by Ruby Scott
surgery was for her, but her parents all but insisted on cardio. Izzy didn’t
want to displease anybody, and her parents had done so much for her. She
switched after two weeks with emergency surgery as her chosen specialty.
She swallowed, her eyes focusing on the ground.
“What I can tell you Frost is that you’ll make a damned good surgeon.”
Sara rose from her desk and came around, taking Izzy’s hands in her own.
“It’s a big decision and not one to be rushed. I’ll make a deal with you.
Give it another few months and if you still feel the same let’s revisit it and I
will give you every bit of help, I can afford you. Do we have a deal?”
Finally, in a small voice, she responded to Sara. “Yes, thank you. I very
much appreciate that. I suspect I won’t change my mind though.” She
looked up slowly, expecting to see disappointment or annoyance. Instead,
Sara’s features were still soft and gentle. As she felt her hands being gently
squeezed, she gave the older woman a smile.
“That’s okay. Keep working with me just now and I’ll look after you.
If it isn’t what you want in a few months, then we’ll sort it out for you. Will
that be okay?” She released Izzy’s hands before going back to her desk.
Izzy smiled, eagerly nodding her head. Sara didn’t blow up like she
expected her to. Instead, she was ridiculously understanding. Maybe
everybody had been wrong about her. Maybe she was just a bit rough on the
outside, but soft on the inside. “That’ll be perfectly fine!” Izzy couldn’t
contain her excitement.
Sara stood from her desk then, matching Izzy’s smile. “Well, let’s get
started for the day then.”
TWELVE
Cara sat in her PJ’s, watching as Izzy moved around her kitchen with
nothing but grace. She had insisted on making them dinner, saying that they
were eating out too much. Cara definitely agreed. She was getting tired of
picking between three local cuisines each night, but they were both
generally tired from work. Izzy had gotten off work tonight with more
energy than usual. Cara would have been concerned if it wasn’t so
endearing.
“Do you need any help?” She called over.
“I’m good.” Izzy looked up at her with a smile as she continued
cooking.
She wanted to ask Izzy why she was so happy about her day but
couldn’t quite figure out how to phrase it without sounding suspicious. She
wanted to assume that whatever surgery she practiced that day had gone
perfectly or she had saved a patient’s life. But the sight of her girlfriend
humming and moving around the kitchen, collecting ingredients to make
dinner was certainly a new one.
Finally, curiosity got the best of Cara. She stood off the couch and
walked over to the breakfast bar. She didn’t sit on one of the wooden stools,
instead; she leaned on it with her elbows, holding her chin in the palm of
her hand. “So…” She started. “what’s gotten you so happy tonight? Not that
I’m complaining, I’m just curious.”
Izzy looked up from the pot of noodles that she was boiling. “I talked
to Sara about perhaps moving out of cardio and specializing in another area.
She was amazing. Really understanding. She says she’ll look after me just
now and if I still feel the same in a few months, she’ll help me make the
switch.”
Cara’s brows knitted together in the middle of her forehead. “I
thought you were specializing in cardio.”
She sighed. “I am, I am. Just… I told Sara that I wasn’t sure my heart
was in it and that maybe I made the wrong decision. She was super
understanding about it.”
Cara tilted her head to the side. “I thought you were okay with cardio
because that’s what your parents wanted. I thought you didn’t want to start
over or whatever.”
“I know that’s what I said, but I couldn’t hide it from Sara. She saw
my face; I think she figured it out and just wanted me to admit it.”
Something didn’t add up, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It was
just a few weeks ago when Izzy spent her nights venting about working
with Sara, how impossible the woman seemed and how she ruled with an
iron fist. Now she was doing Izzy favors. Something was off, but Cara
didn’t want to ruin her girlfriend’s happiness. Instead, she settled on
changing the subject. “So… if you are all about making big decisions and
announcements soon, does that mean you’re going to tell your parents about
us?”
That was evidently the wrong subject to change to. She watched as
her girlfriend froze up, refusing to make eye contact. Before Izzy could
respond, Cara was trying to cover her own ass. “Not that I’m pressuring you
to or anything. I just thought that since you’re going against their cardio
wishes that you would… you know.”
If she was being honest, Izzy keeping things a secret from her parents
was bothering her. She knew coming out was a huge thing, but Cara thought
things were getting serious between them. Why wouldn’t Izzy want her
parents to know? From previous conversations she gathered that they
weren’t huge homophobes or anything, they just had big dreams for their
daughter. They wanted her to have a picturesque life. Being gay likely
didn’t fit that picture for them.
“I haven’t told them.” Izzy admitted before instantly busying herself
with cooking. “I promise I’ll tell them soon.” Her voice took on a tone that
Cara wasn’t entirely familiar with… it was almost cold.
“Hey, no big deal.” Cara walked around the breakfast bar, into her
small kitchen. She got right up behind Izzy and wrapped her arms around
her waist, pulling her back against her. Izzy was frozen at first, which sent a
fresh wave of panic through Cara. Just as quickly as she had frozen though,
she relaxed. “Speaking of parents though… Do you want to have dinner
with my family this weekend? I told them about you and they’re eager to
meet you… only if you want to come, of course.”
Izzy swallowed, going back to focusing on cooking before quietly
answering; “Yeah, let’s do it. I’m up for it.”
“Great,” Cara kissed the side of her head. “I’ll let my mom know
tomorrow.”
“Oh God, what am I going to do?” Izzy sat at a table in the hospital’s
cafeteria. Her head was in her hands, her lunch tray pushed to the center.
Next to her, Jack rolled his eyes while her friend (and fellow resident)
Rachel looked concerned.
“Well, I mean, not being dramatic would be a good start, if you ask
me.” Jack said, reaching over and plucking a fry off of Izzy’s plate.
She looked up, uncovering her face. “I’m not being dramatic. Cara
wants me to meet her parents. Isn’t that moving way too fast?”
Jack shrugged. “Cara is close to her family, it makes sense.”
“Isn’t it a good thing that Cara wants you to meet her family?”
Rachel asked. “ It means she likes you a lot, right?”
Rachel wasn’t wrong. Izzy would have been more concerned if Cara
wanted to hide
her from her family… like Izzy was currently doing. The
difference was, Cara was out to her family. Izzy wasn’t. She was waiting for
the right time to tell them, but she couldn’t figure out when the right time
was. Evidently it was soon though because Cara had upped the pace.
Izzy wasn’t complaining. She liked that Cara liked her enough to
bring her home to her family; she liked the pace at which they were moving
together. It just made Izzy feel like garbage since she hadn’t even had a
second thought about outing herself to her mom and dad anytime soon.
“I guess.” Izzy sighed. “But what if they hate me? What if I make a
bad first impression?”
“Even if you make a bad first impression, I’m sure Cara won’t care.
She likes you for you, with or without her family involved. Right?” Rachel
looked from Cara to Jack.
“That’s not entirely true,” Jack was shaking his head. “Cara is like
super close to her family so if they don’t like Izzy… well…” He shrugged
raising his arms with a full fork of food that looked like it might fall at any
minute. “Although… they didn’t like Cara’s ex, and they still stayed
together. Anyway, you don’t have to worry. You’ll make a fine first
impression, Izzy. You’ve overthinking it.”
“I’ve never had to deal with stuff like this before, Jack. It’s way more
stressful than surgery.” It was true, Izzy was probably much better than Ali
had been. Izzy wasn’t in the business to put another woman down just to
make herself feel better, but from the stories that she had heard from Cara
about her ex meant she didn’t have a great deal to live up to.
“Like Jack said, you’re overthinking it.” Rachel said, offering a small
smile. “Just be your usual charming self. I’m sure her parents will like you.
I mean, Cara likes you, so her parents probably will too.”
There were so many things that could go wrong. “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”
She told herself, although she wasn’t entirely sure she believed it.
“I mean, if it isn’t… you and Cara can always go back to being
friends with benefits or whatever you were before you two started dating.
That worked out for you two, right?” Jack widened his eyes in mock
question as he shoveled in a mouthful of food.
Izzy grabbed a fry from her tray and chucked it at Jack. “That wasn’t
helpful advice, you ass.”
“It took your mind off of freaking out about meeting Cara’s family
though, I think I win.”
But what if it went as poorly as it had when Izzy introduced Cara to
her friends? Izzy hadn’t even considered her friends would have treated
Cara like they did, so what if Cara wasn’t considering that her family might
just hate Izzy? If Izzy had learned anything about being in a relationship, it
was to expect the unexpected.
“Okay, you’re probably right.” Izzy sighed. She reached onto her tray
and grabbed a fry, this time she tossed it into her mouth.
“I mean, if things don’t work out between you and Cara, there’s
always Chief Thomas.” Jack tacked on, waggling his eyebrows playfully.
“She seems pretty into you.”
Izzy turned to look at him, her face turning into what she hoped was a
death glare. “I’m going to throw something worse than a fry at you if you
say that again.”
The chief just liked her because Izzy was eager to please. She was a
good student. That’s why her teachers had always liked her. There wasn’t
anything more there… right?
THIRTEEN
Izzy couldn’t remember ever feeling this nervous before. She was taking
this seriously, because it was a very serious matter, despite Cara trying to
convince her otherwise. “My parents are pretty relaxed.” She had told Izzy.
“They don’t even dress up for chapel, they just wear their nicer clothes.”
Even still, the need to impress them was haunting Izzy, making her feel
nervous.
They pulled up to the middle-class neighborhood that Cara had been
raised in. All the homes were cookie-cutter, the same brown brick exterior
with white panelling and steep roofs. The yards were well maintained with
children’s toys or lawn chairs scattered across them. It was a good
neighborhood where people took pride in their homes. Cara put the car in
park, turning to Izzy before she took the key out of the ignition. “It’s going
to be okay.” She said for the umpteenth time. “They’re going to adore you.
Just like I adore you.”
“What do I even say?” Izzy asked, staring down at her lap, her hands
clasped together and trembling.
“Hi. is usually a good start.” Cara grinned. Reaching over, she took
Izzy’s hands in her own, forcing her to look at her. “Hey, you gotta trust me.
It’s going to be fine. Okay?”
Looking into Cara’s eyes, Izzy felt most of her anxiety melt away.
She trusted her, knew she only wanted what was best for both of them. Cara
wouldn’t lie to her about something like this. She nodded. “Right. It’s going
to be fine.”
“Good. I’m glad you’ve finally got that in your head. We should
probably get out though before people start wondering what’s taking us so
long.” She turned the car off and shoved the key into the pocket of her
jeans.
Hand-in-hand, they walked up the driveway together. Izzy did
everything in her power to make herself look straight ahead and not down at
her feet. She kept repeating to herself that it was going to be okay, like that
was her new mantra. Before Cara could reach out to knock on the dark-
brown painted door, it swung open.
“You made it!” A woman grinned, stepping outside, and throwing her
arms around Cara. Not knowing what to do, Izzy let go of Cara’s hand and
tucked herself off to the side.
“Of course, I did. I told you I would.” Cara smiled.
The woman was older, with shoulder-length dark hair, the same olive
colored skin as Cara and the same dark eyes. “Mom, this is Izzy.” Cara said,
gesturing over to Izzy.
Izzy’s stomach was doing backflips. Oh God, what if she didn’t like
her? What if she said something wrong? She tried to shove her fears to the
side. “Hi Mrs. O’Leary. It’s so nice to meet you.” She extended her hand, in
hopes that it was an acceptable greeting.
Cara’s mother let go of her, stepping over to Izzy. She looked down at
the extended hand and proceeded to ignore it, wrapping Izzy in a hug
instead. Izzy stood awkwardly for a moment before she returned the hug,
although loosely. When they parted, the woman smiled down at her.
“Please, call me Ann. Mrs. O’Leary is such a mouthful. It’s such a pleasure
to meet you, Izzy. Cara talks about you quite a lot. Let’s get you two
inside.” She stepped back from Izzy and turned to enter the home with Cara
and Izzy following behind her.
Inside, the house was clean. It was clearly a home, lived in and worn
over time. The scent of freshly cooked dinner and cinnamon filled Izzy’s
nostrils. She had experienced something like this before, whenever she
wen
t to a friends house from school. It was a stark contrast to her own
childhood home, which was crystal clean from the maid her mother hired
and didn’t quite smell of anything. It was easily believable that no one had
ever lived in that house.
She liked houses like this. As a child, she often imagined what it
would be like to have family dinners and spend holidays together. Izzy
didn’t have a bad childhood; she didn’t grow up unloved or with some other
sad rich kid backstory. Her parents were just busy professionals, working
jobs that always required long hours and for them to be on call. She
understood that when she grew up, but as a child… she longed for
something like this.
They followed Ann through the living room to a small hallway where
they took a left. The hallway led into the kitchen where the smell of food hit
Izzy right in the face. Each burner on the stove had a pot on it, the counters
were filled with different ingredients and Tupperware containers full of
already cooked food.
“It smells delicious, mom.” Cara said with a grin. “Whatcha
making?”
Ann beamed over to her daughter. “Just roasted chicken, potatoes, a
few other veggies. The usual. Nothing special. Although…” She paused,
and Izzy watched as Cara’s face lit up. Whatever the although was, Cara
knew what was coming. “I did make your favorite crumb cake for dessert.”
Cara let go of Izzy’s hand and leapt forward, wrapping her arms
around her mom once more. “You’re the best!” She grinned.
Ann patted her on the back before turning around to pay attention to
the stove. “Your father, Sean, Tom and Pat are in the dining room. You
should join them; dinner will be ready soon.”
Izzy watched as Cara’s nose wrinkled. “Only Sean, Tom and Pat are
here?”
“Oh, I know. I tried to get us all together, but Vinnie, Craig and Paul
had other plans. They have their families, y’know? Unfortunately, they
don’t get to come around as often as they used to. But go say ‘hi’ to
everyone else.”
Cara took Izzy’s hand once more and started to lead her towards the
dining room. “Vinnie, Craig and Paul are all married.” She informed her.
“Paul has two kids, Vinnie’s got three with this wife and Craig’s a