car and drive straight home instead of stopping at McDonald’s like I’m craving to.

A massive burger just sounds amazing. With extra American cheese and onions. And fries. A large fry.

I park in the garage, making sure the door closes before heading in. The girls are racing up to me from the living room and peppering me with questions. I hold up my hand and step back.

“Let me fire up the smoker, I’m craving a burger. One of you chop up a salad, the other, make some hummus to have with some carrots and celery.”

They groan and shuffle to the kitchen while I head out to the deck and check the smoker to see if I need to add more wood chips and start to heat it up.

By the time dinner is ready and we’re seated at the table, the girls are wiggling around in their seats.

“Okay, shoot.”

“Can we start coming to your appointments now? Can you make them later in the day? You shouldn’t have to do this alone.”

I smile at Caroline and nod. “Fine. But only if you guys swear to not tell James until I’m ready… Like when I go into labor and want to curse him out or something.”

Caroline rolls her eyes and sighs, “You know he’d be there for you, Marie. You’re being stubborn… but you have us. We’ll help you with the babies as much as we can.”

I shake my head. God, no. I am not going to force them to be parents like James and I were at such a young age. “No you won’t. You’re going to focus on school, and I’ll start looking for a nanny in a few months to start the interview process ahead of time. Everything will be fine.”

I force them to talk about school as we finish up our meal, and I wave them off so that I can clean up to clear my mind. The mundane tasks of scrubbing and cleaning dishes, the kitchen, and dancing around to the music pouring from my phone’s speakers is helping me feel better.

I’m going to start showing in the next few months, or weeks. James is going to find out eventually, and I need to come up with a lie in the meantime.

I’ve had some fun with his teammates, Nolan especially.

Now that Landon and Logan are both either married or in a serious relationship, I stepped back and stopped dating all together and was focusing on work.

Nolan deserves a woman that loves him completely, and I think I’ll always be hung up on James.

Especially when we lived together, we saw each other every day. Talked and texted constantly.

Then the night with James happened and now I’m swearing off men forever. And ever.

Did I mention no more men?

I can ogle Brenton, but I’m his patient and pregnant. And I know his parents. I live in their damn house.

Plus a man that good looking can only be one of three things: unavailable, gay, or a player. I wouldn’t have minded having fun with him if he wasn’t my doctor, or the son of the wonderful couple that owns this house.

Or pregnant.

Damn it. Why am I even thinking about any of this? I need to watch some mind-numbing television and get my mind out of the gutter. There’s no way another man is touching me for a very long time.

I dry off my hands and head down to the living room and sigh as I sit on the couch. My whole body just feels so sore and tired all the time.

“Any plans this weekend?”

Caroline side-eyes me, checking my face, “Dinner with James tomorrow night. Want to come?”

I purse my lips and look over to Alyssa. “Are you going?”

She nods and pouts her lip at me. “Please come? Alex moved in and we need some backup. How does James not see what a fucking nasty creature she is? She hates us, hates the house. I don’t understand what her deal is.”

I glance back and forth between them and I feel my heart crumble. They need me and they don’t want to lose their brother…

I nod slowly. “Okay… but language please. Do I need to buy you girls another dictionary and thesaurus…again?” I stick my tongue out at them and glance down at my lap. “I’ll go to dinner, but you’re both my alibi if I end up stabbing one of them.”

We all chuckle and focus on the show they put on. I don’t think I’m ready to see James, but the sooner, the better, before I blow up like a whale.

Not that he will ever know he’s going to be a father, regardless. But it’s better to not have to field any questions any time soon. Not when everything is so fresh and raw.

______________

The girls and I spent the day snacking and relaxing in the backyard, enjoying the last few weeks of decent weather before it starts snowing.

They let James know that I’ll be attending tonight, so fingers crossed he has something edible.

I made sure to pack up some veggies, dip, a salad, and some egg salad just in case.

Maybe I need to add some crackers, too. It sounded good, so that’s just what I’ll have for dinner if he tried to cook something. Nothing else sounds decent, anyway.

The girls wanted to drive, so I sat in the back of Caroline’s car as she steered us over to James’s house.

“So, tell me more about Alex.”

Alyssa huffs and turns in her seat to talk to me, “She whines constantly. Demands new purses, clothes… shows him photos of some new car she likes. We heard them fighting as we were leaving last week that she deserves one of his credit cards to just get whatever she wants. She mentioned your name so I think she knows that you have one.”

I frown and look out the window. “Wow. I have no words… I thought James was smarter than that? You would think he would choose to be with someone more… kind. And I gave my credit card to Caroline weeks ago…” I shoot the culprit a look in the rear view mirror and she smirks at me.

“I kept it.” Caroline chuckles from the driver seat. “You would think… I have no idea what’s going on with him. Maybe she’s drugging him.”

I snort and shrug, “I thought the same thing after I met her. Who knows. This will be the first and last time I’m there if she causes a scene. I won’t stand up for him, he dug his own grave with this… woman. But if she says anything to the two of you, hold me back. Or not. Just let me at her.”