| |
“You done for the day?”
I closed my locker and looked over at Mave. “Finally. Things got crazy the last hour.” Med school clinicals were no joke. I was doing everything the doctor did except I wasn’t getting paid to do it.
“How do you like working with Dr. Dickhead?” Mave sat down on the bench between the rows of lockers.
I smiled and shook my head. “He’s not bad. I’ve only been with him for a week so far, but I don’t think working with him will be bad at all.”
“If only marriage to the asshole would have been easy.”
Mave used to be married to Dr. Clark but they had divorced two years ago. “At least you two seem to be able to work together okay.”
She rolled her eyes. “Half the time, I hold my tongue and walk the other way. It’s a good thing I’m moving to pediatrics or I’m pretty sure I’d eventually end up punching his lights out.”
Now that was surprising. Mave always seemed to be laid back and kept her cool. She had been the first doctor I had worked with on my first clinical. But it was also surprising that Mave had been married to Dr. Clark. He didn’t seem at all like her type. I sat down next to her and sighed. My feet were killing me, and my back was screaming.
“You okay?” she asked, concerned.
I rubbed my back. “Just a long day.” And I was pregnant and battling morning sickness all times of the day. Right before Mave had walked in, I had emptied the contents of my stomach in the bathroom. Now, I was hungry and craving sour cream.
Pregnancy cravings were so weird.
“You wanna grab something to eat? There is that new Mexican place in town.”
Mave was almost fifteen years older than me and one of the resident doctors at Southern State Hospital. She had taken me under her wing when I had worked under her, and even though I wasn’t working with her anymore, she still kept up with me.
She also didn’t know I was pregnant.
Jay was the only one who knew that.
“Chips and guac sound amazing.” My stomach growled, and I laid my hand on the tiny bump. You couldn’t see it under my clothes, but it was definitely there.
“Perfect. I didn’t want to go by myself, but I would have.” She looked down at my hand. “You’re not starving, are you?” she laughed.
I shook my head and laid my hand on the bench next to me. “Just a little. I’ll follow you to the restaurant.” And a little queasy.
I wasn’t ready to tell anyone about the baby. At least, not until I got the results from the DNA test. I knew what they were going to say, but I could tell last night that Jay wasn’t so sure he was the father.
“Or we can get a cab there so we can try the ten flavors of margaritas they boast about.” Mave wiggled her eyebrows and laughed.
“Oh boy, it must have been a rough day for you too. Maybe I can drive us and then you can indulge for the two of us.”
“That’s no fun,” she insisted. “Come on, Delaney. Let loose with me.” She egged me on.
Oh, crap. There went not telling anyone I was pregnant. “I can’t drink. At least, not enough margaritas to keep up with you tonight.” Though, even if I weren’t pregnant, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Mave. I was a definite lightweight.
“Well, you can keep up as best you can. It’s my treat.”
“I’m pregnant,” I blurted out. Mave wasn’t going to let me get out of drinking with her unless I told her the truth.
“What?” she gasped. “How the heck did that happen?”
I tilted my head to the side. “I’m assuming that was rhetorical.”
“Delaney,” she whispered shouted. “You’re pregnant?”
I nodded and laid my hand over my stomach. “Yup. Just over six weeks.”
Mave’s jaw moved up and down but no words came out.
“Uh, take a breath, Mave.”
She closed her eyes. “Did you just tell me you’re pregnant?”
I didn’t really expect Mave to be so shocked. “Yes.”
“Girl, how in the hell did that happen?”
“Well, I went to party, met a guy I thought was cute. He was nice. We got naked, and then we—”
Mave held up her hand. “Stop there. I know how the rest of it goes. I just meant, I didn’t know you were seeing someone, but obviously, you’re not.”
At least she didn’t know I had been a virgin before Jay. That was a conversation I really didn’t want to have. “It just kind of happened.”
“And you’re now having a baby with a guy you don’t know?”
“That’s the main points, yes.”
“Delaney,” she sighed. “I don’t know how you aren’t freaking out about this. You’re having a baby with a guy you don’t know.”
Mave did not need to tell me that. I was very much aware of the situation I was in. “I’ll get to know him. It’s not like I’m popping this baby out tomorrow.”
“Girl, I need to learn how you stay so chill. I would be freaking out right now, and I’m a divorced forty-one-year-old. Freaking out should be a thing of the past for me.”
I patted her knee. “Then it’s a good thing I’m the one who’s pregnant.”
“Amen to that,” she laughed. “Now, let’s go get some tacos, and I can get drunk.”
“Does this mean I’m your DD for the next seven months?” I grabbed my purse and hitched it over my shoulder.
“That is exactly what that means.” Mave put her arm over my shoulders. “Because after that, you are going to be elbow-deep in diapers and poop.”
“You make being a mom sound like so much fun.” We headed out of the locker room toward the parking lot.
“I’m sure it is fun, but I can’t tell you exactly if it is or isn’t.”
I knew Mave didn’t have kids, but I wasn’t sure if that was by choice or not. “Well, you can find out first-hand from me.”
I pushed out of the front doors of the hospital, and we walked to my car.
Mave stood next to it and cringed. “Well, I think the first thing you are going to have to do before the baby gets here is get a better car. I’m not sure this thing is even safe for me to be riding in.” She kicked the bottom of the door, and a dusting of rust rained down on the ground.
“Rust doesn’t mean it’s unsafe,” I insisted.
“Delaney, you need to do something about this car.” She slipped into the passenger side, and I moved around the front to the driver’s side.
So, maybe it wasn’t the most reliable car, but it would do for now. It definitely had been on my list of things to do, but now, it looked like it had been bumped to the top.
“I just don’t want a huge car payment,” I muttered as I slipped into the car. When I wasn’t dealing with clinicals, I was working at a ritzy restaurant two towns over that, thankfully, was good pay, and I got amazing tips. I was able to squeak by without having three jobs, so adding a car payment into everything wasn’t something I wanted. Although, I was about to add a baby in seven months. I was screwed either way.
“You and I will go car shopping. I’m sure we can find you a nice car that is a few years old that will be a million times better than this.”
I started the car and pulled out of my parking spot. “Car shopping sounds like a horrible way to spend one’s day.”
Mave laughed. “Maybe there will be a cute car salesman there for me.” She winked. “Silver Lining.”
I did appreciate Mave being so nice, but I knew my mom would help me. Maybe not give me a car, but I knew she would do anything to make things easier for me. After all, she had been letting me live with her through med school. If she hadn’t offered me that, I would more than likely be living out of a cardboard box while I tried to become a doctor. “Only you would think car shopping would be a good place to meet a cute guy.”
“Not all of us can hope to get knocked up at a party by a cute stranger.”
I looked over at her and glared. “I never said he was cute.”
Mave scoffed. “Please, girl. You’re a cute little thing. A little brash and straight forward at times, but I like to think that’s part of your charm.”
“I think that was a compliment though, it sorta wasn’t.”
Mave laughed. “It was. Trust me. Now, tell me about this guy.”
I pulled onto the main highway and set my cruise. “I don’t know much about him, Mave. It truly was meant to be a one and done thing.”
“How about a one and for the rest of your life thing?” she giggled.
“That is more accurate.”
“How about his name? You surely have to know that.”
“His name is Jay Perez. He works on the pit crew for a race car or something like that.”
“Oh,” Mave squealed. “A hot mechanic.”
“I don’t know why you keep saying he’s hot.”
“‘Cause he is. Tell me I’m wrong.”
I glanced over at her then focused back on the road. “I really don’t think you need to have any alcohol. You seem feisty enough without it.”
“I knew it,” she whispered. “Jay Perez is totally hot.”
So what if he was. That didn’t mean anything when it came down to it.
All I needed from him was to be a good father to my baby and hopefully not be a huge douchebag to me when he got the test results back.
Jay Perez maybe the hottest guy I had ever seen, but at the end of the day, that didn’t matter.
I wanted a daddy for my baby, not a jet-setting playboy.
The jury was still out if that was going to go in my favor or not.
*
