Chapter Thirteen
Darla
Isaac and Shelby don’t know it yet, but they are about to enter a brainstorming session to help me figure out how to deal with my Theo problem. But first, I need some face time with my baby girl.
When her sweet face fills my screen, I can barely keep the tears away. It has only been a few days, but I already miss her. I can’t breathe without this kid in my life. She’s having the time of her life with my sister, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
“Hey, Mommy.”
That voice. It can melt the hardest of hearts and make me forget all my troubles.
“Hey, sweet girl. Are you having fun?”
“Yep. We went to the pool today.”
Shocker. “That sounds like fun. The sun is a lot stronger in LA, so please make sure Aunt Diane puts a ton of sunscreen on you.”
“I will,” my sister says offscreen. “You are such a worrywart.”
She would understand if she had a child of her own.
“I miss you.” On purpose, I move my phone so she doesn’t see me wipe tears off my face.
“Miss you too.” Her lip quivers. “I did something really bad.”
“It can’t be that bad, honey. What is it?”
Stella’s gaze roams around the room. “I was listening when you and Uncle Isaac were talking the other night.”
Shit. No air can get into my lungs. I have to think of something fast. “We weren’t talking about anything.” Liar.
She wipes a tear away. “Yes, you were. You told him you found my daddy, but I think I found him too.”
My phone drops to the floor.
“Mommy?”
“Yeah, sorry.” I scramble to pick up my phone. “What did you say?”
Her face leaves the screen, and Diane’s appears. “Yeah, she’s been saying this all day long. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Oh yeah, I’m not going to worry about it, not at all. “Why does she think that?”
Diane shrugs. “Something to do with this jerk that plowed her over in the airport. She thinks her daddy’s special secret job is in the airport.”
“It is,” Stella says, grabbing for Diane’s phone again. “That’s where he’s been all this time. Go find him, Mommy.”
“Why in the world would you think you found your daddy at the airport?”
“’Cause… well, we both like ice cream.” That eliminates about zero potential fathers. “Oh, and he called me Stella Bella, just like you.”
“You also thought the UPS driver was your father because he delivered a package for you on your birthday.”
“Mommy, it’s him.”
“Okay, baby. That’s real sweet, but it’s not likely. I’ll look into it.”
Thank God Theo doesn’t work at the airport.
Since it’s a pretty day with surprisingly low humidity, Shelby, Isaac, and I sit outside on the fitness center’s patio for lunch. Butterflies surround the Buddleia bush and will be drunk on its nectar before the day is over. I bet if Stella were here, all she would have to do is hold out her finger close to the bush, and one of those beautiful Monarchs would gladly rest on it. God, I miss that sweet girl. Only two weeks, and I’ll have her back. That is two weeks too long.
Shelby picks through her salad, and Isaac inhales a pizza… as usual. I sit cross-legged on a yoga mat and munch on a turkey club sandwich and some pretzels.
“We are so boring,” Isaac says. “We have the same lunch at the same time at the same place every day. Can’t we ever do anything different?”
“Here’s something different. I need some ideas on how to deal with this”—I lower my voice—“baby-daddy problem.”
Isaac lifts his hands in praise. “You have come to the right place. But first, let me make sure I have all the facts straight. Theo’s the cute baby daddy.”
“Super cute,” Shelby adds, smiling at me.
Isaac gives Shelby the stare down. “Don’t interrupt unless you have something important to add.”
She giggles. “That was important.”
Isaac stares at her.
She lowers her eyes. “Sorry. Please continue.”
“Back to my rundown. He’s the father. He was with Mallory. He’s not anymore, but she seems to live in an alternate reality.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Isaac walks to the glass door that leads from the sundeck to the fitness center and leans against it. “She’s a piece of work. You need to figure something out before she sinks those acrylic nails into him again.”
Isaac peers into the fitness center. When he catches me staring at him, he raises his eyebrows, giving me a “what did I do” look, and stuffs his pizza into his mouth. He’d better not be up to anything.
I take a gulp from my water bottle. “I thought about maybe asking him to meet for coffee one day, but that seems too casual for this kind of conversation. The setting needs to be private in case he decides to be an asshole.”
Isaac tiptoes into the fitness center, peers around, and comes back out to the deck. “How are you going to spill the beans?”
I ignore his question and narrow my eyes. “What are you up to?”
He shrugs. “Looking for someone.”
“What did you do?”
He scratches behind his ear. “Greased the wheels.”
Shelby crosses her arms. “Details.”
He cringes. “I might have mentioned that Theo should stop by and—”
“Isaac, I can handle this,” I say through gritted teeth.
“I was doing my job… as a fitness consultant.”
Sure, he was.
Oh crap. Theo might stop by here. I have to get myself together.
“You need to tell him, and the sooner, the better.” Shelby points her finger at me, which tells me her advice is more than a suggestion.
I let out a sigh. “He knows, remember? Do you think he forgot?”
“That’s not something you easily forget,” Isaac says.
Shelby sighs and rolls her eyes. “Let’s take this one step at a time. You did tell him, face-to-face, right?”
“I emailed him… multiple times.”
She lets out an exasperated sigh. “And you’re sure he got the email? I know I rarely check my spam folder. Maybe it went there.” Shelby slides on her sunglasses and lounges back in her lawn chair for a lunchtime vitamin D session.
“I know he read them. I had the ‘delivered’ and ‘read’ notifications enabled. Long story short. Mallory sent an email and a picture right before Christmas. She had her arms wrapped around him like a python. He was copied on the email, so I had a name and an addy. I worked up the nerve to write him.”
I take another bite of my sandwich, trying to calm my nerves. I’m surprised I haven’t thrown up all over myself.
Shelby’s mouth slips downward. “I take it that didn’t go over well.”
“Not well at all.” This conversation has made me lose my appetite. Maybe some deep breaths will center me. “The first few emails were ignored. It wasn’t until I sent him a picture of the sonogram that I actually got a reply. He told me to leave him alone. I never wrote him again.”
Isaac cocks his head to the side like a puppy.
“Hmm,” Shelby says. “Do you think it was because of her?”
“I suppose.”
Isaac pinches the bridge of his nose. “Something’s not jiving. He doesn’t have the deadbeat vibe to him.”
“He chose her over you and his baby?” Shelby asks.
“Yep.” I sit back down on the mat as I think about the lowest point of my life. Never in a million years did I think he would do that to us.
Shelby is slack-jawed. “I’m so sorry.”
Isaac stomps his foot on the ground. “I’m telling you, they aren’t a couple anymore. And you always said you didn’t know the father.”
“If anyone asked, I pretended I didn’t know who the father was. It was less humiliating than being rejected. But I cyberstalked him in case Stella ever wanted to know about him. I knew when he graduated, where he went for his residency. I did not know he was coming back to Vanderbilt, though. Last I heard, he was staying at Johns Hopkins.” I promised myself I wouldn’t make contact with him until Stella was old enough to understand what she wanted.
I wipe a tear from my face. Isaac squeezes my shoulder. I’ve kept all of it locked away so deep for so many years, it hardly even sounds real now. But it is, and it sounds even more depressing when I say it out loud.
“And this week, he didn’t ask about our child. He didn’t act awkward. He acted…” My lip quivers. It hurts so much to admit that he doesn’t care. Another tear slides down my face.
Shelby leans down and hugs me. “He acted like it never happened.”
“Maybe his brain is so full with medical facts that something had to slip out,” Isaac says.
We both stare at him.
“Hey, I saw on TV where that’s a real medical condition. Some people can only hold so many facts. When they learn a new one, one leaves them.”
“Would you shut up?” Shelby yells at him before I have a chance to do the same thing. She focuses her attention back on me. “But if he wants to pick up where you two left off, you can’t let him pretend she doesn’t exist.”
“I’ve decided I’m going to use the time Stella’s in California to let him get used to the idea of being a dad again. If he’s remorseful, he can see her when she gets back. And I deserve an apology. He needs to explain to me what he was thinking.”
My path gets clearer in my mind. “I know what I want. Shelby, you’re the planner. What should I say to him?”
She stands and stretches her arms over her head. “Step one—you march up to Dr. Hotness.”
“He’s got a name. It’s Theo.”
“I like Dr. Hotness better,” Isaac says.
“Not helping,” I reply.
“Step two,” Shelby continues. “Give Dr. Hotness a huge smack on the lips. Use lots of tongue. The more tongue, the better.”
His tongue was pretty talented.
“I agree,” Isaac says.
“Step three—say, ‘You have a daughter. Deal with it.’ Bam! You’re done.”
She takes a bow. Isaac claps.
I can’t help but crack a smile. “That’s a little in-your-face. I’ll figure something out.”
“If I see him again, I might smack that dimple off his face,” Shelby says.
I try not to react. That dimple is irresistible. As much as I would like to agree with Shelby, I do like the dimple. That dimple draws me in and makes me forget his shortcomings. And Stella has his dimple, among other things. All he has to do is answer two not-so-simple questions: Why did he reject us, and is Mallory still in the picture? Now, all I have to figure out is when this conversation is going to take place. I could wait around like a middle-school kid to see if he makes the first move, or I could coax him to the fitness center so we could talk on my turf.
Yes. Asking him to meet me here for a fitness assessment might be just the ticket.