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Chapter Four
An hour later, Flora had gone home, the boys were in the waiting room and Carter Bishop was in the exam room with his ex-wife. Eric wanted to kill him. Which was saying a lot given the whole “do no harm” thing.
At first the man had refused through his assistant to even take his call and Eric had been forced to pull his “I’m a physician and this is an emergency” schtick. It wasn’t his favorite but he’d do it with stubborn ass fuckwads who only responded to authority. When he’d finally gotten the jackass on the phone, Carter had acted like taking care of his own kids for a night was the biggest possible imposition. He was the kind of asshole who talked about “babysitting” his children.It’s called parenting, dickhead.
Now Carter was here but despite Eric being very clear that Devaney was not well, he was being a real prick. Eric had planned to sit with the boys while their parents made arrangements but from Carter’s first word to his ex-wife, Eric hadn’t trusted him alone with her so he was parked outside the door. Maybe eavesdropping wasn’t right but neither was leaving a woman who was in a lot of pain alone with a sack of shit who was giving her a hard time.
“What the hell, Devaney? I had to leave a meeting to come here. Do you know what that’s going to cost me? You and your fucking migraines.”
The way Carter said it made it sound like he didn’t believe her. Like he thought she was faking. Eric had seen a lot of kids faking illnesses, and Devaney wasn’t faking that migraine. She wasn’t faking the vomit on his floor, wasn’t faking the light sensitivity, wasn’t faking her embarrassment at being incapacitated.
Eric wanted to march into the room and grab the guy by his collar, shove him up against a wall. But he also didn’t want to make things worse for Devaney because he knewhewouldn’t bear the brunt of Carter’s anger. If Carter’s behavior got any more abusive though, he'd interfere.
“I’m sorry, Carter. I know that meeting was important and I’m sorry you had to leave. I’m not faking. I wouldn’t.”
“Always such a drama queen. Thought you’d find someone else to try to pull that shit on by now.”
Devaney mumbled something he couldn’t hear and he could picture her cowering, curled in on herself because Carter made her feel small and worthless. What a sorry excuse for a human.
“I’ll take them home but you better be in my driveway to pick them up for school tomorrow because I don’t have time for this crap. We have an agreement.”
“Yes. I know.”
Devaney sounded like she was going to cry and he couldn’t stand it. He had to go in there but he wasn’t going to make a scene and stress Devaney out more than she already was. That wouldn’t make her feel any better. He rapped on the door and entered without waiting for a reply.
Carter was pacing the length of the blue terrazzo linoleum, looking enraged. Despite the anger boiling inside his gut, Eric plastered a smile on his face and clapped his hands together.
“Are we all set here? The boys had snacks, but I’m sure they’re ready for some dinner. They were pretty excited about those tacos.”
“Yes, we’re all set,” Devaney said, looking like she was about to pass out. Five minutes with Carter and she looked worse than she had with that head-splitting pain and nausea that came with migraines. Men like that shouldn’t be allowed near women.Peopleat all.
While he’d rather shake hands with a grizzly bear, Eric offered a hand to Carter. He’d play nice. For now.
“Thanks for coming to pick up the boys. I know it’s inconvenient but Devaney’s in no shape to drive or look after them tonight. Migraines are brutal.”
Carter took his hand and Eric tightened his grip maybe a little too hard. He wasn’t into power struggles with toxic men but if he had to compare dick sizes with Carter to make him back off Devaney, that’s what he’d do.
The man’s eyes narrowed but Eric kept his expression pleasantly bland.I can do this all day, you piece of shit.
Carter mumbled something as he broke their grip and Eric could only assume it was unflattering but he didn’t care. The guy could talk smack about him all day as long as he left Devaney—the mother of his children, for fuck’s sake—out of it.
He walked Carter back out to the boys, locked the front door, and shut off the lights before going back to the exam room. Now that the rest of his responsibilities had been dispatched, he could look after Devaney properly.
* * *
After Carter had left, Devaney had thought to grab her bag and order a car. Yes, Doctor Southerland had offered to let her stay awhile, but he couldn’t actually mean it. It’s not as though they were friends. Barely acquaintances, really. And even if she’d closed her eyes and imagined him stroking her hair, cuddling her close, and seeing to her needs, that would never happen. Men just…weren’t like that.
She had thought at first that Carter was committed to being a good provider but she’d come to realize it had nothing to do with actually taking care of her. It was about showing off how successful he was.
Yes, he’d buy her diamond tennis bracelets and insist she drive a top-of-the-line SUV but it wasn’t about her happiness or her safety. She’d been a trophy and those had been her accessories.
When she’d no longer fit in that mold because she’d melted and seeped through the cracks, he hadn’t wanted her anymore. Once she hadn’t belonged to him, he didn’t care about where she lived or what she wore or the car she drove. Or cared about her at all, really.
That’s what most people were like. Once she hadn’t been able to join them at the country club for a tennis match or out for an expensive dinner, her so-called friends had dropped her. Sure a few stuck around but she got the feeling that still speaking with her was more like charity work than actually enjoying her company.
So yes, she ought to leave, no matter what Doctor Southerland said because no doubt he was eyeing the clock and wondering when she’d be out of his hair. Except that when she moved, everything got a hundred times worse and it was already pretty bad. She really was going to have to find a new pediatrician because this was beyond mortifying.
A few minutes after he’d shown Carter the door, Devaney heard Doctor Southerland’s footsteps as he came back into the dim room. It sounded like he grabbed one of the stools from the corner and rolled it up to sit beside her. She was startled when his big, warm hand came to rest over hers.
