Chapter Six
Darla
I can tell Isaac is about to bust a gut, wanting to know all the details. All the way back across the hospital property to the fitness center, he keeps giving me thumbs-up. If he does that one more time, I think I might twist that thumb right off his hand.
Shelby smacks Isaac’s hands. “What’s that all about? Did you find a hot doc today?”
Isaac gives me his toothpaste-commercial smile. “Please, please, please.”
“Fine,” I say. Sometimes, Isaac makes me feel as if I have another child. Actually, it feels that way all the time.
Isaac bounces up and down. “Darla had sex with Dr. Hotness.”
Shelby stops in her tracks. “Today?”
“No! Of course not,” I reply, peering around to see if anyone in the parking lot can overhear this humiliating conversation.
Isaac bends over, laughing as he wipes tears from his eyes. I’m glad somebody’s getting some enjoyment out of this.
“Apparently, our little darling Darla and Dr. Hot Ass did the nasty when they were in college.”
“No way,” Shelby yells. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Isaac shoots his hand into the air like a second grader. “Oh, please, please, let me tell the story,” he begs.
I roll my eyes. “Go ahead. You’re enjoying this way more than I am.”
Isaac skips over to Shelby in the middle of the parking lot. “Apparently, they didn’t exchange names. This is Juliet.” He waves his arm toward me as if he’s a showcase model on a game show.
Shelby collapses onto the curb, right next to someone’s Range Rover. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Nope,” Isaac says. “Dr. Hot Stuff is Romeo.”
Shelby lies flat on the grass. Her whole body quivers with laughter. I let them rollick in their merriment as I stroll toward the building where the fitness center is located. I leave all the equipment for Isaac to haul back to work, and I hope he gets a hernia.
“That was a long time ago. We all have a past, Mr. Popularity.”
Shelby holds out a hand for Isaac to help her up off the curb. “At least Darla has good taste. Damn, girl. He’s hot in a boy-next-door kind of way. You should have hung on to him.”
I tried.
Tears blur my vision, but they aren’t from humiliation. I have to admit the PG version of the story sounds funny, but the part they don’t know hurts like hell.
Instead of heading back to the fitness center, I make a beeline to my car. I am not in the mood to listen to any more Dr. Hotness stories, and I’m certainly not ready to divulge any more of my past. I text Shelby as soon as I get to my car.
Not feeling well. C U tomorrow.
I lay my head on the steering wheel. The horn blares, making me jump about a foot out of my seat, ramming my head into the car roof. Stella’s father is back in Nashville. He’s cuter now than he was back in the day, and I made a complete fool of myself. Ugh.
And he had the nerve to act as though he didn’t know my name. For Pete’s sake, I was on the group email Mallory sent out, proclaiming the love of her life to her closest friends. She couldn’t wait to introduce everyone to Theo, the medical student.
I should thank Mallory. At least after that, I had a name and an email address. And when I finally got up the nerve, I wrote and told him everything. There’s no way I could forget the email I carefully worded as I chewed all ten nails down to their nubs while rubbing my belly that was growing from the “I’ve gained a few pounds” stage to the “yep, there’s no hiding it now, I’m five months pregnant” stage.
I will especially never forget his one and only reply: “Leave me alone.”
It broke my heart. Now, I wish I could muster up the courage to scream, but I’m still too freaked out to even cry.
I have rehearsed this moment a thousand times. I had planned to go up to him and tell him he has the most beautiful daughter and he would be a fool not to welcome her into his life. Regardless of him flat-out refusing to have anything to do with us seven years ago, he would be remorseful and beg for forgiveness. Of course, he would scoop us both up, and we would live happily ever after. Either that or he would be a jerk, and I would go about my life as though he was another deadbeat asshole dad. But instead of all that, I got bitchy. It’ll be a miracle if he even wants to be associated with me ever again.
I hadn’t prepared myself to come face-to-face with the spitting image of my daughter any time soon. And I didn’t expect, after all this time, to still go weak in the knees when his face lights up. This is not how I thought my summer would start. But like it or not, he’s here, and I’ll have to face him at some point. And eventually, he’ll have to meet Stella. I have to come up with a plan for them to meet without getting her hopes up. If he breaks her heart like he did mine, I would never forgive myself.
I take out my phone and text Stella’s teacher. Jennifer has been such a good friend to me this year, always listening to me go on and on about any topic without issuing judgment. It has been a while since we’ve had one of our little impromptu parent-teacher conferences, otherwise known as an excuse to commiserate and enjoy ice cream. Boy, I sure could use her company right about now.
R U up for a conference after school?
I lean my head back on the seat, and immediately, my phone chimes.
You know I’d love to. Waiting on my bro to stop by. I’ll text back in a snig with est. time.
Love her word choices.
Sounds good. You know where I’ll be.
I crank my car and head to the best therapy session in town: Bobbie’s Dairy Dip.