Chapter 16

Mike

Things were much better between Julia and I after our date although we still couldn’t manage to get time together. The more I tried to schedule out time to see Julia, the more my schedule was getting booked up.

We were in full force now trying to get the details for our expansion up and going. The tech guys across the hall didn’t go out of business like we had hoped and were going to ride out their lease, but Bruce did talk with them about moving to a different location. Patrick helped the tech firm find the perfect new place and we were set up to take over their lease in just a few months.

Bruce and I were going over dozens of potential hires and trying to figure out how we wanted to organize the company with this new addition. Bruce wanted me to be the head of everything and he planned to take a step back to concentrate on himself a little, in a good way. He had really been working on his own issues lately and was turning out to be a really good guy after all. Of course, I knew he was a good guy when we partnered up, but somewhere along the way he had gotten a little lost.

Julia and I were relegated to text message flirting for the last several weeks, but I didn’t mind it at all. It was nice to see her name pop up on my phone and she always put a smile on my face.

JULIA: Today is the big day! Ultrasound at 3!

MIKE: Do you want me there?

JULIA: If you want to be, but I can just tell you afterwards too.

MIKE: Okay.

JULIA: Kendra and Sarah are coming. ☺

I wasn’t sure if she really wanted me there or not. If she had her whole crew of girlfriends, she probably didn’t need me. It was hard for me to separate myself from the baby she was carrying, and it seemed like Julia was doing a better job of it than I was.

I figured I’d let her have the moment with her girl friends and then maybe I’d pop in at the very end of her ultrasound. I certainly didn’t want to push my way into the moment and she and I were doing so good at this level of our relationship that I didn’t want to mess that up. We were going slow, but still had a very strong connection.

“You’re smiling like you are texting your high school crush,” Sheryl said as she saw me in my office that morning.

“I do have a crush on her.”

“Julia? How is she doing? Are you two still dating or are you friend zoned?”

“We are in the beginning stages of dating. She has a lot going on in her life right now and I messed up early on. I’m just trying to be cool about it and not push things too fast.”

“How do you feel about dating a woman who is going to be a mother?”

“You know, I don’t know. I like Julia and I know this is part of her life so I just think about her. I haven’t thought too much about what is going to happen when the baby comes.”

“You should think about that. Breaking up with a new mom is a jerk thing to do,” Sheryl said and left my office.

I didn’t know why she assumed I’d be breaking up with Julia after the baby came. I might keep dating her. If we were getting along there was no reason to stop dating. Sure, we would take it slow and she would be busy with the baby, but I liked talking to her better than any other woman around so there was no need to break things off.

I’d read through the last chart at least three times and still didn’t know what I was going to put for my note. It was as if I couldn’t focus at all. The more I tried not to think about Julia, the more I was actually thinking about her.

Julia was really an impressive woman. So were a lot of the women who came through my clinic. To live on your own in New York was a big deal. It wasn’t like smaller cities that you could afford to live in an apartment by yourself, but then to live on your own and also have a child, wow, I was in awe of the women I worked with for sure.

But Julia was an independent woman. Even in the last few weeks after our date, she hadn’t been texting and calling me all the time. She returned my messages at her own pace and always seemed to be plenty busy. She was working her butt off at work since she was feeling good and trying to drive in as many sales as possible before it was time for her to go out on maternity leave.

Although I hadn’t been able to arrange a convention to book with her hotel, I did manage to point a few other high powered friends of mine in her direction who booked events with her. It was the least I could do to try and help her meet her sales goals before the baby came.

It was getting frigid outside and snow was on the ground now. Julia said that it became harder to book people in the winter because they didn’t want to come take a look at the large group spaces and only wanted photos. Everyone waited until early spring and then tried to rush with their bookings, but Julia was worried that she’d be too far along in her pregnancy and not be able to handle the influx of customers.

The last time she talked about her work she said she was making over forty calls a day with clients and potential clients. It seemed to me she was pushing herself too hard, but I didn’t see it as my place to bring that up. Obviously she had goals for work and I didn’t want to be the person who was trying to hamper those.

Instead, I made an effort to help in the ways I could. I had deliciously healthy lunches delivered to her work each day. Although I paid for them anonymously, Julia knew it was me who had sent them. I’d tried desperately to get away for a long lunch or early dinner over the last few weeks, but just couldn’t manage it. Business was terribly busy and with just Bruce and I as the doctors, we both were working our butts off to maintain the patient load until we got some new people hired in the spring.

“Today’s the big day, Daddy,” Bruce joked as he plopped down on my couch in my office.

“I know. She’s coming with some friends though. I’ll just wait and talk to her afterwards.”

“She’s doing great. I saw her a few weeks ago. The baby’s heartbeat was perfect and she’s eating well and gaining some weight. I hate when these ladies try not to gain weight during their pregnancies.”

“Me too. They worry way too much about it. I love the added cushion,” I winked at Bruce.

“Oh, so you and Julia are spending some time in the bedroom?”

“I wish. No, we are taking things slow for now,” I said and rolled my eyes. “But man I’d be happy to get my hands on her any day of the week. She was looking fantastic the last time I saw her. Delicious even,” I said as my body reacted to just the thought of Julia from out date night.

“You will, I’m sure.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what Bruce was implying. It might have just been a joke, but I didn’t take it well at all. Was he assuming that I’d keep moving things along until I got my way with Julia? Because I wasn’t going to push her into a sexual relationship again. If she just wanted to date and not do anything else that was fine with me. Although she had offered to invite me in on our last date, it didn’t seem right. If we had been on a real first date she wouldn’t have invited me in and I knew it.

I wasn’t as nervous about the upcoming ultrasound as I was sure Julia was. Throughout our text messaging I always heard about the baby flutters and it sounded like she was feeling very well. Soon she was going to feel the first real kicks and I couldn’t wait to hear her excitement when that happened.

Being a doctor I had talked to women about the kicks several times, but I’d never had such a close personal relationship with a woman who was going through pregnancy. It was fun for me to hear all about it from her end of things.

By the time three o’clock rolled around I was deep into my day of seeing patients and decided to keep working unless Julia asked me to come in. I heard her and her friends after they called Julia’s name and even when they got into the ultra sound room I still heard the uproar of the group of them together.

It was hard for me not to burst in there and just sit and watch the whole thing. But Julia hadn’t text me back and asked for me to come and I didn’t feel like she really wanted me there. I kept my eye on the room as Bruce went in with the ultra sound tech.

“She’ll be okay,” Sheryl reassured me.

“Oh, yeah, I know. I’m just excited to see if she if finding out the gender.”

“You should go in.”

“No, I’ll let her have the moment,” I said as I grabbed my next patients chart and went in to visit with her and her husband.

I’d become pretty good at zoning out the outside world when I was in with a patient. There were always things to worry about. Always something going on with the business or some commotion in the waiting area. But when I was in the room with a patient I did my absolute best to devote myself to that person and only them.

About halfway through meeting with the new couple I was with, I heard a scream. It was not something we heard very often around our office. Except in bad situations, like when a baby didn’t have a heart beat or some other dramatic issue had arisen during the test.

“I better go make sure everyone is okay,” I said as I excused myself from the patient room and hurried down to the ultra sound.

I should have just gone in with her. Why was I such an ass?

“It’s okay. Everything is okay,” Bruce said as he stood right by the door when I burst in there.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Julia was staring at the ultra sound and hadn’t even noticed I was in the room. Sarah and Kendra were jumping up and down and screaming like wild women. The ultra sound tech was casually going about her job and getting measurements. Then I saw what the commotion was all about. There were two babies!

I went over to Julia and squeezed my way in next to her. Her hands were resting on her chest and I grabbed one of them as I stared at the picture on the screen with her. We could hear the loud beating of two heart beats and I was overcome with emotions as I looked and saw Julia looking up at me.

“I’m having twins,” she said with tears rolling down her face.

“You sure like to do things big, don’t you?” I said and gave her a sweet peck on the forehead.

“Congratulations, you two,” Bruce said as he stood at the end of the bed Julia was on.

We continued staring at the ultra sound picture as the tech moved the device around and did all the things she needed to for her report. Julia looked really pale though and she wasn’t talking at all.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Girl, I can’t believe this. This is amazing. Twins is like the jackpot. Do you know what gender they are? Do you want to have one of those cool gender reveal parties? I could totally help throw you one of those.”

“No, I don’t think she wants to know,” I said when I realized Julia wasn’t even listening to any of us. “Write it down and put it in an envelope for her for later though.” I asked the tech.

Kendra and Sarah were still bouncing off the walls with excitement but I could tell something was wrong with Julia. She wasn’t happy or sad at the moment. Instead, she was blankly staring at the ultrasound screen even though the procedure was over.

“Girls, I think she might need a minute. Maybe I could bring her home later?”

“Sure, she’s at the new place now anyways. They just brought her boxes over the day before yesterday,” Kendra said.

“Perfect. I’ll take care of her. Thanks, ladies.”

“It’s going to be amazing,” Kendra said as she leaned down and hugged Julia.

“We will help you whenever you need us to,” Sarah added. “It’s going to be fantastic. Think of all the adorable sweet pictures you’ll have and all the fun times at the park. It’s going to be so awesome,” Sarah added in an effort to get some sort of reaction from Julia, but there was nothing.

Julia barely managed to hug her friends and after helping her sit up I was really worried about her. She was still staring off into space a little, very pale, and I thought for sure she was going to pass out at any moment.

“Julia, I need to know if you’re feeling okay,” I said as I stood right in front of her.

She shook her head yes, but I didn’t believe her at all. I had seen this reaction to multiples before. It was often what happened when a single woman decided to have a baby on her own and didn’t consider the natural ability of the body to make more than one baby. When couples were in my office for fertility issues and such, they were excited about multiples. Well except my favorite couple, Nathan and Mary. They had been trying to have a baby for ten years and used all their money for the process. So when they found out they were having triplets and were still living in a tiny one bedroom walk-up in Queens, it wasn’t the best news.

“Sheryl, will you come stay with Julia for a second?” I hollered from the room.

She was there in a second and stood in my spot as I hustled around the office to get what I needed for Julia. I made up a comfortable spot on the couch in my office. Grabbed some snacks from the fridge and some Gatorade for her to drink. I pulled a pamphlet that we had on multiples and being a single parent, since we had this happen every now and again with our fertility practices. Then I hurried back to Julia’s room and Sheryl helped me get her into my office.

“Rest here. Eat some food. I have a few patients I need to see. Sheryl and I will be right out there if you need anything,” I said as I sat her down.

Julia leaned back on the couch but still wasn’t exactly reacting to me. She was still staring off at the wall when I closed the door, leaving it open a crack so we could check on her.

“She doesn’t look good,” Sheryl whispered.

“Yeah, I don’t think she paid attention during the part of the insemination process where we talk about the possibility of multiples.

“Did she do hormones?”

“I think she was on a low level one from her primary before the insemination. But it looked like identical twins from what I saw of the ultra sound. Same amniotic sac.”

“Boys or girls?” Sheryl asked.

“I didn’t get a good look. But I think the surprise will be nice,” I said before hurrying back into the patients room that I had left earlier.

I apologized profusely before getting back on track with the new couple. Luckily they were very understanding of the interruption and we were able to finish our appointment rather quickly. I had four other patients I saw throughout the rest of the afternoon and made sure to look through the crack in my door whenever I had a break to check on Julia.

She had moved to lying down on the couch and at some point had eaten a few of the snacks I brought in there and sipped the drink. She looked like she was sleeping when I finally wrapped up my day and opened the door to come in. But when I sat next to her on the couch I realized she wasn’t sleeping at all. She was crying softly into the pillow that she was hugging tightly. Julia looked so sad, so utterly devastated.