Daddy To Go: A Secret Baby Medical Romance

by Adams, S. C.

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” I chuckled. “Forgot to set my alarm.”

  Mary scrunched her nose, looking me up and down. “You? Perfect Abby forgot to set her alarm? Alright, spill it, what’s wrong with you?”

  I chuckled as I walked to the counter. “Nothing is wrong with me. I was just exhausted.”

  “Oh sure,” Mary replied, grabbing her wallet. “Because gyno exams are really exhausting.”

  I could feel my cheeks turning red as I faced away ordering my coffee. “Medium dark roast, soymilk, and four sugars. Oh, and I’ll take a strawberry rhubarb muffin.”

  Mary pushed her way over next to me. “And a large black coffee. I got this.”

  “Thanks,” I replied cheerfully.

  I could feel Mary’s confused stare on me all the way from the counter to the table. When we were seated and set up, she continued to stare at me. I took a deep breath and let my eyes line up with hers.

  “Mary, you’re staring.”

  My friend blinked dramatically. “You didn’t set an alarm, you came out in yoga pants which I can’t even get you to wear during yoga, and you didn’t fight me on paying. What happened to you? Are you actually Abby or did some sort of extraterrestrial take over?” She leaned closer and whispered. “Because if that’s the case, your secret is safe with me. I always knew you were out there.”

  I rolled my eyes and sipped my coffee. “Can’t I just feel good?”

  “No,” Mary growled. “Don’t bullshit me, woman. Spill it before I torture you.”

  Her normal tactic was embarrassment. Something usually along the lines of Mary raising her voice and squealing at the top of her lungs. Then she followed up with something ridiculous, turning everyone’s heads. Feeling more alive or not, I laughed.

  “Okay, stop,” I whispered. “Something happened at the appointment. My doctor wasn’t in and I had a substitute. This male doctor named Ryder.”

  She snorted, looking down at her coffee. “This sounds like some lame beginning to a porno. He gave you the once over and then dug deep, right?”

  As she laughed to herself, I went quiet, just staring over at her. My silence caught her attention and she glanced up with a grin. As soon as she saw the look on my face her grin dropped and her mouth hung open. She sat there frozen in place for several moments, reading every twitch of my lip and flare of my nostrils.

  She closed her mouth and pulled herself together. Carefully she set her coffee down and cleared her throat. “Did you just imply that you went to get your hoo-ha checked out and instead, you got laid?”

  My lip curled. “You don’t have to say it so crudely. But I guess in essence, yeah.”

  Mary stared again, her face straight. “I’m sorry, I think you just shocked me so bad, I’m having an out of body experience. So, let me just recap. You went into the doctor, saw a fill-in, who came in and bent you over the exam table?”

  “Something like that,” I replied.

  “No, not something like that,” she said in a hushed voice, eyes wide. “You tell me every detail of this so I can decide whether I need to high five you or call the cops. Was he old?”

  I gasped. “Oh my God! NO! And he didn’t coerce me either. There was just this heat in the air between the two of us when he walked in and we both lost control as soon as he put his hands on me. I mean, looking back at it, the whole thing is kind of unbelievable.”

  “Uh, yeah,” she snorted. “I can’t. I don’t even know what to say to you besides, nice work girlie. Get you some young hunky doctor.”

  I smiled for a moment, my cheeks burning again. I glanced down at my coffee, the smile fading and a sigh replacing it. “I just don’t know what to do now. We didn’t exchange information. We were kind of in a hurry after that and I left in a complete daze. I feel like it would be weird to call him at work.”

  Mary shrugged her shoulders. She never gave a shit about doing the “right” or “normal” thing. She did whatever she wanted, and I always admired that about her. “I would personally make another appointment with him and clear up the loose ends. If it was a one-time deal, cool, if not cool. But one thing I can tell you from experience, leaving it up in the air will drive you crazy. Call his office and make an appointment.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “You think?”

  “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t think it,” she replied, stealing a bite of my muffin.

  Thinking about seeing Ryder again made me feel buzzy and warm. I grabbed my phone from my purse and dialed the doctor’s office. The receptionist picked up and I played it off like I didn’t remember Dr. Rivington’s name, just in case she overheard us last time.

  “I can fit you in tomorrow morning at nine fifteen,” she replied.

  I smiled. “Great. Perfect. Thanks.”

  When I hung up Mary gave me a sly grin and nodded. “I’m proud of you. Who knew all it would take was a good hot man? I would have gotten you laid like, at puberty had I known that. You might have become a completely different girl.”

  I shook my head, tossing my phone back in my purse. “No, I would have ended up like all of our friends.”

  Mary looked confused. “Drunk, and stuck in a marriage they regret even though they drive the newest BMW SUV with three kids in the back?”

  “No, the ones like us. You know, from the wrong side of the tracks,” I replied.

  She nodded her head.

  “Ohhhh, yeah. Pregnant and angry. Got it. You know, with your luck I would probably have to agree. Good call.”

  We spent the rest of breakfast and coffee teasing each other back and forth playfully as Mary tried to get more details out of me. But I wasn’t giving in. It had been so perfect with Ryder that I was afraid if I thought about things too much, I’d worry it to death. Yet, the anxiety persisted. How likely was it I would get knocked up on the first time? That kind of thing only happened in shitty after school specials, right?

  “Earth to the wild sex goddess.” Mary’s voice echoed into my thoughts.

  I sat up, shaking my head. “Sorry, my mind was somewhere else.”

  She snickered. “I’m sure it was. Was it long, hard, and warm?”

  I sighed. “It isn’t always about just that.”

  Suddenly, Mary’s face went serious.

  “Listen, it’s all great but I just want you to be realistic. These things rarely turn into fairy tales. If the doctor did that with you, well, I’m just saying, take it one step at a time. Don’t start imagining your little doctor children and doctor dog just yet. He may have been sexy and cute but he could be a complete jerk. I hope not, but just be careful.”

  She was right, and I already knew it, but for some reason the words cut through me like a knife. There were no dreams of grandeur, but I guess I had some hopes of becoming a couple. Who knows what Ryder thought?

  “I will be careful. And I am. No thoughts of white weddings,” I lied.

  She gave me a look. “Better not be. Cause I’ll Red Wedding this guy if he hurts you. I’ll come in with my sword in one hand, and my whip in another, and he’ll be wishing he lost Game of Thrones after that.”

  We both burst into laughter, but my heart thumped a little bit faster. What did Ryder want from our encounter? There was only one way to find out.

  6

  Ryder

  My head had its own heartbeat. I saw fourteen patients in nine hours. I ate a ham and cheese sandwich from the worst deli in the world, one that likely had rotted meat in it. I was a sucker for a family owned business, even if they were terrible.

  I washed my hands off at the nurse’s station sink and flapped them over the bowl, grabbing a couple of paper towels and drying off to my elbows. I glanced up at my reflection in the mirror that hung over it, seeing the stress lines in my forehead. Maybe the constant travel was starting to age me, and make me tired.

  Turning, I leaned against the sink, giving a fake smile and wave at Mrs. Mercer, the 73-years young lady who had given me a full lecture on the use of tinctures during her
exam. I figured if she survived at-home medicine for seventy something years, who was I to tell her any different? That and I really didn’t want to know the full history of her wacky ways.

  “She gave you the rundown, didn’t she?” one of the nurses, Alex, asked with a chuckle. “Which topic was it? Fermented greens? No, wait. You don’t look like the fermented greens type.”

  I frowned. “Thank God.”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “Must have been the tinctures.”

  “Ding, ding,” I chimed. “Brilliant. Don’t know why I wasted my life going to medical school.”

  Alex shrugged. “Guess you had to learn the hard way. When are you opening up your tincture shop?”

  I grabbed my keys off the desk. “After I learn how to ferment vegetables.”

  “Smart,” she nodded as she broke out into laughter. “See you in the morning Doc.”

  I tapped my hand down the counter. “You know of any chill spots I can get a drink?”

  Alex pulled her sweatshirt jacket on over her scrubs. “Uh, yeah. There’s a little bar called Torrent Jacks right down the street. My husband grabs beers there sometimes. Pretty cool place on a Thursday.”

  Giving her the thumbs up, I walked down the hall and out the back door. My car was parked right up to the curb in the back lot and I was relieved to not have to smell old lady perfume and the scent of antiseptic. I clicked the keys, unlocking my Mercedes SL36 Roadster. It was a present I got for myself. After all, I don’t own a house and travel all the time. I can only shop so much, so the car seemed like the perfect gift.

  Unfortunately, out there beyond the cities and traffic, in small town life, I felt a little ridiculous driving a car that cost more than most residents’ homes. It made me really question whether I felt the need to have the car or not. I felt uncomfortable, like I was showboating or something.

  But too late now. I found some street parking and glanced up at a small flickering neon sign across the street. It was Torrent Jacks, and close enough to stumble back drunk to the hotel if I had one too many. I waved at a slowing car and jogged across the street, grabbing the door and holding it as two middle aged women giggled and hurried through. Normally, I’d have an automatic smile on my face, but for some reason they just weren’t coming today. I wasn’t upset, just plagued with thoughts.

  The bar was pretty busy but there was an open seat to the left. The bartender walked over as I sat down. “Hey, man. What can I get for you?”

  “I’ll have a Dewar’s on the rocks,” I replied. “Thanks.”

  I pulled out my phone and flipped through my social media accounts, not actually taking anything in. To be honest, my mind was on the day before. That hot encounter I had with Abby. It ended kind of rushed, and I felt kind of bad about it. It was probably the single hottest encounter I had ever had and I got automatically hard, just remembering it.

  I glanced up, feeling someone step up beside me. It was a tall blonde with huge tits, a round firm ass, and ice blue eyes. She smiled at me but it didn’t seem to register like it normally would have. My smile back was completely robotic, something I had acquired from seeing so many patients day in and day out. Immediately I went back to staring at my phone.

  The clink of the ice in my glass as the bartender set it down in front of me caught my attention quicker than the girl. He leaned forward.

  “You seem to have quite the fan club in here. The ladies can’t take their eyes off of you, my friend.”

  Glancing around, I realized I was getting the same attention I always did when I walked in a bar, wearing my scrubs. I was being followed by the hungry eyes of dozens of women. Up until the bartender pointed it out, though, I had been completely oblivious.

  I chuckled and gave another half-smile. “Yeah, kind of comes with the territory sometimes. They love the baggy scrubs,” I joked.

  He stood back up, wiping his hands on his towel, and shaking his head. “To be you, man. You could walk out of here with any girl you wanted.”

  He was probably right but my head was swimming with visions of Abby, and nothing else. If I could have seen myself from the outside it would have been painful to watch. But I wasn’t in the mood that night. I didn’t want to take another girl back to my hotel for a wild romp only to feel awkward in the morning.

  With that realization, I sat back, grabbing my drink and taking a gulp. I breathed heavily in through my nose and rubbed my hands up my slightly bristled cheeks. What are you doing, man? I questioned myself. Are you happy? Is this the life you want?

  But the attention from various ladies was crazy. Their eyes were like hot lasers burning into the back of my head. And my ass. The bartender meandered back over. “You alright? You look pretty down.”

  I glanced up, surprised by his voice. “Oh, yeah man. My head is somewhere else.”

  “Somewhere else? Or with someone else?” he asked.

  I leaned my head back and groaned.

  “Buddy, I don’t even know anymore. You think you have your life just how you want it and then one moment in time makes you question it all. Or it makes you confused as hell.”

  The bartender, around my age, smirked. “Well, you just gotta keep going dude. In my opinion, if you don’t roll with what life gives you, you’ll end up regretting it.”

  I nodded and finished my drink and pulled out a twenty, tossing it on the bar.

  “Thanks man, I’m going to go ponder some more in my hotel room. Have a good night.”

  The bartender nodded.

  “You too, doc. Whatever it is, whoever it is, just relax. You’ll know.”

  I gave a half smile and turned, walking through the increasing crowd and out the door. Leave it to me to find the Buddha of bartenders in some small ass town in the middle of nowhere Maryland. I needed to book more big city practices. No one there paid attention to you, which would be nice for a change.

  I got to the hotel and took the lift up to the top floor, where my penthouse suite waited. It wasn’t the biggest I had ever stayed in, but it was pretty nice. It was decorated in smooth lines of crisp white with splashes of color throughout. I didn’t always get the penthouse because it depended on the practice and what they set up for me. Since this one was a personal favor, I got treated to the luxury stuff. It was okay. I’m used to hotels now, having lived in them on a near constant basis. Tonight though, there was something cold and distant about the place.

  It wasn’t the hotel though; it was my mental viewpoint on life, and I knew it. I wasn’t comfortable in my own head in that moment, but I needed some time to clear my head before bed. I needed to get some rest before seeing patients again. Last night had been filled with hot dreams and a curvy, beautiful girl, and I was distracted at work as a result.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it up, seeing a video call from my best friend, Jack. We went through medical school together, and have been buddies since then. Jack was a traveling doctor too. When I first told him about the lifestyle, he just about died. He couldn’t wait to get out on the open road and be free from the politics of hospital life.

  “What up, what up?” he greeted, his smiling face large on the small screen. “Dr. Swagger here checking in from beautiful sunny Florida.”

  “Nice,” I replied, hearing the ocean in the background. “I am currently in my penthouse suite in Maryland.”

  “Fancy, I like it,” he grinned. “Getting some serious action with that gig? I bet the nurses are loving you.”

  I shook my head. “You know my rule: never shit where you eat.”

  Jack snorted.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m starting to have a list of practices to avoid because of these crazy nurses. But I will do what I do. Free as a bird.”

  Shaking my head with a smile, I walked over to the large floor to ceiling windows that lined the living area of the penthouse. There was a set of sliding doors that led to a patio, and a private infinity pool with surrounding chairs. It was a good view, and for a second, I got lost.

  �
��Earth to Dr. Rivington,” Jack laughed. “You seem like you’re on another planet. What’s up?”

  I shook the daze from my head. “Nothing man, just a ton of patients. That’s all really.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, ok. I call bullshit. I have personally seen you work natural disasters with no breaks for days and not look out of it. There’s something else.”

  My eyes glanced back at the screen of my phone and I sat down in a chair to my left. “I guess I can’t lie. Something happened yesterday. Something beyond even my hustle skills.”

  I launched into the story. I told him every detail from the moment I entered the room with Abby, to the way her hips curved, and to the moment she wandered from the room dazed. He stayed quiet for a minute, just listening.

  “Did you just have a stroke?” I asked jokingly.

  Jack swung his head back and forth making a humming noise with his loose lips. “Dude. Not only did you break your own rules, but now you’re obsessing over a chick. A chick you met one time. You did the deed once. You know what you’re doing right?”

  I furrowed my brow. “No. What?”

  “You’re sabotaging yourself,” he said. “You just got back from visiting your sister, and you’re having family fever. Dude, it will pass. Don’t go messing up your head over some girl. Mad props to you though, that is fucking ballsy. Even I would think twice before doing something like that.”

  “It wasn’t on purpose,” I groaned. “It was like I had no control over myself. She’s gorgeous, and I had to have her.”

  Jack’s eyes moved off screen as he nodded to someone. When he looked back, I could tell there was some girl calling for him. “Here’s the deal. You have the life you always dreamed of. You better think long and hard before you go messing that up. But listen, I’m gonna jet. Got a hottie and her best friend getting in the hot tub. Gotta go try to get my threesome on. Don’t make any crazy decisions without consulting me first though. I don’t trust this phase you’re going through.”

  The girls were calling for him and I laughed. “Get out of here man. I’m going to go to bed. I’ve got a lot of patients tomorrow, and I won’t go run off and get married, promise.”