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“That’s the past. Let’s start fresh,” I tell her, meaning every word. I know when I’ve lost. This is one of those few times.
5
Ivy
“Tell me about your family,” Alec says, staring at me intently.
The way he looks at me makes me tremble inside, and I have to put on a front that all is well. I’m sure that I’m not the first woman to lose her good senses in his company. For the forty-five minutes we’ve been having lunch together, he has not looked away from me once, as if I’m the most interesting person he’s ever been with.
It’s flattering, I must admit. I’m used to going on dates with men whose attentions are caught between me and their phones. Alec is a doctor, and he has not looked at his phone once. Don’t get me wrong. I still think he’s an arrogant man, but I’m seeing a nice side of him.
“I have a twin sister. Her name is Molly, and she’s married to Jeff, and they have two boys,” I say.
“Oh, so you already have experience with kids?” Alec says.
“Ha! I wouldn’t exactly call it experience. Those two are a terror. If our baby comes out as energetic as my nephews are, we are in trouble. My sister has aged ten years since she had children.”
Alec laughs and then trains his eyes back on me. The first time I met him, I thought his blue eyes were cold and unfeeling. Now they look warm and filled with humor.
“Have you thought about what you would like in terms of gender?” Alec says.
“A girl,” I say quickly. “Boys are too rough. What about you?”
“A boy,” Alec says just as fast, and we both laugh. “I wouldn’t know what to do with a girl.”
It strikes me how odd it is to be having this intimate conversation with the father of my baby, who is a complete stranger.
“What about your parents?” he says.
“They are retired and live in Florida.” It would have been nice to have them around to enjoy their new grandchild. But we can always go and visit them when the baby is a few months old. The advantage of my job is that I can do it from anywhere.
“You’re smiling,” Alec says.
“I’m just thinking how cool it is that I can work from anywhere. I was thinking how nice it will be to visit them with the baby and stay as long as I want.”
“You’re an author, right?” Alec says.
“How did you know?” I ask.
“The clinic records,” Alec says.
My muscles tense. “I thought patient records were private?”
“They are. I work there, Ivy, so I have access,” Alec says.
“Of course.” I don’t know why it pisses me off to know that he looked at my records. I’d been absolutely honest when I filled out those forms, but I didn’t expect that I’d be sitting down with my sperm donor discussing my choices.
“What do you write?” he asks.
“My genre is thrillers.” I squirm in my chair. I don’t want to talk about my writing. It’s too close to my heart to discuss it with a stranger. “Tell me about your family. You mentioned a brother. How many of those do you have?”
“We’re three. Jace is the oldest, followed by me, and then our youngest brother Dylan, who incidentally is an obstetrician. I’ll make an appointment for you to see him.”
I’m too stunned to reply immediately. Alec is unbelievable. Just when I think that I could actually start to like him, he makes decisions for me when he doesn’t even know me.
“Just to be clear, you want your brother to be my obstetrician?”
“Yes,” he says. “He’s the best in the business, and he’ll take great care of you.”
