by K. C. Crowne
Felicity came back out and slammed her fists down on the counter.
“Sorry,” she said, once she realized what she’d done.
“No need to apologize. Sounds like a frustrating morning. Anything I can do to help?”
“No, I don’t think so. Not unless you're secretly a plumber on the side.”
“You know, just because I’m a doctor doesn’t mean I don’t have other skills. What’s going on?”
Felicity met my gaze, and even though she hesitated, she eventually told me.
“It appears we have tree roots growing through some of our pipes. Our toilets are backing up into the sink drains, and we can temporarily fix it, but it’s only going to get worse. So it looks like we may have to close for the day or for however long it takes to fix this issue. I can still take your order since everything is sanitary and operational for now, but we can’t stay open all day. No way.”
Allison came out from the back and turned the sign to closed on the front door. Tears welled up in Felicity’s eyes, but she wiped at her eyes, turning away so I couldn’t look at her.
“Well, I can’t personally help with that, but I know of a good plumber, and—”
“I can’t afford a plumber right now.”
Then, like that, the dam broke and she fell apart. Tears fell from her eyes, and she wasn’t fast enough with wiping them away. They were impossible to miss now. I pushed back my stool and walked over to her side of the counter.
I wasn’t sure it was appropriate, but I couldn’t let her cry like that. It killed me to see her hurting. I wrapped my arms around her, and for a brief second, she relaxed into me. My heart nearly jumped into my throat as I held onto her. But she pulled away a moment later, and we both stared awkwardly at the floor.
“I’m sorry, I—” We both said at the same time.
“No, you have nothing to be sorry about,” I said. “I should go back to my side of the counter, huh?”
“Yeah, probably should. Customers shouldn’t be back here.”
She still wouldn’t look at me.
“So what else is going on?”
She sighed. “Well, everything, honestly. I have an inspection coming up, and there’s just so much broken and other equipment needs to be updated, and I can’t afford it all. So it looks like we will have to shut our doors until I can figure something out.”
An idea popped into my head.
There she was - beautiful, smart, and talented.
I wanted a surrogate. She needed money. In my logical doctor’s brain, it sounded like a perfect solution. I didn’t really think it over, I just wanted to fix everything, so I spoke without much thinking.
“Can I ask you a weird question?”
“Sure, I guess.”
“Are you healthy? I mean, do you have any health issues?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, totally confused by the change in topic.
“I have a crazy proposition for you. It probably won’t happen, but— Well, I figured it’s worth bringing up since it could solve problems for both of us.”
Felicity raised her chin and cocked her head to the side, curious. “Go on.”
I cleared my throat. “Well, I’m in the market for a surrogate. I’d like to have a child of my own and I'm already looking at paying around $30,000, at least, to an agency and since you could use the money, I thought—”
The expression on Felicity’s face was the first sign that I’d made a mistake. Her jaw dropped open and she couldn’t even look at me. Holding up a hand, she said, “Stop right there. You’re asking me to have your baby for money? Are you serious right now?”
“I mean, I was - I am, but obviously, it’s a crazy idea and—”
“You’re right, it's a crazy idea. Do you even realize what it means for a woman to go through pregnancy and have a baby? It’s not something that should be taken lightly.”
I didn’t want to tell her that ever since my mother mentioned the idea, I’d thought about it. Just not seriously since I’d been thinking of us as being together, and that was off the table for a myriad of reasons.
“Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have said anything,” I said, shrugging and staring down at my hands. “Going through an agency was the original plan, I’ll go back to that.”
“Damn right you will,” she said.
She stormed off to the back, leaving me there alone. A second later, Allison came out with a confused look on her face. “I was training in the kitchen today, but I guess I’m back out on the floor,” she said sheepishly. “So give me a second to get everything set up here, and I can take your order.”
Allison walked over to the computer and typed in something, then she turned back to me with an ordering pad at the ready. Unlike Felicity, she didn’t know my usual.
And I had a feeling that Felicity wouldn’t be coming back out.
Damn. For a highly educated doctor, sometimes I really wasn’t very smart.
Felicity
I slammed the office door behind me, locking it and leaning against it.
Damn you, Abe. Why did you have to ask me something like that?
I’d always wanted children of my own one day. The idea of being pregnant and in love filled me with such happiness normally, but he had whittled it down to a business transaction.
Did he not understand what it would all entail?
But $30,000. In a town like Liberty, that was a lot of money.
It would cover all of my repairs.
It would help me get ahead.
But I’d have to have a baby that wouldn’t be mine. I would carry and nurture and fall in love with it and then have to give it away and not be part of it’s life. No fucking way.
For him to ask me something like that, when I was already feeling desperate, was low. Had it been anyone else, I would have been royally pissed. But it was Abe. I knew Abe didn’t mean to use the lowest point in my life to get what he wanted. Or at least I wanted to believe he wouldn’t.
To dangle a life changing amount of money in front of me like that, on a whim, seemed so out of character. I wanted to blame his lack of common sense. He was a smart man, but sometimes too logical. Too methodical.
I still wanted to believe that he merely wanted to help me. It was why I hated telling people my problems; everyone wanted to help - but I didn’t want their pity and handouts, and I didn’t want to owe anyone anything. And no matter what, in my experience, it felt like if I let someone do a favor for me, I’d owe them something eventually.
I sighed and wiped the tears from my eyes. There was no taking back what happened. Abe was a regular, I’d see him again. I couldn’t avoid him completely, not in a town as small as Liberty. Maybe I’d distance myself, make it clear that it wasn’t okay to ask such a thing.
Or was it?
Dammit.
He’d tempted me. His offer would change my life. And at least he was upfront at what it would cost me, even if the cost was something I deemed to be way too high.
There was a knock on the door.
“Felicity?” Allison’s soft voice spoke from the other side.
I turned and gripped the doorknob, opening the door slowly.
“Yes?”
“Since the restaurant is technically closed and Abe is the only one here, should I go back to training in the kitchen? Or do you want me to leave once he’s finished?”
Allison was a lot like me. She loved cooking, but her family couldn’t afford to send her to a culinary school. So I was training her in the kitchen myself, trying to help her out as best I could.
I opened the door wider. “Come inside. I want to talk to you.”
Her face blanched. “Am I in trouble? I’m sorry I was later the other day, I—”
“No, you’re not in trouble. I just need your advice on something,”
“You need my advice?” The young woman’s face lit up.
I took a seat at my desk. “Yes, just a hypothetical question for you. Can you shu
t the door behind you, please?”
Allison did as I asked, then took a seat across from me. Her face was eager and curious. God, she looked like a baby and there was only seven year’s difference between us. I wondered if I looked like a baby to Abe, and if so, how could he ask me such a question?
And why was I asking Allison such a question?
Because I didn’t want to alert my friends that anything was wrong, that’s why. I had no one else to ask, and I knew Allison’s situation -- she would be in a place that the money would change her life forever.
I cleared my throat. “Say someone approached you and offered you a lot of money - enough to pay for your culinary school, but you’d have to be a surrogate for them. Do you think that is something you could comfortably do?”
Allison seemed to ponder it for a second. “You mean have a baby for someone else?”
“Yes, exactly. Especially if it’s something you’ve always wanted for yourself. Say, you’ve always wanted to have kids, so the idea of being pregnant and having babies is very important to you.”
“Yes, I understand, I think,” she said. “And I’d agree to do it. I mean, depending on if they covered the medical costs and all that too, obviously, and that they were a good person, someone I trusted to raise the baby right.”
“You’d do it that easily?”
“Maybe not easily, but I think of it this way - while yes, it might be hard to give the child up, I’d be giving someone else a family that they’ve yearned for and get my college paid for, which would change my life. It would also put me in a better situation to have a family of my own one day, because currently, I don’t see being able to afford that on a server’s salary. No offense, you pay well and all, but—”
“None taken,” I said. “I understand completely. Kids are very expensive.”
“Exactly. But if I could get in a better place financially, I’d be able to start my own family one day. At least it would make it more likely, you know?”
I nodded. She spoke the thoughts I had myself. But I still couldn’t imagine just having a baby and giving it away. Especially not in such a small town where I’d have to see him or her every often while not being a part of their life.
But it would put me in a better place to have a family of my own one day, if I got the repairs and everything done here, this place made plenty of money - it just needed someone to invest in it. This would be my investment.
And Abe was a good man, I had no doubt.
“Thanks, Allison. And yes, feel free to continue training under Gavin. I’ll be out in a bit to train you as well.”
“Thanks, Felicity,” she said. “I really appreciate all your help. Hopefully one day I can work in your upscale restaurant too.”
I cringed. I’d spoken about that dream to her before, but it had felt so impossible.
But if I did this for Abe, maybe it would be possible, one day.
Allison scurried off, leaving me alone. But only for a few moments.
Another knock.
“Yes?”
“Sorry, it’s me again.”
“Come in.”
Allison popped in, an envelope in her hand.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know, Dr. Hammond asked me to give it to you.”
She handed me the envelope and left. I stared down at it. Probably an apology note, I thought, ripping it open.
There was a note, but that wasn’t the first thing I saw.
No, my eyes fell on a check first.
For $50,000.
Written out to me.
“Jesus Christ,” I said, pulling open the note.
Felicity,
I was a fool, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that of you. You’re right, I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to help you, but that wasn’t the way to go about it. Please, accept this check as a donation to keep the diner up and running. This diner is important to the town, and I don’t think I could live without your cooking. There are no strings attached, consider it a gift.
Sincerely,
Abe
My heart jumped into my throat as I picked up the check.
Oh hell no, I thought. I jumped to my feet and rushed out my office and into the dining room. It was weird seeing the place empty at this time during the week. Usually it was packed, but today, there wasn’t a single person there.
Not even Abe.
Dammit, I cursed as I ran out the door and searched the street.
No sign of him or his car.
He really dropped a $50,000 check and left, just like that. But I wasn’t about to let him get away that easily.
Abe
My clinic was still closed for another hour, but I liked being there before we opened to the public. It gave me a chance to get caught up on paperwork, and to think. It allowed me to prepare for the day ahead.
I took a deep breath as I collapsed into my leather office chair. I was still cursing myself for screwing things up at the diner. I’d meant what I said in the letter - Liberty needed Smothered in Love. I needed it. I went there every day for the food, but also the company. The idea of not having anywhere to go like that sounded awful. We had a bakery and a coffee house, but no other greasy spoon diners within the city limits. You had to drive about fifteen minutes out to find anything else, and it wasn’t nearly as good, and the service was nothing compared to Smothered in Love.
The name was fitting in many ways. It was clear that Felicity threw her all into the restaurant, and I wouldn’t let a few broken pipes screw it up for her.
Not if I could help it.
And $50,000 was nothing for me. I gave her more than I offered as a surrogate because, to me, it felt like a drop in the bucket - not enough for what surrogates were required to do, and not really enough to do much for the diner. I’d have gladly given her more but wasn’t sure she’d be okay with it.
I’d be surprised, knowing the hard-headed Felicity, if she was okay with the 50k. But it was nothing for me to give it, and I hope she understood it.
I came from a family of doctors who came from doctors and researchers. I was wealthy long before I started my practice, and unlike some folks, I knew I was lucky. I was blessed and wanted to share that blessing.
Hopefully Felicity would understand that and accept my gift without a fight.
That hope didn’t last long, however, as someone pounded on the front door of the clinic. I checked the time - yep, it took ten minutes to walk from the diner to my office, and it was twelve minutes after I’d stepped out of the diner. She was right on my heels, alright.
I didn’t get up fast enough, apparently, because the next thing I know, there was a knocking on my window.
“Let me in, Abe. We need to talk.” She was shouting loud enough to hear, even though I had my windows closed.
I yanked open the blinds and found Felicity staring back at me, a heated look in her eye. She held up the check.
“What is this about?”
I wasn’t prepared to yell in response to her, so I opened the window. “It’s a gift, like the note said. No strings attached,” I said.
“Let me inside, Abe. I can’t take this.”
“Yes, you can, Felicity. I want to support the diner.”
“Let me inside.”
I didn’t move fast enough to the door and before I could stop her, she was coming in through the window.
“What in the hell, Felicity?”
“We need to talk,” she said, both legs hanging over the windowsill. “I can’t take this.”
“Yes, you can,” I said, offering her a hand - which she didn’t take. She glared at me instead.
She hopped down from the window and onto the floor, nearly falling. I grabbed ahold of her, taking her by the waist.
“I’ve got it,” she growled.
“Sorry,” I said, pulling my hands away from her. “I didn’t want you to fall. What in the hell were you doing? I could have let you in the front door, you know?”
; “You weren’t moving fast enough; I took matters into my own hands - just like I will with the diner.” She pressed the now crumpled up check into my hand, but I refused to take it.
“Felicity, if you’re worried this is an underhanded way of getting what I want, I promise you, it’s not. It’s just a gift.”
“It’s an awfully huge gift,” she said. “Most people give like ten or twenty bucks. But fifty thousand dollars? That’s absurd.”
She spoke the fifty thousand slowly, enunciating each word as if to make a point.
“To me, that isn’t much. It’s the equivalent of someone giving ten dollars, honestly.”
Her mouth opened in a perfect little O of surprise.
“Listen, I came from wealth, Felicity. Then I made my own on top of it. I live quite comfortably and trust me when I say that it won’t even be missed.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she stammered. “It’s too much for a gift.”
“It’s not though,” I argued, shrugging. “Not to me. I write checks to charities regularly for that amount, or more.” Oh, that had been the wrong thing to say.
“I’m not a charity,” she spat, slamming her hand - and the check - down on my desk.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. But I would like to give the money to the diner. Think of it as a gift to the town of Liberty.”
“I can’t. I don’t take handouts from anyone. My parents taught me better than that.”
“They obviously raised a strong, smart woman,” I said. “And that’s why I want to support you. I believe in you; I know you can be successful if you get past this hiccup. The building was old when you bought it, use my money to buy new equipment and do the necessary repairs, and—”
“I’ll do it,” she said, interrupting me.
“Do what? Accept the check? Good,” I said.
“No, I meant I’ll be your surrogate.”
She kicked out her chin and stood tall, staring a hole right through me.
She meant it. I walked over to her, my hands on her shoulders. She kept her chin up high, and she seemed determined, but there were still tears in her eyes.