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He pouted as he turned, and I realized at that moment that trying to get a four-year-old to respect the idea of being late was just impossible. I stepped toward the stairs, fully anticipating a showdown while just simply trying to get him dressed, but the moment my hand touched the banister, the doorbell rang out. My saving grace. My green light.
I yanked the door open, relief washing over me as Sophie blinked at me. “I thought you weren’t coming,” I said, moving to the side to let her through. “I was going to take him to the office.”
She rolled her eyes as she stepped into the house, kicking off her slippers by the mat. “Just because you and I are arguing doesn’t mean I’m going to punish Jamey. It’s not his fault that his dad’s an ass.”
Ouch. I deserved that. “That’s fair. I’m sorry?—”
She held up one hand, silencing me. “I don’t want to hear it. Go to work. You’re going to be late.”
“Sophie, come on. I know I fucked up. Just let me apologize.”
“Nope,” she said, popping the p. “Go.”
I bit my lip as I checked the time again. Fine. If she wasn’t going to hear me out then I might as well leave it, even though she was being annoyingly stubborn. I’d try again this evening. I’d try again tomorrow. I’d keep trying until she finally fucking believed that I wanted to be involved without messing up her life.
————
Work was slow and tiresome. Not enough to keep me busy, not enough to keep my mind away from Sophie, the argument, and the baby. I just wanted to apologize. Why wouldn’t she let me? Why did she have to be so damn stubborn?
The door to my office opened, stealing my attention away from my racing mind. I clicked out of whatever I’d absentmindedly opened on my computer as I looked toward the door. Shit. Jannie and Steven. I hadn’t even checked my calendar to see who was coming in; I really should have been more prepared for the couple who had been coming to me the longest.
“Hi, Dr. Brady,” Jannie said, sidestepping her husband and plopping down into one of the chairs. “Today’s the day.”
“One second.” I flashed her a quick smile as I clicked through my documents on the computer, pulling up the notes for her appointment on my screen. Final appointment, I’d written. No more rounds of IVF after this. Last pregnancy test. I swiveled back around to her. “Indeed it is, Jannie. Nice to see you, Steven.”
I pulled open a drawer, fishing around inside of it for a pregnancy test instead of sending her off with the nurses to have one done. If it was going to be her last one, I wanted it to not have all the horrible connotations that had gone along with each one she’d had previously. The likelihood was sure to be the same, but I wanted her to be comfortable, to ideally not be expecting the worst.
“Here,” I said, offering the plastic-wrapped test to her as well as a clear cup for her urine. “Why don’t you go test in the bathroom and bring it back here to develop?”
She bit her lip, her eyes latched onto my outstretched hand, and slowly, her mouth spread into a smile. “I don’t need to,” she said calmly as she leaned back in the chair, one hand coming to rest on her stomach. “I tested myself this morning. I’m pregnant.”
Steven grinned as he looked at his wife, his eyes practically shining, and as I watched him I couldn’t help but wish that was the reaction I’d had when I’d found out that Sophie was pregnant. Maybe things wouldn’t be where they are now if I hadn’t come home guns-a-blazing. “That’s… amazing. I’m so happy for you guys.” Lie. Well, it wasn’t a lie exactly, it was more that I couldn’t fucking focus enough to actually be genuinely happy for them. Every time I tried, my thoughts drifted back to Sophie, to the mystery of what our future held, to our current argument. And every time that happened, the sinking feeling in my gut that I was beginning to potentially be falling for her became more intense, more overwhelming. There was no other reason that I’d care this much that she was upset with me.
I needed to make things right once and for all.
————
“I’m really sorry to have to ask you this, but is there any chance you can watch Jamey for an extra hour today?” I said to Sophie’s name brightly lit on my car’s display. Traffic wasn’t horrible despite the rain, but I needed extra time. I needed to think, and I needed advice.
“That’s fine,” she said, her voice sounding tinny through the speakers of my Mercedes. “I’ll make Jamey dinner.”
“No, don’t worry about that. I’ll grab something to bring home for both of you. You can take it back to your house if you want. Just hang out with him or something, okay? I’ll be home soon.”
“Okay.”
“Bye, Sophie.”
“Bye, Hudson.”
I hung up the call as I turned into Nathan’s neighborhood, the slender, tall townhouses taking up the majority of the land. It was a nice area of Boston. We’d gotten into a lot of spats back in college about who would become wealthier once our careers were established but we were such close friends that those silly bets became a moot point.
Pulling into his driveway, I placed the car in park and pushed the door open, not caring if I got wet from the absolute torrential downpour. I raced up the curved walkway toward his front door, thinking to myself that I should have called first, probably should have warned him. Oh well. Hopefully, I wouldn’t get trapped here all night catching up with the whole family.
I rang the bell. My anxiety released its hold on me as Nathan opened the door, and before he could call out to his wife or kids, I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him out under the covered awning of his front porch, shutting the door behind him.
“What the fuck?—?”
“Listen,” I said, my voice a little loud over the sound of the rain. “You were right. You were fucking right, okay? I think there’s something there between me and Sophie.”
