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Dad swallows his muffin and quirks a brow. “Good night last night?”
“It was a long night.” Mom sighs as she kicks off her crocs. “Twelve babies, five c-sections. But everyone was healthy when I left this morning, so definitely a good shift.” Mom takes the muffin from Dad’s hand and breaks off a piece. “This is really good.” She smiles and presses her lips to his.
He whispers something to her, and I gag.
Well... not really. But I definitely want to when his hand slips to her ass. “Excuse me.” I clear my throat. “Some things don’t need to be seen.”
My mother’s laughter bounces off the vaulted ceilings. “Wren, do we need to talk about where babies come from, honey?”
“Very funny, Mother.” I grab my own muffin and sit down on one of the stools at the island in the center of the room. “I’m pretty sure my degree says I’m informed on that particular topic.” I purse my lips and scrunch my nose. “Seeing your parents attempting to make another baby, though,not so much.”
She runs her hand over my hair, then tugs. “Let me go shower, and we’ll talk. Okay?”
I nod, then catch my father watching my mother as she leaves the room. He was always so busy with King Corp. while I was growing up, but that never seemed to affect his relationship with Mom. While my friends’ parents were all getting divorced and remarried, my parents were having sex in the laundry room when they thought I wasn’t home. It only takes one time seeing that to make you hesitate to come home from school early.
Back then, it was mortifying.
Now it makes me smile... even if I hope to God I go the rest of my life without everagainseeing my mother’s tongue down my father’s throat while he’s banging her on the washing machine.
* * *
Two hours later, Mom and I have read through the contracts her lawyer prepared for us, and she hands me a Mont Blanc pen. “You ready for this?”
I trail my finger over the line awaiting my signature and read over the words one more time. “To be a partner in your practice?”
I bite the inside of my cheek and think about it for a moment.
Am I ready?
Let’s hope so. “I’m pretty certain this is what I’ve spent the past ten years working toward, Mom.”
I sign my name with a flourish and hand her the pen, then watch as she does the same before handing the document to my father to sign as a witness.
I was in shock when she offered to make me an equal partner in her obstetrics and gynecology practice. It’s one of the best in Pennsylvania. I always thought that was the goal. But it was an eventual goal. Not one I was expecting to achieve quite so soon.
When Dad places the contract back in the folder, I’m the only one smiling. “Are you having second thoughts?” I tease.
“No, sweetheart.” Mom sits back in the chair and forces a smile. “I’m just exhausted and so damn proud about this moment.” She tilts her head, and her warm smile loses a little umph. “Not necessarily in that order. I think it’s time for me to go to bed.” She slides a key across the table and stands. “That’s the key to the office. You’ve got about thirty-six hours before your cute little butt is on the clock, kiddo. Go enjoy it. I’ll see you Monday morning.”
“Any chance you could refrain from discussing my cute little butt and calling me ‘kiddo’ while we’re at work, Mom?” I’ve got a hard enough road ahead of me. Mom treating me like a child instead of her equal will definitely make it more difficult to be taken seriously.
She stands and holds my face in her hands. “Oh, honey. Outside the office, you’ll always be my baby. But make no mistake, inside those walls, Dr. Davenport better be ready to show us what she’s made of. I wouldn’t have offered you this opportunity if you hadn’t already earned it.” My mother kisses my cheek, then squeezes my father’s shoulder on her way out of the room.
“How about you let me take your mom and you out to dinner tonight to celebrate?” Dad places the contract inside his briefcase, waiting for my answer, and I cringe.
“I can’t tonight. I promised Quinn I’d go with her to the Revolution game.” I don’t tell him I made the promise begrudgingly or that she basically guilted me into it.
I’m not exactly good at making time for my friends, but Quinn and I have always been the exception. We talked all the time when we were both in college, even when we were on opposite sides of the country. Then when I started med school and she started law school, we implementedSunday Night Girl’s Night. We’d change into our pj’s, pour a glass of wine, and FaceTime for a few hours while we watched whatever show was our latest binge. It gave us time to catch up and decompress.
When she dropped out of law school after her first year, she flew out to California and stayed with me until she was ready to face her father. And when I flew home a week ago, I stayed with her. If anyone can coerce me into doing something I don’t want to do, good or bad, it’s always been Quinn.
“Good. You should go and have fun. Let loose. We can try for dinner next weekend.” Dad’s eyes sparkle as he heads for his home office.
When you’re as much of a control freak as I tend to be, letting loose and having fun aren’t always the easiest things to do. But there’s no need to tell him that.
* * *
There were definitely a few minutes earlier, when I was trying to figure out what to wear tonight where I considered canceling on Quinn. I could have pulled theneeding to unpackexcuse out and slapped it down, but if I had, she’d have shown up and drug me with her anyway. So, I pulled my big-girl panties on, got dressed, did my makeup and hair, and promised myself to try to have fun tonight.
