by K. C. Crowne
I got up and hurried over to the door, peeking through the peephole and saw a man on the other side carrying a big bouquet of flowers, along with a package.
Frowning, I opened the door and greeted him with a forced smile. He wished me a Merry Christmas before handing me the package and flowers. I signed and he was gone, leaving me alone in the hall with presents I hadn’t been expecting.
Hurriedly, I stepped to the worktable and set everything out. I placed the roses into an empty water glass, holding them in place for a moment to make sure they didn’t topple. Then I opened the package. Inside was a box of chocolates along with a card.
The candy and flowers were nice, but more than anything I wanted to know who the hell had sent me this stuff. My hands shaking with excitement, I opened the card.
Hey.
I know things are a little strange between us. They always have been, really. And I know you made it clear you wanted me out of your life. I’m planning on respecting that. But I couldn’t bear the idea of our last meeting being the final words I shared with someone who means so much to me.
So take care, Gia. You’re an amazing woman, and the world’s waiting for you to conquer it. And no matter what, I’ll never stop cheering you on.
Yours always,
Gavin.
I sniffed, quickly wiping the tears from my eyes. “Gavin,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re…you’re a real piece of work, you know that?”
“Whoa!”
I turned, nearly jumping out of my skin at the sight of Kenna. Her eyes were wide as she looked over my gift. A small bag stuffed with red tissue paper was under her arm.
“I’m guessing those are from your not-so-secret admirer.”
“How’d you guess?”
“Because I heard you say his name.” She grinned, stepping over and throwing her arms around me. “Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas!”
We hugged tight and then let go, Kenna taking a step back and looking over the flowers and chocolate. “He didn’t hold back with all this stuff.”
“Nope. Holding back isn’t his style. When Gavin wants you, you know it.”
She opened the box of chocolates, unwrapped one, and popped it in her mouth.
“No, wait!” I said, shooting my arms out.
“Wait for what? You going to send it back?”
“It’s just…Yeah, go ahead.”
She handed me the box and I took one of the chocolates. I still felt a little queasy, but chocolate was chocolate.
Kenna handed me the gift she’d brought. “A little something.”
“And I’ve got something for you, too.” I looked around, trying to remember where I’d put her gift. Before I could even take a step, Kenna reached into her purse and pulled out a small, wrapped box, a tiny red bow on the front. “What’s that?”
“A present before the present. Something you need.” She wiggled it at me. “Open it.”
“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like this?”
“Because you’re not. But it’s necessary.”
Flicking my eyes skeptically at Kenna, I ripped open the packaging. When I saw the picture of a small display, two pink lines running through it, I knew exactly what it was.
“Come on,” I said disbelievingly. “Did you really get me a pregnancy test?”
“I told you, it’s not the main gift. But G, you need to find out one way or another.”
Shaking my head, I took the rest of the wrapping off the box.
“It’s one of those fancy ones, too – the electronic kind. At first I was like, won’t peeing on it fry the circuits or something? But nope. I asked and everything. Plus, you don’t even have to wait. It only takes thirty seconds.”
Just holding the thing, knowing that within a couple of minutes my life could change forever…it was incredibly overwhelming. “I can’t.” I tossed the box onto the table.
“Yes, you can.” Kenna picked it up and pressed it into my hands. “I know this is a huge effing deal, but you need to find out one way or another. And hey, look at it like this – if it’s good news, we can celebrate with chocolate. If it’s bad news, we can cope with chocolate. Either way, we’re eating good.”
She popped another piece of candy into her mouth. “Now get in there!” she said, her words muffled with chocolate as she waved her hands toward the bathroom.
“Fine, fine.” I sighed and snatched the box off the table. I turned and stared in the direction of the bathroom as if I were walking to door of a class where I had to take the most important exam that I was least prepared for.
“And hurry up – you don’t get back here soon and I might eat all this.” She grinned, chocolate on her teeth.
Nothing to do but do it. I stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. The directions were straight-forward – pee on the stick and wait thirty seconds. Couldn’t be easier. So I peed on the stick. Then I waited the longest thirty seconds of my life, my eyes locked on the digital screen.
Thirty seconds passed. Two bars.
I was pregnant.
I stepped out of the bathroom in a daze. Kenna read my expression. Without a word, she shoved the box of chocolate in my face.
“Help yourself,” she said with another chocolatey grin. “Because you’re eating for two.”
Gavin
Christmas was fine. Totally fine.
Well, aside from the little fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about Gia.
I’d spent most of the day with Sharon, my mom. She lived in town, a coupe blocks from the boutique where she worked. Dad passed a few years ago, so it was just Mom and her two cats, Biff and Charlie. The place was decked out in Christmas décor, most of it island-themed and collected from her many trips.
“Remarry?” she’d asked, seated among the jungle plants that packed her little condo. “Why would I remarry?”
“Hey, don’t get me wrong,” I’d said, two glasses of the bottle of whiskey Duncan had bought me on the mirror-top coffee table in front of me. “Last thing I want to deal with is some dude dating my Mom.”
“Ho Ho Ho & a Bottle of Rum” from one of Jimmy Buffet’s Christmas albums played on the stereo, Biff’s orange form curled up right next to Mom.
“Oh, and why’s that?” she asked, her usual scheming smile on her face.
“With you Mom, I’d worry about the guy. He wouldn’t know what he’s getting himself into.” I chuckled as I brought the glass of whiskey to my lips, glancing around at Mom’s condo.
The place was as eccentric as the woman who lived in it.
“Seriously,” I said. “You’re fine being single? I’d put up with a wicked stepfather if it meant you’d be happy.”
She shrugged as if it were the most unimportant question in the world.
“Of course I am. I’ve got my boys and my books and my trips – what else could I want?” She leaned forward, raising a finger. “It’s you that I’m thinking about when it comes to this kind of thing.”
“What do you mean?”
She let out a quick, sharp laugh. “You know exactly what I mean. You’re still single, still without a family. It’s one thing for a woman like me to live that way – I’ve been around, I’ve seen it all. And I’ve got a great son and wonderful memories with your dad to show for it. You, on the other hand, have nothing but a house that’s way, way too big for one man.”
“It was a good deal. You end up paying less per square foot when you do it that way.”
Another laugh. “Oh, I’m sure that place was a real money saver.”
“I keep telling you I’d buy you one too, Mom,” I said. “I’ll get you a nice pad right down the road from me. No sense in spending your retirement years in a tiny place like this.”
She waved her hand through the air, dismissing the idea.
“Why would I want a huge home, so I can spend half my time dusting?”
“I’d pay for someone to do that, obviously.”
“Listen, kid – I
get where your heart’s at. But I’m happy here. Now, if you found some nice girl and had a kid or two, you might convince me to pack up and move on over. Until then, I’ve got everything I need. Speaking of which…”
Mom leaned in, a devilish glint in her eye.
“The answer’s no,” I said. “Too busy with work for anything like that.”
It was a lie, but what was I supposed to say?
She shook her head, sitting back.
“You know, you had a good thing all those years ago.”
“What do you mean?”
“That girl you dated in high school – Gia.”
“You remember her name?”
Mom laughed. “Of course I do! When you’re a parent, you’ll get it – you remember the good ones your kid ends up with, and you push the bad ones out of your head as quickly as you can. Like…what was that one named, that gal you were married to, the one who smelled like she got drunk off cheap champagne and stumbled into the perfume counter at Macy’s.”
Now it was my turn to laugh.
“You mean Mariah.”
Mom winced. “That’s the one. I swear, what were you thinking with her? You’re a smart boy, you had to know a woman like that would be nothing but trouble.”
Mom didn’t know the whole story, how Mariah and more or less blackmailed me into getting married. That’d been part of Mariah’s plan. She’d wanted it all to look picture perfect, and without the impression of it being a shotgun marriage – which is what it was.
“You had a great girl like Gia and dumped her for a total floozy like Mary.”
“Mariah.”
Another dismissive hand wave, her bright pink nails a quick blur in the air in front of her face.
“Whatever – girl like that isn’t worth getting her name right.”
“It’s…more complicated than that,” I said.
Mom cocked her head to the side. “What? Complicated how?”
Part of me didn’t want to tell her. The whole affair had been such a disaster that I’d kept it to myself, never told a soul. Dad hadn’t known the truth, and Mom didn’t either.
But I realized it was time to fess up, to get it off my chest. Hell, I’d told Gavin – telling Mom would be another good exercise in telling the truth.
Not to mention it’d be good practice for telling the woman I was really worried about letting know.
“Let’s hear it, kid,” she said. “You got something on your mind, and I want to know.”
I reached for the whiskey, but Mom swiped it off the table before I could get to it. With a wicked grin, she opened it up and began pouring.
“You talk, I pour.”
Once the glasses were full, she pushed one of them over to me. I took a sip and went to it.
Mom’s expressions, as always, let me know exactly how she felt about what I had to say.
And when I was done, she didn’t hold back.
“That…that bitch.”
I couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh, sitting back and resting my glass of whiskey on my knee.
“No, Mom,” I said. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“What on earth am I supposed to say?” I asked. “She blackmailed you into marrying her, made you dump the love of your life, and now she’s sauntering back into the picture like she didn’t do a damn thing wrong.”
I raised my palm, asking wordlessly for her to stop.
“Whoa-whoa-whoa – love of my life?”
Mom gave me a cock-eyed glance, as if she weren’t sure she’d heard me right.
“Uh, yeah. You were crazy about that girl, kid. She was all you talked about.”
“I don’t know about that. I mean, we had feelings for each other, but we were way too young.”
“Sounds to me like you’re doing some selective editing of your past. Even if you hadn’t said anything, which you did, I knew how much she meant to you by the way your face lit up whenever I asked about her.
“I still think you’re exaggerating the situation but go on.”
As I spoke, I knew Mom was right. I could feel in my heart how much I wanted her, the depth of my wanting.
I was being a total idiot, just like I had all those years ago when I’d managed to trick myself into thinking I wasn’t hurting Gia, that it wouldn’t sting to let her go, that I could make a good life with Mariah.
“You’ve always played things close to the chest, Gav. And I know that’s what you’re doing now. But let me tell you this – second chances don’t come around all that often. If she comes back into your life, you’d better do whatever it takes to make her stay. And to make up for what you did to her.”
She tossed back her whiskey.
“And telling her the truth? That wouldn’t hurt matters either.”
A couple of days later, I was back at work. The office was running a skeleton crew, just enough staff to handle emergencies, the rest taking their holiday break.
No such luck for me when it came to time off. I ran my clinic, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. And part of being on top meant the buck stopped at me.
And that meant paperwork – lots and lots of paperwork.
Nearly every damn decision made by anyone in my clinic, from the doctors to the support staff, required some sort of documentation. It was a pain in the ass, but keeping records made things run more smoothly.
So, while the rest of the staff was enjoying their time off with family, paperwork had been building up. After taking a couple of days off for Christmas, it was time to get it done.
Seated at my desk, the door shut and some Depeche Mode on the stereo, I powered through the massive stack of paperwork on my desk. Most of it required nothing more than a looking over, followed by some signing and dating.
I was in the zone when a chime sounded through my office.
“Yes?” I asked, my finger on the intercom.
“Dr. Davenport?” The words weren’t delivered in the chipper tone of my secretary, Lori.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Bess.” Bess Shaw was my head nurse – and a damn good one. I was in charge of the clinic, but some days I wondered how the hell I’d be able to run the place without her.
“Bess! What’s up? And does Lori know you’re in her command center? If so, watch out – you move a pencil and she’ll be all over you.”
She chuckled. “She knows. Lori’s in the little girl’s room, so I’m manning the front for a minute.”
“Well,” I said, a smirk on my lips. “As much as I admire your commitment to keeping me in the loop, I think Lori’s free to use the facilities without me knowing about it.”
She chuckled at my smart-ass joke.
“Not why I buzzed you.”
“What’s up?” I was curious, actually – as far as I knew, we didn’t have any appointments for the day.
“There’s, um, a woman here for you.”
This got an eyebrow raise. “A woman?”
“Yep, and a good-looking one, too. Very glamorous, very va-va-voom.”
“Gimme a sec – I’ll be right with them.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
I took my finger off the talk button and got up, straightening my tie and giving myself a quick once-over in the reflection of my computer monitor.
Was it Gia? Bess had made a point of mentioning how beautiful the woman had been. And Gia was the picture of beauty as far as I was concerned. But why would she be here?
I stepped over to the door and opened it up, and the smell of perfume thick in the air answered the question of my guest’s identity.
Mariah.
Before I had a chance to react, she sashayed around the corner, all boobs and blonde hair and a mouth full of pearl-white veneers. She was dressed in a matching top and bottom of gold velour, a black leather overcoat on top, a big, big smile on her face.
“There’s my handsome doctor,” she said.
Then she was all over me, throwing her arms around my body and pulling me close,
the overpowering scent of her perfume wrapping around me like a big, misty hand. Even through her outfit her fake boobs were like a pair of bowling balls.
“Mariah,” I said, stepping back and out of her grasp. “What the hell are you doing here? And what’s with this outfit? You looking like an over-the-hill Russian mobster’s third mistress.”
“What, you don’t like it?” she asked, cocking her hip to the side as if making damn sure I saw how tight her pants were. “Just a little something I threw on.”
Mariah and I hadn’t been married for long, but it’d been long enough for me to know she never just threw anything on. She always dressed with a purpose, and her showing up to my place of work wearing an outfit that looked more like body paint than clothes had already made me suspicious of her intentions.
“Anyway,” she said, sliding past me, the smell of her perfume making my eyes water like I’d just eaten a habanero or two. “How are you?”
Mariah entered my office, and I was so bowled over by her audacity that all I could do was step in after her. She took a seat on the edge of the desk, leaning forward just enough to draw attention to how low her top was zipped.
“Can I give you a doctor’s opinion?”
“Always.”
“Might want to pull that zipper up a little higher unless you want to risk frostbite on those things. Not sure if the warranty’s still good, you know?”
She glanced down at her breasts, then back up at me. Mariah still seemed pleased as hell, as if her only takeaway from my joke was that she’d succeeding in drawing attention to her chest.
“Funny as always, Doc.”
“Seriously,” I said, putting some firmness into my tone. “What’s up? You know I’m not big on unexpected visits – especially to the office.”
I was throwing out about as many hints as I could that I wasn’t happy at all that she’d stopped by. With a quick button press on the stereo remote, I turned down the music.
She curled her lip in a sly smile. “You know how much I love when you’re so businesslike and to-the-point. In that case, I’ll get right to it.”